FIGURE 1: IMT for 2020 and beyond is setting the stage for 5G that is emerging around the world.
Source: ITU; ITU towards IMT for 2020 and beyond.
January/February 2019 I9
Unimportant to the everyday consumer, though
crucial in the business of designing wireless systems,
is the fact that Wi-Fi and 802.11 wireless standards
are not necessarily the same. Wi-Fi is a branding and
interoperability certification effort by an alliance of
industry-leading companies around the world known as
the Wi-Fi Alliance. The 802.11 family of standards are
international wireless standards developed by IEEE,
which are sometimes laboratory certified by and
promoted by the Wi-Fi Alliance. The wireless designer
working with wireless systems should understand that
not all 802.11 standards or devices are Wi-Fi certified.
However, having this certification offers additional
assurances for interoperability and compatibility
between manufacturers.
Another major organization helping to shape this
wireless world is the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) and its work on the International Mobile
Telecommunications (IMT) Systems and Specifications. Most
importantly today, the ITU via IMT-2020 is outlining the
requirements for 5G cellular as shown in Figure 1.
The ITU also defined the industrial, scientific
and medical (ISM) radio bands, which are unlicensed
radio bands intended for purposes other than
telecommunications. However, they are used for many
of the technologies defined by the IEEE, the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and those discussed
in the remaining sections of this article.
The FCC is the regulatory body in the U.S. that deals
with licensing and frequency coordination. There are
other regulatory bodies around the world that may need
to be contacted for licensed wireless requirements outside
of the U.S. The FCC manages the ISM bands in the U.S.
and established the Unlicensed National Information
Infrastructure (U-NII) radio bands, another unlicensed
part of the spectrum. The FCC defined the U-NII bands,
but others developed the specifications for technologies
that use them. Furthermore, the FCC must also be
included in licensing and frequency coordination with
some of the microwave/millimeter wave technologies
that do not fall under ISM/U-NII rules.
As shown in Table 1, the IEEE may have far more
different activities, but the work of the ITU could
result in it becoming the bigger player. IEEE 802.11n
is technically obsolete, but it is still likely the most
common Wi-Fi platform around the world today.
Report Technology
trends (M.2320)
Report IMT feasibility above
6 GHz (M.2376)
Recommendation Vision of
IMT beyond 2020 (M.2083)
Res. 56/57 and
new Res. 65
Technical
Performance
Requirements
Requirements,
Evaluation Criteria, &
Submission Templates
Circular Letters
& Addendum
Background & Process
(IMT-2020/1,2)
Proposals IMT-2020
Evaluation
Consensus
Outcome &
Decision
IMT-2020
Workshop
Evaluation criteria
& method