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What will we do with the additional 1.2 GHz?



As long as all the public’s attention is focused on the pandemic, it’s nice to know that life continues in some places, and that events that would normally have been in the news and now drown under the weight of more urgent events continue to occur.

Over the past few weeks, routine events have occurred in the life of the American bureaucracy, which, however, should significantly affect the development of global technology: the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first proposed , and then approved the deployment of 1200 additional MHz in the 6 GHz band for industrial use, scientific and medical organizations (ISM). This process is likely to be repeated in other parts of the world, freeing up another significant piece of the spectrum for use without a license.

In practice, this means that a whole set of WiFi channels will be created, and a little more spectrum will be available to all of us, so you should study this question in more detail.

For WiFi we have to thank the microwave



Raytheon RadaRange microwave oven aboard the American nuclear submarine Savannah

A brief description of the ISM band has a long history, a handful of unexpectedly transmitted frequencies and spectrum usage examples that most of us associate only with wireless networks, and perhaps a small number of additional protocols like LoRa or remote controls operating in the UHF band.

Their history begins already in the 20th century, when the international telecommunication union allocated these frequencies for use for purposes other than communications.

It was specifically intended to use these frequencies to heat food, and the now-popular 2.4 GHz band first appeared as a new technology for microwave ovens, which in turn came from military radars. Indeed, one of the employees of the military-industrial complex Raytheon came up with a popular cooking device .

For the ISM-band, an entire array of different frequencies was allocated, from HF to submillimeter microwaves, although (maybe because of) that at that time there were practically no technologies that allowed these high frequencies to be used. In addition to microwave ovens, among the devices that used these frequencies and fell into the hands of consumers were the first generations of cordless home telephones and radio-controlled toys. There was a time when, having a model of an airplane, machine or even a combat robot , it was necessary to have a set of crystals for each of the required frequencies (usually 27 MHz or 40 MHz).


WiFi card Lucent Orinoco. Her chipset was installed in a large number of the first WiFi cards.

The turning point that preceded the emergence of WiFi networks occurred in 1985, when the FCC relaxed the rules for using ISM bands without a license, in particular allowing them to be used for a wide range of communication devices. As part of the development of the technology, several proprietary products appeared, and by the 1990s what had become a series of 802.11 standards arose, and by the end of the decade, everyone needed a Lucent Orinoco PCMCIA card for the laptop.

Now we have a whole range of WiFi channels in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, and although the first is so heavily loaded that it already works poorly in densely populated areas, the second has become popular for use. And an increase in the number of connected devices, together with the explosive growth of devices from the Internet of Things category, can only increase the demand for wireless bandwidths, so the appearance of additional space in the 6 GHz band is welcome.

Why do we have unused wireless networks?



Olivetti Net3 DECT Network Card Advertising

But we won’t rejoice too much at the new allocation of frequencies - it’s better to dwell on its alternatives. Consumer wireless networks were deployed not only in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands - so why not other bands get their own piece of cake? The answer lies in a complex combination of market forces and competing technologies. A promising product can sink into oblivion simply by arriving on the market too soon, or too late.

An example of the first case is DECT, which we know today as the standard for digital cordless phones. It has all the characteristics of a 3G cellular network, including a data channel. Unfortunately, it appeared in the early 1990s when laptop users did not need wireless networks, so this application was practically never used. Conversely, one could expect the widespread adoption of WiFi standard 802.11ah for the 900 MHz ISM, offering an increased range, but it appeared too late, because of which it was overshadowed by other technologies. Some manufacturers produce chipsets and modules for 802.11ah, and under certain market conditions there could be as many as 2.4 GHz WiFi or LoRa, but in reality they are very rare.

Therefore, 24 additional channels at 6 GHz, which will provide the standard 802.11ax , will be a welcome addition. However, it does not follow from the fact that they will be available that they will often be used. It is possible that, as in the case of the previously mentioned 802.11ah standard, the market will go a different way by the time there are enough devices supporting it on the shelves.

One of the promises of 5G mobile phones is that everyone will have very fast mobile communications in the future. Will it eliminate the need for additional WiFi power? What about the upcoming 802.11bb standard, the so-called LiFi - for light-based networks? Will WiFi routers seem archaic after a much cheaper LED lamp settles on each ceiling? One thing is clear - if you thought that everything was clear with wireless networks, in the next few years there will be many surprises.

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