Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Communications in Japan

This paper reviews the status of research and development in both microwave radio-relay systems and millimeter-wave transmission systems as well as the technical features in these fields, mainly developed under the auspices of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (NTT). Recent activities have been the development of new solid-state devices and high-capacity systems. The application of solid-state techniques is being extended to systems of both analog and digital transmission, such as the 2700 multichannel telephone transmission system in frequency division multiplexing (FDM)-FM radio-relay system, an experimental 20-GHz PCM radio-relay system capable of 400 Mbits/s pulse transmission, and a guided millimeter-wave system of 800-Mbit/s transmission at 40-80 GHz. The microwave integrated circuit (MIC) is also becoming very important in utilizing these high-frequency regions, which should be a valuable resource in the future when a vast information transmission capability will be required.