Wireless Networking at 60 GHz

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While the attention is on sub-GHz frequencies in the UHF broadcast band to offer sub-gigabit data rates around 10 Mbps, the Wi-Fi Alliance and the WiGig Alliance announced they will cooperate on expansion of Wi-Fi technologies to 60 GHz frequencies. Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa said, "60 GHz device connectivity will be an exciting enhancement to the capabilities of today's Wi-Fi technologies. It will expand the utility of Wi-Fi, used by hundreds of millions of people every day, 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 60 GHz wireless."

Phil Solis, practice director for wireless Connectivity at ABI Research said, "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."

The current WiGig specification allows data rates up to 7 Gbps, enough to stream multiple uncompressed HDTV programs. By using beam forming, it allows robust communications at distances beyond 10 meters. It also allows fall back to existing 802.11 5.8 GHz or 2.4 GHz links for compatibility with existing Wi-Fi devices.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung
Contributor

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.