SoftBank Corp. Develops Technologies to Simplify and Reduce Power Consumption of Base Station Antenna for 6G

SoftBank Corp. has collaborated with AGC Inc. to develop a “Functional Beam Shaping Lens Antenna,” a new base station antenna configuration designed for simplification and energy efficiency in the 6G era, and has successfully demonstrated it in outdoor field tests.

The “Functional Beam Shaping Lens Antenna” was developed by combining SoftBank’s communication area and antenna beam design technologies with AGC’s metasurface lens technology*1.

The simplified antenna configuration enables a reduction in power consumption of up to one-eighth compared to conventional antenna systems*2.

Read the full press release here.
https://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/news/press/sbkk/2026/20260319_01/

A technical overview article on this initiative can be found here.
https://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/technology/research/topics/206/

*1: A technology that enables precise control over the direction and spread of radio waves by arranging microscopic structures on a thin substrate.

*2: Theoretical values comparing the estimated number of control ICs (integrated circuits) required to achieve the same frequency band and coverage in conventional Massive MIMO antennas configurations versus configurations utilizing “Functional Beam Shaping Lens Antenna.”