COMSovereign Holding Corp., a U.S.-based developer of 4G LTE Advanced and 5G communication systems and solutions, announced that its completed over-the-air (OTA) testing of its breakthrough Lextrum In-Band Full Duplex (IBFD) self-interference cancellation technology. As a result of the completed testing, the company is now introducing Adaptive Simultaneous Transmit and Receive Antenna (ASTARA™), a standalone, electronically reconfigurable antenna technology specifically designed for self-interference cancellation applications. The new antenna system can enable some wireless network operators to quickly benefit from Lextrum’s IBFD technology with up to a 100 percent increase in simultaneous bandwidth.

IBFD, the ability to simultaneously broadcast and receive wireless signals over a single wireless channel, has the potential to dramatically increase throughput and spectral efficiency in increasingly congested and contested spectrum bands. Lextrum’s proprietary IBFD technology addresses the limitation of traditional time division duplexing methods by delivering up to twice the throughput in a given channel and reduces the occupied bandwidth required for Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) based systems. As it nearly eliminates the need for additional guard band spacing, the overall reduction in bandwidth as compared to traditional FDD can be greater than a factor of 2. 

Dr. Scott Velazquez, Chief Research Officer at COMSovereign, said, “ASTARA™ is a breakthrough in spectral efficiency and is a critical enabling technology for practical IBFD communications working across the most widely deployed frequencies including C- and S-Bands which are crucial to emerging 5G deployments. Lextrum’s IBFD essentially doubles the data capacity of communications by using the same frequency band for simultaneous transmission and reception, and with the introduction of this new antenna technology, we are able to provide the telecommunications industry with a valuable new solution that addresses efficient spectrum usage, one of the most significant challenges they face.”

ASTARA™ highlights include:

  • ASTARA™ is an electronically reconfigurable antenna that provides up to 70 dB of self-interference cancellation within the antenna itself. Efficient antenna calibration can be performed quickly and regularly, for example, during training intervals which are already provisioned in modern communications systems standards to optimize the antenna’s cancellation performance in highly variable or mobile environments 
  • This novel system exclusively available from Lextrum uses a reconfigurable array-based antenna to provide self-interference cancellation with a bandwidth that exceeds 100 MHz to accommodate modern wideband, high data rate 5G waveforms
  • Unlike traditional beamforming or beam steering approaches which require large numbers of elements and complex adaptive control algorithms, ASTARA™’s reception characteristics can be electronically tuned to cancel its transmit signal without affecting its beam pattern, even in the presence of nearfield reflections
  • The ASTARA™ technology can be combined with other interference cancellation techniques including digitally assisted analog cancellation such COMSovereign’s patented Adaptive Signal Cancellation (ASC™) technology and fully digital signal separation techniques to provide total cancellation greater than 120 dB of self-interference cancellation
  • Lextrum’s IBFD and antenna technologies will be available for licensing to radio manufacturers looking to upgrade their products to support bandwidth doubling IBFD operation.

“Confirmed by strong OTA test results, we believe that Lextrum’s IBFD technology is a critical enabling technology for 5G where densification of the radio access network will create significant challenges for network operators who are looking to maximize the value of their billion-dollar investments into spectrum. This unique and valuable technology is a key differentiator in the marketplace and is why we are so excited that it is an integral part of our product roadmap for COMSovereign as we commercialize our next generation of 5G radios including Polaris G2 scheduled for introduction next year,” added Dr. Dustin McIntire, chief technology officer of COMSovereign.

A whitepaper entitled “In-Band Full-Duplex Communications Using a Novel Adaptive Reconfigurable Antenna” authored by Scott R. Velazquez, Ph.D. and Dustin H. McIntire, Ph.D, detailing the OTA testing of Lextrum’s IBFD and ASTARA™ electronically reconfigurable antenna technology has been submitted for presentation at the GOMACTech 2022 conference scheduled for March 21-24, 2022.