NEC develops Device-to-Device communication technology for transmitting images

NEC's technology supports transmission of images by enabling terminals outside of the public safety Long Term Evolution network service area.

NEC corporation, NEC communication technology, NEC device to device communication technology, transmitting images, public safety Long Term Evolution, High speed LTE network, communication, technology, tech news

Communication route selection from a terminal outside of the communication area to a base station.

NEC Corporation has announced the development of a ‘Device-to-Device’ communication technology that enables emergency response personnel, such as police and firefighters, to transmit high quality images from the scene of a disaster or accident when outside of the service area of the public safety Long Term Evolution network.

NEC’s technology supports transmission of images by enabling terminals outside of the PS-LTE network service area to detect terminals within the service area, and then access the network via the terminal that provides communication with base stations.

NEC confirmed the performance of this technology in a simulated disaster relief scenario, where approximately 90% of terminals located indoors, which tend to fall outside of the service area, achieved communications sufficient for the transmission of images.

“By utilizing this technology, images from large-scale disasters and major accidents can be transmitted via a high-speed LTE network, even when outside of the public safety LTE service area. This makes it possible to obtain accurate information from the scene and to implement a swift response,” said Yuichi Nakamura, General Manager, System Platform Research Laboratories, NEC Corporation.

NEC’s new technology was developed using the Relay Link Throughput Estimation Method, which estimates communication throughput based on the quality of wireless communications, taking into account the differences in the resources available for wireless communications as well as modulation/coding schemes, and then integrates the relay link.

With this technology, the communications speed from an isolated terminal cooperating with a relay terminal to connect to a base station can fully be estimated, and the “total communication speed” can be more accurately assessed.