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News 5 GHz band gets more channels

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thiggins

Mr. Easy
Staff member
From the Nov 18 press release:
The Federal Communications Commission today adopted new rules for the 5.9 GHz band (5.850-5.925 GHz) to make new spectrum available for unlicensed uses, such as Wi-Fi, and improve automotive safety. Specifically, the new band plan designates the lower 45 megahertz (5.850-5.895 GHz) for unlicensed uses and the upper 30 megahertz (5.895-5.925 GHz) for enhanced automobile safety using Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology....The Report and Order adopts technical rules to enable full-power indoor unlicensed operations in the lower 45 megahertz portion of the band immediately...

If you read between the lines, this means APs and routers will now be able to support DFS-free 160 MHz channels in 5 GHz. Whether manufacturers will actually take advantage of this rule is another question. And no, I don't know if existing routers can support the new channels via firmware upgrade.
 
If you read between the lines, this means APs and routers will now be able to support DFS-free 160 MHz channels in 5 GHz. Whether manufacturers will actually take advantage of this rule is another question. And no, I don't know if existing routers can support the new channels via firmware upgrade.

Another question is whether this requires re-certification, since it implies operating in a frequency range that was previously untested. Since a poorly designed implementation could end up generating unwanted noise/EM when operated at a higher frequency than originally designed, I suspect re-validation will be required. Which means 99% of manufacturers probably won't bother going through the trouble and expense, so it will probably only appear in new products.
 
I wonder what the "technical rules" will say about filtering. Current cavity filters used in the upper 5GHz band are awful at coexistence with the C-V2X band. If the rules say you can't interfere with C-V2X, then there are ZERO routers out there who could meet the spec. I take that back--there is one router that would meet spec, the Eero Pro 6 tri-band could do it.
 
I suspect re-validation will be required. Which means 99% of manufacturers probably won't bother going through the trouble and expense, so it will probably only appear in new products.

yes...

Chipset Drivers will likely have to be updated as well for the new channels, so the silicon vendor reference platfroms (HW) and SDK's will need a refresh - then the OEM's can roll this into products.
 
Here is a good pic of the filtering issues in almost all current routers that makes them unsuitable for any "update" that might make them compatible with this new spectrum OR WiFi 6E(the heading should be 5.6, not 5.2). The filtering at the upper band is horrible. It allows bleeding into both C-V2X and 6E. The Akoustis filters would work, but as of today they are only in the Eero Pro 6. The currently used cavity filters are represented by the yellow.
akts5.6.JPG
 
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