Telecom operator KDDI in association with Samsung Electronics has achieved downlink and uplink handover as well as a peak speed of 1.7 Gbps during a live 5G demonstration in a moving train in Japan.

KDDI conducted the 5G trial from October 17 – 19 in the city of Saitama in Japan, near Tokyo, in a train that was traveling at over 100 km/hour along a section of track where the distance between two stations was approximately 1.5 km.

Since 2015, KDDI and Samsung partnered to demonstrate 5G millimeter wave performance in various scenarios in Japan.

KDDI used Samsung’s 5G pre-commercial end-to-end solution, which is composed of a 5G router (CPE), radio access unit (5G Radio), virtualized RAN and virtualized core.

The 5G demonstration leveraged 5G capabilities such as high throughput, low latency and massive connections, which verified potential services and use cases that would be beneficial to passengers and operators of high-speed trains. Samsung said this could pave the way to improved backhaul for onboard WiFi, superior passenger infotainment and increased security and analytics.

During the 5G demonstration, 8K video was downloaded via the CPE installed on-board, and a 4K video, filmed on a camera mounted on the train, was able to be uploaded.

“The demonstration in locations such as a train and a train station is an important milestone indicating 5G commercialization is near,” said Yoshiaki Uchida, senior managing executive officer at KDDI.

The earlier 5G demonstration of KDDI and Samsung includes a multi-cell handover demonstration in February by mounting a device on a car that traveled in the busy streets of Tokyo. KDDI and Samsung also demonstrated high-speed mobility test with the device attached on a car racing at 200km/h in Yongin, Korea in September.

“The success of the 5G demonstration is a result of our joint research with KDDI, which we will continue to pursue as we explore next generation networks and use cases. This will include research on diverse spectrums and technologies, as well as new business models and applications,” said Youngky Kim, president and head of Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.