Pivotal Commware gains US win for mmWave beamforming units
Posted on July 29, 2020 by Pivotal Commware
Start-up Pivotal Commware has made some interesting moves in advanced antenna beam management, with its ‘holographic beamforming’ technology. It has announced its first public deal with a major operator for its Echo 5G subscriber units, incorporating the beamforming system – which LightReading reports is to Verizon for its 28 GHz network.
The Echo 5G is a fixed wireless repeater that can be attached to a window to improve indoor penetration by the millimeter wave signal – something that, by all accounts, will be important to Verizon, which has had very mixed reviews for the quality of its 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services.
The window-based unit harnesses Pivotal’s beamforming to counteract mmWave penetration, reflection and structural shadowing signal losses so that even this high frequency signal can reach deep indoors and deliver a strong, fast connection.
Pivotal CEO Brian Deutsch told LightReading that the operator’s identity has not been officially revealed yet, but the journalists got third party identification via spectrum analyst firm Allnet Insights, which analyzed the FCC documentation for the Verizon unit. "The frequency bands specified are the L1 and L2 channels in the 28 GHz band," Geommer said – these relate to licences owned by Verizon. Deutsch said the next product will be for the 39 GHz band, which is the main mmWave spectrum held by AT&T. This will be released in April or May this year.