NYU WIRELESS Founder and Director recently spoke with EE Times Silicon Valley Bureau Chief Rick Merritt about the 5G Spectrum currently on the horizon.  Rappaport insists that there is a coming renaissance in wireless and in order to harness its potential, US regulators should be opening up licensing for the millimeter wave bands.

“We need a playground for carriers and manufacturers to develop the prototypes to show what can be done at 28, 38- 40 and 70-90 GHz bands.  There’s a big movement here, but I’m just afraid the US is behind in it,” said Rappaport.

In Rappaport’s view, other countries are currently moving to license these bands at a much faster rate than the United States.  “Korea and China see this opportunity and appear to be more spectrum friendly in the use of millimeter waves for cellular mobility.”  Prof. Rappaport had the opportunity to share the exciting work being done at NYU WIRELESS, particularly with regards to the propagation database of millimeter wave signals that each of the center’s industrial affiliates has access to. “Our work showed directional antennas bouncing energy in an urban environment makes a good cellular link – better than today’s cell phones.”

Link to full story: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1321189