The use of millimeter waves for wireless communications is one of the main technological innovations of 5G systems with respect to previous generations of cellular systems. Their consideration, however, has been up to now mainly restricted to the case in which analog or, at most, hybrid analog-digital beamforming structures were used, thus posing a limitation on the multiplexing capabilities and peak data rates that could be theoretically achieved at these frequencies. Recent progress in the field of electronics, however, has made the energy consumption of digital beamforming structures at least on par with that of analog beamforming, thus redeeming them from the ghetto they had been placed in over the last year. Digital beamforming, coupled with the use of large antenna arrays at both sides of the communication link, promises thus to be one of the secret weapons of future 6G networks, capable of unleashing unprecedented values of spectral and energy efficiency for ultra-broadband connectivity.

翻译：用于无线通信的毫米波是5G系统在前几代蜂窝系统方面的主要技术创新之一,不过,迄今为止,考虑这些波浪主要限于使用模拟或至多是混合模拟数字波束结构的情况,从而限制了这些频率理论上可以实现的多轴能力和峰值数据率,但最近在电子领域取得的进展使得数字波束结构的能源消耗至少与模拟波束结构的能源消耗相同,从而将它们从过去一年来安置在的贫民窟中救赎出来,数字波束成型,加上通信连接两侧使用大型天线阵列,因此有可能成为未来6G网络的秘密武器之一,能够释放超宽带连接的光谱和能源效率的空前价值。