With mobile data traffic on the rise (having increased 40-fold between 2014 and 2020) and the imminent arrival of the Internet of Things (where 50 billion devices are expected to be connected to the internet by 2025), telecommunications operators are being forced to rethink the architecture of their data transmission networks. Operators are aiming to use 5G technologies to simultaneously offer their customers 20Gbps of wireless connectivity, communication latencies of less than 1 millisecond, and connection densities of more than 1 million devices per km2.

The objective of the DRAGON project is to demonstrate that the limitations that today’s high capacity wireless technologies place on operators’ data transmission networks can be overcome, and that those the limitations can be addressed by making the leap to the so-called D-band radio frequency (130-170GHz). 

During the execution of DRAGON, innovative integrated circuits, antennas, integration solutions and essential devices will be designed for the new equipment that operators will need in order to be able to exploit the advantages that the D-band radio frequency offers. The innovations resulting from the project will allow operators to move towards broadband access that has minimal latency, is available anywhere and at any time, and transmits data from the millions of devices that will make up the Internet of Things and that will radically change the way we live and how we do things.

This project is part of the European Horizon 2020 program and has a budget of €7,289,058. The project consortium is made up of Ceit, a member of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance (BRTA), and twelve other leading telecommunications companies and technology centers in Europe. DRAGON will last for three years and the partners will launch the project on December 1.