1 research outputs found
Next Generation Wi-Fi and 5G NR-U in the 6 GHz Bands: Opportunities & Challenges
The ever-increasing demand for unlicensed spectrum has prompted regulators in
the US and Europe to consider opening up the 6 GHz bands for unlicensed access.
These bands will open up 1.2 GHz of additional spectrum for unlicensed radio
access technologies (RATs), such as Wi-Fi and 5G New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U),
in the US and if permitted, 500 MHz of additional spectrum in Europe. The
abundance of spectrum in these bands creates new opportunities for the design
of mechanisms and features that can support the emerging bandwidth-intensive
and latency-sensitive applications. However, coexistence of unlicensed devices
both with the bands' incumbent users and across different unlicensed RATs
present significant challenges. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive
survey of the existing literature on various issues surrounding the operations
of unlicensed RATs in the 6 GHz bands. In particular, we discuss how key
features in next-generation Wi-Fi are being designed to leverage these
additional unlicensed bands. We also shed light on the foreseeable challenges
that designers of unlicensed RATs might face in the near future. Our survey
encompasses key research papers, contributions submitted to standardization
bodies and regulatory agencies, and documents presented at various other
venues. Finally, we highlight a few key research problems that are likely to
arise due to unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz bands. Tackling these research
challenges effectively will be critical in ensuring that the new unlicensed
bands are efficiently utilized while guaranteeing the interference-free
operation of the bands' incumbent users