The Qualcomm Wireless Academy is back with a new training video on the 5G New Radio Spectrum, including mmWave. Qualcomm wireless systems engineer Nakul Navarange guides you through the different frequency ranges 5G is able to operate in, and the advantages of each.
Every wireless technology needs a range of frequencies that it can operate in, and that’s called the frequency spectrum. 5G is designed to be flexible, so it can operate in three very different frequency ranges or bands.
The low bands cover 1GHz frequencies and lower, for example the 600-800MHz range. The low bands offer better range and propagation than higher frequencies, so signals can travel farther. However, the low bands are also shared by 4G, 3G, in addition to 5G, which means the bandwidth available to 5G is very limited.
The mid bands range from 1-6GHz and are often referred to as sub-6. The 3.4-3.8GHz range is the most commonly used sub-6 frequency band in the current deployments of 5G.
The higher bands consist of 7GHz and above, and include mmWave. Frequencies of 24GHz and above have a wavelength that’s on the order of a few millimeters, earning it the name mmWave. Thus far, mmWave bands have been largely unused, so there’s ample spectrum available for 5G. As the frequency of a wireless signal increases, the size of the antenna that’s needed to send/ receive it reduces. That means 5G base stations can house many more antennas than before, thanks to mmWave.
This larger collection of antennas, like in case of mmWave, leads to a paradigm called Massive MIMO, and can result in significantly higher gain and greater directivity to specific users. As a results, there’s less waste of transmitted energy and higher communication efficiency. Larger bandwidth and improved efficiency lead to greater capacity; with that, 5G mmWave can fulfill the demands of data-hungry use cases like cloud computing, data management, VR and AR.
This variety of spectrum options is part of what makes 5G so versatile, efficient, and effective, ensuring it as the future for wireless communication technology.
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Discover the benefits of 5G mmWave technology:
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Learn how 5G Massive MIMO transforms your mobile experiences: [ Ссылка ]
