Millimeter-wave Radio - Development of Technologies and Markets

This report is about high-frequency radio (millimeter- wave), its development and market opportunities.

• 60 GHz radio technology and market
• E-band radio technology and market.

Communications systems based on such radios utilization are being in use for a relatively long time, but applications were restricted only by military - their cost prohibited the use of the technology in the commercial applications. Only recently, with opening of the spectrum by FCC for these radios in the U.S. as well as adoption of these bands by other regulators all around the world, the high-frequency radio market started to evolve for commercialization.

• The radio spectrum at very high frequencies is still rather undeveloped, and therefore more radio spectrum with wider bandwidths is available at these frequencies;
• The system capacity is higher at very high frequencies because the range of radio signals is limited, resulting in smaller cells. Therefore the same frequency can be reused at shorter distances;
• The inherent security and privacy is better at very high frequencies because of the limited range and the relatively narrow beam widths that can be achieved;
• The spatial resolution is better at very high frequencies;
• It is easy to realize Gb/s transmission;
• The physical size of antennas at very high frequencies is small and it becomes practical to build complex antenna arrays and/or further integrate them.

60 GHz radio and E-band radio, though belong to the same class of millimeter-wave devices, have different properties; these properties are determining applications. Two main applications for 60 GHz radio were emphasized: a) Fixed Wireless, and b) WPAN. The primary application of E-band radio is fiber link substitution at the last mile.

The technology improvements and demand for wireless applications (particular, with increased use of HDTV), work of standard organizations (such as IEEE and ETSI) as well as contributions from such companies like IBM and Motorola are helping with 60 GHz radio commercialization.

Designed for transmission of uncompressed video in the HD-format, 60 GHz WPAN very soon will compete with wired technologies and may reduce or even eliminate use of such expensive techniques as HDMI. In the Fixed Wireless application, 60 GHz radio will deal with short (up to several hundred meters) indoor and outdoor channels.

The report analyzes properties of 60 GHz technology and researches its market segments for Fixed Radio and WPAN applications. The report discusses commercialization issues; the situation is gradually improving with several inexpensive solutions for IC integration and packaging specifically for 60 GHz radio chips.

In the part of the report concerning E-band radio, we provide reasons why this radio technology is becoming so popular-the FCC regulated 13 GHz of spectrum for the licensed use of E-band. Licensing in this band does not require going through a labyrinth of paperwork, or spending any significant amounts of money. This band allows creation of multi-gigabit data paths for distances of several kilometers. One of the main applications of these radios is replacement of fiber at the last mile.

Report provides marketing prospectus on E-band radio-with rapidly improving IC technologies and growing demand for fast-deployed and cost-effective high-speed data links (up to several Gb/s) these radios are in the winning position.

Considerable research was performed using the Internet. Information from various Web sites was studied and analyzed; evaluation of publicly available marketing and technical publications was also conducted. Telephone conversations and interviews were held with industry analysts, technical experts and executives. In addition to these interviews and primary research, secondary sources were used to develop a more complete mosaic of the market landscape, including industry and trade publications, conferences and seminars.

The overriding objective throughout the work has been to provide valid and relevant information. This has led to a continual review and update of the information content.

This report provides the millimeter-wave radio technology and market analysis and assessments. These materials are useful for service providers, vendors, network operators and managers, Enterprise IT staff, investors and end users seeking to gain a deeper understanding of millimeter-wave radio opportunities and barriers in the market growth.

The end users can gain thorough understanding of product' s market and capabilities as well as the economics of using these technologies products to improve cost efficiency.