Just when you thought that things had stabilised in the wireless market, another standard comes along with the aim of opening up the wide-open spaces of the multi-gigahertz spectrum.
The spectrum around 2.6GHz is packed tight with wireless traffic based on standards such as Bluetooth ZigBee and various ISM systems as well as Wi-Fi.
So the rapid growth in wireless data usage from smartphones such as the iPhone is causing operators congestion concerns and they may be forced to look to 5GHz band to add new higher bit rate services.
But such are the projections for spiralling demand for wireless data that the standards bodies have put the 60GHz frequency band on the agenda.
Specifically, the Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) are working together on a standard for multi-gigabit wireless networking at 60GHz.
This is the first attempt to open up this part of the spectrum for commercial wireless data networking and it will bring with it significant technical challenges.
Even ultra wideband (UWB) a far from successful attempt to move wireless data to higher parts of the radio spectrum for capacity and data rate reasons stopped at 10GHz.
As with most wireless standards the big issue will be interoperability of systems from various suppliers.
Already the WiGig specification defines procedures to enable WiGig-compliant devices to hand over sessions to operate in the 2.4 or 5GHz band.
The aim is now to ensure compatibility with Wi-Fi standards systems to support a move to even higher frequency bands.
“From its inception, the WiGig specification was designed to work on a wide variety of devices, making it a compelling input as we begin to define our certification program for 60GHz wireless,” said Wi-Fi Alliance chief executive officer Edgar Figueroa.
“By cooperating, the groups have set a course for interoperability and backward compatibility that will accelerate the adoption and usefulness of multi-gigabit wireless networking,” said Phil Solis, practice director for Wireless Connectivity at ABI Research.
The WiGig Alliance, which shares many member companies in common with the Wi-Fi Alliance, was formed to unify the next generation of multi-gigabit wireless products by encouraging the adoption and widespread use of 60 GHz wireless technology worldwide.
See also: UWB is certainly not dead in the water