A group of researchers in Japan has developed a tiny, powerful radio module that could make future smartphones and other mobile devices incredibly fast and efficient.
This breakthrough could play a key role in the development of 6G wireless technology—the next step beyond today’s 5G networks.
The new device, created by Professor Kenichi Okada and his team at Science Tokyo, is designed to work at extremely high radio frequencies in the 150 GHz range.
These frequencies are part of what’s called the D-band, which holds great promise for 6G because it offers much more bandwidth than current networks.
This extra bandwidth means devices could transmit data at incredibly fast speeds—over 100 gigabits per second.
But until now, using the D-band in everyday devices like phones or smart glasses has been difficult.
Signals at these high frequencies can lose strength quickly, and the chips and antennas needed to use them tend to be large and power-hungry.
That’s why most D-band technology has only been used in large 6G base stations or behind-the-scenes infrastructure—not in the mobile devices people carry around.
To fix that, Okada’s team built a new kind of radio module that’s extremely compact and energy-efficient.
It measures just 8.4 mm by 20 mm—small enough to fit inside a smartphone. Despite its small size, it can reach speeds of 56 Gbps and uses only 150 milliwatts of power per antenna when sending signals. That’s a huge improvement over older systems, which are bigger and slower.
The secret to their success is in the design. The team used a clever approach to phase shifting and signal mixing—two essential parts of a radio system.
One major innovation was a phase shifter that doesn’t need extra components called oscillator buffers, which usually take up space and use a lot of power.
Another was a special mixer that handles both sending and receiving signals, while also reducing interference that can hurt performance.
They also designed the antennas and amplifiers to work together smoothly, solving common problems like signal loss and wasted space. All of this adds up to a highly efficient system that performs better than anything else of its size.
This work was presented at the 2025 Symposium on VLSI Technology and Circuits in Kyoto, where it drew attention for its potential to bring super-fast 6G connections to small devices.
With this technology, future phones and wearables could support ultra-high-speed applications like mobile virtual reality, advanced medical tools, and industrial automation—all with better performance and less power.
In short, this tiny radio chip could help bring the future of 6G into the palm of your hand.
