- Millimeter wave radio
technology now available in cheap CMOS
- TV "white spaces" also usable
if remaining stations are "clustered"
- ...but there are two problems
to overcome:
- Where to get the spectrum
on which to operate?
- Where to get the backbone
bandwidth to provide to the consumer?
- Current US spectrum policy is
antithetical to wireless UBB
- Most unlicensed bands are
congested by consumer devices or are narrow
- The remainder have
operating rules that rule out point-to-multipoint UBB (e.g. 24 GHz) or
can't do PTMP UBB at safe power levels (60 GHz)
- Licensed spectrum - e.g.
LMDS - is being hoarded with impunity. LMDS licensees have barely
deployed but are asking for renewals
- Lots in recent auctions
have covered large geographic areas but have included relatively little
spectrum (5-20 MHz channels; not wide enough for UBB)
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