Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

A few days ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a document that all or part of the frequency band of 6GHz (6425-7125MHz) is divided into 5G / 6G systems, which has aroused widespread concern inside and outside the industry.

The 6GHz band, to be exact, refers to the frequency range of 5925-7125MHz, which is the spectrum resource of 1200MHz.

6GHz and 6G technical standards are two different things. A lot of media say that 6G is coming, so divide the spectrum for 6G, Barabala. This is obviously nonsense. 6G is still very early, at least five years from now.

This band division can only be said to allocate the spectrum to cellular mobile communication technology (IMT,International Mobile Telecommunications, International Mobile Communications, 2G-6G all belong to this), and it is not clear that it must be used in 6G in the future. 5G can also be used first if necessary.

Another camp corresponding to IMT is RLAN (Radio Local Area Network) technology represented by Wi-Fi.

This spectrum division event, to put it simply, is the scramble for spectrum by the two camps of cellular communications and Wi-Fi, and the former has won a phased victory.

Why does █ want to grab the 6GHz band? The most important thing for any wireless communication technology is the spectrum resource.

For IMT cellular communications, I sent a spectrum distribution map (link) a few days ago, and the spectrum in use is mainly in a few ranges:

Below 1000MHz: for example, 700MHz focus 800MHz, which belongs to low frequency band and works at low frequency, but with longer wavelength and longer coverage. This kind of frequency band, the resource is extremely tight, is called the golden band.

Its bandwidth is relatively narrow (1MHz / 5MHz / 10MHz, etc.) and is not suitable for large-bandwidth (video, VR / AR, etc.) services, but it is very suitable for the Internet of things such as NB-IoT.

1000MHz~7125MHz: the so-called intermediate frequency band is also the main frequency band of our mobile communication now. In 5G, we often refer to Sub-6GHz (the meaning of "below 6GHz" and later the range is changed to below 7125MHz), which mainly refers to this frequency band.

There are a little more resources in this band, and each operator can get hundreds of MHz. Using this frequency band as coverage, the area is moderate, and it can achieve large bandwidth and large capacity, which belongs to balance.

24.25Ghz or above: this is what the industry often calls the millimeter wave band. The coverage capacity is weak, but the bandwidth is large, the rate is high, and the capacity is large.

The band with a slightly higher frequency than the millimeter wave is the THz (terahertz, 1T is 1000G) band, which was previously considered to be the research direction of the 6G standard.

Let's take a look at Wi-Fi.

The frequency band used by Wi-Fi is simpler. It uses unlicensed spectrum, or what we call free spectrum. The spectrum, to put it bluntly, is used by others.

When I introduced the history of Wi-Fi, I said that at that time, the major forces grabbed the spectrum. Some people say that we should always set aside some spectrum for small devices, give ordinary users free of charge, do experiments and so on. As a result, the tiger grabs for food, and there is the ISM (industrial, scientific, medical) band. Based on this free band, the later Wi-Fi came into being.

The traditional frequency band of Wi-Fi has two ranges, namely 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Everyone should be familiar with it.

Starting from Wi-Fi 6e, in order to get more bandwidth, we began to think about the 6GHz band and proposed to use it for Wi-Fi.

This is the source of the battle for 6GHz.

Keep in mind that the 6GHz band is very important.

For IMT cellular mobile communications, don't think about the low frequency band. In the middle frequency band, the 6GHz band is the last piece of fat. It has the advantages of both coverage and capacity, and is conducive to the construction of high-quality cellular communication network.

Although there are many resources in the millimeter wave band, the frequency is too high and the coverage effect is not good. It has been used in some places abroad, but the general feedback is not good. Some countries even take back the frequency band. In our country, we have been under pressure all the time.

6GHz plays an important role in the construction of 5G private network in the industry, as well as large-capacity demand scenarios such as stadiums. Also, 6GHz is an excellent resource for FWA scenarios.

For Wi-Fi, if you can't grab the 6GHz band resources, the communication rate will not be greatly improved, and your future prospects will be worrying. With 6GHz, up to 29 additional 40MHz channels can be added, and 160MHz or 320MHz channels can also be easily implemented, directly doubling the rate, which is really delicious. )

█, what does this incident mean? The battle for 6GHz has been going on for years.

Attitudes vary from region to region of the world, roughly divided into several categories:

1. Give it all to Wi-Fi. Such as the United States and South Korea.

2. Half to Wi-Fi and half to IMT (or TBD). There are the most of this kind. It should be noted that most of the 500MHz in the low 6GHz band (5925-6425MHz) is given to Wi-Fi, such as the European Union, Australia and Japan.

3. Give all to IMT. Very few people hold this attitude.

China's attitude has always been rather vague. There was a big rumor that China would use it all on IMT.

Some people think that it is because our country tends to state-owned enterprises, and operators are all state-owned enterprises, so they are given to operators.

This is not quite true. According to the national conditions of our country, the infrastructure is indeed relatively strong. We have the largest number of base stations in the world and high coverage. Unified management of resources, which also serves the public, will have a higher utilization rate.

Another key point is that in the field of IMT, our country has a higher proportion of the industrial chain and a greater say in technology. There are several big IMT companies in the European Union, so they also tend to give at least half to IMT.

In the technological direction of Wi-Fi, basically, the right to speak is in the hands of a certain country, and others account for a larger proportion of the control of the industrial chain.

If you still remember the dispute between LTE and WiMAX, you should understand the truth.

China's division of 6425-7125MHz into 5G / 6G this time is not just a matter within our country.

China is a country with a large user base and industrial chain. Every decision we make in the field of communications has a significant impact on the global communications industry.

The research and development of wireless devices follow the wireless spectrum. For example, if you develop a 700m base station, it is not the same as a base station for 3.5GHz. Not that I build a base station, 700m if I want to adjust 700m, 3.5G if I want to adjust 3.5g. The new frequency band needs to be designed, developed and tested.

Using 6425-7125MHz for IMT means that industry chain manufacturers (including chip modules) will design and manufacture industries for this purpose. The industrial ecology of the Wi-Fi side will be damaged.

Therefore, the forces of IMT and RLAN will come to enlist the support of the Chinese government.

China's decision is a blow to the Wi-Fi camp. However, for them, it is also expected. In a sense, it is even good news.

Why is that?

Because it was said before that we would give all the 6GHz to IMT. This public announcement, give half first, that is to say, the remaining half, Wi-Fi still has a chance! It's better than announcing it all to IMT.

There is another detail. According to Xiao Zaojun's secret source, Kevin Robinson, chairman of the Wi-Fi Alliance, just visited the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology some time ago. Shortly after the visit, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued this document, and we can examine the relationship in detail.

Personally, I think there is a great possibility that 5925-6425MHz will be given to Wi-Fi. In other words, we are probably still together with the European Union.

In any case, by the end of the year, the outcome will gradually become clear.

On November 20, 2023, the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23) will be held in the United Arab Emirates. At the meeting, the ultimate fate of the 6GHz band will be discussed.

Let's wait patiently for a few more months.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: fresh Jujube classroom (ID:xzclasscom), author: Xiaozaojun

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