The prospect of full-duplex radio transmission looks to be edging closer with prototype set to be demonstrated at Bristol University next month.

Full-duplex enables a transceiver to both transmit and receive a radio signal at the same time and on the same frequency, something that has previously been prevented by interference between the two streams. The key to full-duplex lies in cancelling this interference and that is what will be demonstrated on 8 July in the University of Bristol’s School of Chemistry.

Among the pioneers of this technology has been US company Kumu Networks, which recently demonstrated in-band full-duplex in partnership with SK Telecom. If the engineering challenges can be overcome in a robust, affordable and scalable way then this tech could form a key component of the 5G standard and patent owners are likely to cash in.

Bristol PhD student Leo Laughlin will present a prototype of the full duplex transceiver with electrical balance duplexing that allows transmission and reception from a single antenna. More about the event, which is sponsored by Rohde & Schwarz can be found here.