Abstract
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.
Highlights
Wireless devices operating in unlicensed bands have become an integral part of our lives today
Based on the discussions presented in the surveyed literature, we identify key research problems that need to VOLUME 8, 2020 be addressed to ensure harmonious coexistence between the incumbents and the heterogeneous radio access technologies (RATs) that will operate in the 6 GHz bands
We describe the main features and mechanisms that leverage the abundance of spectrum available in these bands in supporting emerging applications such as wireless augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) and mobile gaming
Summary
Wireless devices operating in unlicensed bands have become an integral part of our lives today. For the U-NII-6 and U-NII8 bands, unlicensed devices shall be allowed to operate only in indoor settings at low transmission powers, thereby relying on building entry losses to mitigate interference at incumbent receivers [5] While these mechanisms seem suitable at enabling harmonious coexistence between the incumbents and unlicensed devices, several concerns have been raised by the incumbent users. Based on the discussions presented in the surveyed literature, we identify key research problems that need to VOLUME 8, 2020 be addressed to ensure harmonious coexistence between the incumbents and the heterogeneous RATs that will operate in the 6 GHz bands.
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