The coming 5G era will have an impact on such unexpected places!
Radio waves used in wireless communication are more easily absorbed by water as the frequency band increases. For this reason, it is known that when rain or snow accumulates on the antenna, the moisture causes radio wave attenuation, narrowing or interrupting the communication range.This radio wave attenuation becomes noticeable in frequencies above several GHz, and is especially likely to occur in the several GHz to several tens of GHz band used in 5G communications.
In other words, the higher the frequency band, the easier it is for radio wave attenuation to occur in torrential rain or snow.
Radio wave attenuation experiment
A water film was deposited on a polycarbonate plate, which is often used as a material for antenna covers, and radio wave attenuation was measured.
■ Adhesion of water droplets and water films to polycarbonate
Water film is generated
There is almost no water film
In our experiments, the surface treated with super hydrophobic coating HIREC (see right) repelled water and did not get wet, meaning that a water film was barely formed.
■ Radio wave attenuation by state of polycarbonate plate
■ Radio wave attenuation occurs in both the sub-6GHz and millimeter wave bands
Please see the graph above. In the sub-6GHz band, there is about 20dB attenuation (blue ▲).
An attenuation of 20 dB translates into radio wave transmittance of less than 10%.
In the millimeter wave band, there is an attenuation of about 40 dB (blue ★).
In contrast, by applying our super hydrophobic coating (HIREC100), no water droplets or water films are formed, and it was confirmed that radio wave attenuation can be suppressed to almost zero (red line). It can also be seen that radio wave attenuation caused by HIREC100 itself is almost zero.
Please consider using this as a measure to prevent radio wave attenuation to ensure stable 5G communications.
*50dB attenuation is equivalent to a radio wave transmittance of less than 1%.
| ask the person in charge | View the HIREC100 product page |
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