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World’s First Development of 3.6Gbps-Class Wireless Transmission System (NoLA)

In October 2007, ETRI for the first time in the world developed NoLA (New Nomadic Local Area Wireless Access), which achieved a 3.6 Gbps transmission speed, over three times faster than the 4G mobile communications (IMT-Advanced) minimum requirement of 1 Gbps when stationary or traveling at low speed (3 km/h). With this development, Korea demonstrated that it is in the world’s top class in the field of mobile communication by securing yet another world-first source technology, following on from CDMA, WiBro, and terrestrial DMB.

01

Wireless
Movie Download in
Just One Minute

In 2007, ETRI developed for the first time in the world the New Nomadic Local Area Wireless Access (NoLA, hereafter), which achieved a 3.6 Gbps transmission speed, over three times faster than the 4G mobile communications (IMT-Advanced) minimum requirement of 1 Gbps when stationary or traveling at low speed (3 km/h).

At the time, while one could download a full feature movie within approximately one minute on a 100 Mbps optical LAN, this newly developed technology allowed the same download in a few mere seconds, and even allowed downloading of 5 GB size encyclopedias and HD-quality video within ten seconds.

Using this technological development, ubiquitous services were realized, enabling users to access HD-quality video and other high-quality contents in a wireless environment in real-time, whether at home, in the office, or in college classrooms. Furthermore, through further refinement as the next-generation communication technology converging wired and wireless and communication with broadcasting, NoLA will bring about a variety of services that used to be impossible with previous generation technology, such as large capacity data service, virtual reality, and biometric recognition, formed by a convergence of IT with nanotechnology, biotechnology, and other fields. Also, it will invigorate such new markets as wireless IPTV and home networking, which require high-speed large-capacity services.

When this technology was developed, most systems were being developed in Europe, the US and Japan, and could support transmission at about 1 Gbps. As a core technology required for next-generation wireless technology under the ITU, NoLA was in a field of fierce competition and was considered almost impossible to implement in real time because it came with numerous challenges.

However, ETRI overcame these challenges through development based on four core technologies: MIMO technology using eight multiple antennas, multi-rate LDPC encoder technology, multi-gigabit LDPC decoder design and implementation technology, and wireless control technology allowing multi-Gbps-class throughput. This enabled ETRI to secure a source technology that was at the time ahead of the developed countries by at least a year and up to three years.

This was a revolutionary research outcome of great significance, building on the success of CDMA, WiBro, and terrestrial DMB, confirming yet again Korea’s status as an IT powerhouse. NoLA was the focus of great expectations as a technology that could dominate the world market through commercialization in joint effort with industry.

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Amazing Technology
from Ceaseless
Research

ETRI filed four international patents and four domestic patents in 2006 for this technology, and filed 16 international and 20 domestic patents, additionally.

Building on this, ETRI pursued the standardization of a 3 Gbps-class wireless communication technology through the IEEE 802.11ac (VHT) Task Group. VHT technology is one of the candidates for IMT-Advanced low-speed travel standards, and is the successor to IEEE 802.11n.

Once the 4th generation mobile communication services became fully commercialized, NoLA technology was touted as a core technology for 4th generation mobile communication, anticipated to generate a multi-billion-dollar impact in the market, considering the demands for wireless IPTV, home networking, and other services requiring high-speed and large-capacity services.