Plasma Antennas unveils PSiAN mmWave Technology

1 min read

Plasma Antennas, the pioneers of plasma silicon technology, has unveiled the mmWave Plasma Silicon Antenna (PSiAN) that, according to the company, will provide huge improvements in the performance for 5G base stations compared to the current generation of technology.

Based on the company’s patented Plasma Silicon technology, the antenna will help to reduce the cost of a 5G base stations by as much as 50% by eliminating phase shifters, reducing and consolidating amplification and reducing computation.

The PSiAN has no moving parts and is dynamically reconfigurable as it forms and steers beams. The technology does not need calibration and can handle practically unlimited power, having been to tested up to 40 watts. The PSiAN also has an omni mode, when it draws no power at all.

The company has deployed the technology in a variety of scenarios, including 360 ̊ field of view beam forming and steering 28GHz 5W PSiAN, useful for pole mounted small cells, indoor small cells, or on a vehicle and a high power, long range, low loss small cell base station antenna for standalone and MIMO 5G, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), and Connected Vehicle applications.

These devices can also be stacked to form and steer beams in two dimensions (azimuth and elevation), or to form multiple beams and MIMO applications.

“Time after time we hear that cost and range are the biggest challenges facing mmWave 5G projects,” said Paul Phillipson CEO of Plasma Antennas. “Our patented Plasma Silicon technology provides a solution which answers these problems simultaneously, delivering a huge leap forward in performance and power consumption, and dramatically impacting the economics of future 5G networks.”