Brooklyn's NYU-Poly aims to birth 5G

Downloads that are 1,000 times faster. Up to 100 times more bandwidth. That's what a $2 million grant could mean for mobile. But be patient. 5G won't be built in a day.


The key to better—much better—cell phone service and a solution to the looming shortage of wireless spectrum may be found in downtown Brooklyn. But mobile phone data hogs will have to be patient.

Researchers at Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn have received $2 million to work on developing 5G cellular networks, whose download speeds could be 1,000 times faster than 4G, and which use spectrum at a frequency that has plenty of room, since it is totally unused today.

"It changes the whole world of what you can do with a smart phone or computer," said Theodore Rappaport, the recently appointed NYU-Poly professor who will be leading the research on what's known as millimeter-wave spectrum.

(continue reading on Crain's New York Business)