Understanding millimeter-band propagation and how it can be used for 5G, 6G, and beyond
Last month, NTIA’s research laboratory, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), released NTIA Technical Report TR-22-561, “Outdoor Propagation Measurements in the 37–40 GHz Band in Boulder, Colorado.” The measured data summarized in this report will be provided to NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management (OSM) to be used to validate the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and other millimeter-wave propagation prediction models that are essential to further development of advanced fifth generation (5G) wireless technologies.
5G wireless networks and technologies promise not only an enhanced consumer experience of cellular connectivity, but also revolutionary new applications such as smart electrical grids, smart cities, telehealth, autonomous vehicles, and many more. These new applications depend on very high connection speeds, very low latency, enormous data capacity, and ubiquitous connectivity. Fully achieving the promise of 5G technologies requires access to radio spectrum frequencies in what is known as the millimeter wave band (above 24 GHz) that have not previously been widely exploited for telecommunications services.