FCC adds 6GHz band to Wi-Fi 6… Bandwidth expansion 5x

FCC adds 6GHz band to Wi-Fi 6… Bandwidth expansion 5x

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved parts of the 6 GHz frequency band for unlicensed use of Wi-Fi 6. At the end of the year, it is expected to see equipment supporting it.

 

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Wi-Fi APs have expanded significantly as the FCC has opened up a wide range of radio frequencies for Wi-Fi devices.
 
This decision is good news for the Wi-Fi industry because it means that the frequency bandwidth available for Wi-Fi has increased by a factor of five in an instant. According to Chuck Lukachevsky, vice president of wireless strategy at Aruba, this means that we have a large and large channel capable of handling more data and connections simultaneously.  

"This will additionally see potential throughput of more than gigabit per second," said Lukasevsky.  

When the Wi-Fi 6E, the new version's Wi-Fi name using the new frequency, will be released on the market is unknown, but it will definitely be an important turning point. Some essential standards have not yet been finalized by the IEEE, but the basic function of using the 6GHz frequency is already described in the existing Wi-Fi 6 specification.

"The main technical obstacle to implementing Wi-Fi 6E will be new radio frequencies, but Broadcom is already one of the companies that have designed and built compatible semiconductors," said Chris Manski, director of product marketing and government at Broadcom. Said.

"We expect the FCC to provide guidance on how to authenticate devices in the next few months," said Zidmanski.
   
Enterprise Wi-Fi 6 clients can't take advantage of the new 6 GHz frequency band, so businesses are

Bart Giordano, Senior Vice President of Communications and Clouds at Commscope, said the new AP is likely to contain three frequency bands, rather than two. In addition to the existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz, the third 6GHz is included.
 
“The antennas will be very similar because these bands are adjacent to each other,” Giordano said. But we need specific tuning. ”

The reason Wi-Fi 6 is expanding is because traffic is increasing rapidly due to the increased use of radio in almost all parts of the world. The FCC's announcement cites Cisco's forecast that about 60% of the world's data traffic will come over Wi-Fi connections in the next two years.
 
Currently, the 6GHz band is used by some companies for wireless backhaul and public safety services. The Utilities Technology Council (UTC), critical of the proposal to open the 6GHz band with extensive unlicensed use, claimed that existing users would not be protected from interference.

In an official statement from UTC, “We demonstrate to the FCC the possibility of very real interference from unlicensed use of all parts of this band and the need for thoroughly tested Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) to protect existing users. "We have provided technical details and will continue to provide it in the future."

"We welcome the proposal by the FCC to require AFC for standard power APs, but these measures should also be applied to all unlicensed devices in the band to prevent interference with mission-critical utility communication systems," he said.

"This process won't go smoothly, but it's a big opportunity to ignore the opening of the 6GHz band," said Craig Massius, chief executive officer of Farpoint Group, a wireless and mobile consulting firm.

"There has always been reallocation of frequency bands," Massius said. "There are no problems that cannot be solved here, and there must be more unlicensed frequencies.

"When considering the nature of the connection in the 6GHz band in use today and the protection of new rules designed to protect the existing network, we will not see the type of interference that is of particular concern to existing users," Massiers added.   

“P2P microwave connections operate at fairly high power, using both directional antennas and error-checking protocols to ensure reliability and address common wireless problems beyond interference such as various types of fading. On the other hand, peripheral WiFi transmitters operate at much lower power and also use their own integrated signal management technology. Therefore, in most cases, there is a high possibility that there is no problem.