FCC Exploring ‘Spectrum Frontiers’ with 60 GHz Band Order
The FCC approved by a 3-0 vote Friday an order designed to promote greater use of the 60 GHz band for wireless backhaul. The order follows an NPRM released by the agency in 2007 (CD July 26 p5), after industry sought a rule change in 2004. Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp said the order shows the commission’s “proactive” pursuit of “spectrum frontiers,” including high-frequency spectrum, and that no technology was held up as a result of the length of time it took the agency to work through an order.
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The order modifies the commission’s Part 15 rules for devices that use 57-64 GHz spectrum to allow the use of higher power for outdoor applications. “These modifications could provide wireless broadband network connectivity over distances up to a mile at data rates of 7 Gb/s, potentially relieving the need and expense of wiring facilities or using existing facilities with less capability,” the FCC said in a news release (http://bit.ly/19SJ59m). “At the same time the rules for equipment located indoors will remain unchanged, providing regulatory certainty for an emerging family of products that can provide data rates of 7 Gb/s for applications such as wireless docking of digital devices and distribution of uncompressed video to TV receivers and video displays."
"Particularly when you're dealing with nascent technology, our desire is to try to work closely with the industry and be respectful of their asks, which is what we did in this case,” Knapp said after the meeting. “There wasn’t any technology that was ... held up.” Knapp said there are already a few 60 GHz devices available and more likely are in their way following the IEEE’s recent approval of a new 802.11ad standard for the band. “Products will be introduced under that new standard before too long,” he said.
"Spectrum above 1 GHz, which was once thought to be inappropriate for consumer products, now supports many innovative devices on an unlicensed basis,” said acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. The commission started to look at the 60 GHz band 15 years ago, she noted. “Those seeds ... are just beginning to blossom.”
Commissioner Ajit Pai noted that the wavelengths of spectrum in the band are approximately 100th the length of wavelengths in the broadcast bands. “Currently, one of the biggest challenges we face at the commission is harnessing enough spectrum to accommodate the growing demand for mobile broadband services,” he said. “The 60 GHz band can play an important role in meeting this challenge. The signals’ short-range propagation and inability to penetrate walls allows for heavy reuse of the spectrum in dense urban areas without causing interference."
In taking on the future of 60 GHz spectrum the commission explores “the far reaches of our current horizons for spectrum policy,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “The 60 GHz band can be used outdoors to send unlicensed signals from one building to the next,” she said. “That means new ways of extending the reach of fiber optic networks from buildings that are connected to those that are not, without the crushing time and expense of trenching and construction. So to help facilitate these opportunities, we increase outdoor power limits and improve our metrics for measuring interference.”