'WiGig' Poses no Realistic EESS Interference Threat, Wi-Fi Alliance Says
The entire 57-64 GHz band should be open for in-flight connectivity applications since there's little chance of interference to Earth Exploration Satellite Service (EESS) operations, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in a filing Tuesday in docket 14-177. "WiGig" technology doesn't rely…
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on reflected signals, instead using narrow beams with highly directional antennas, unlike the omnidirectional antennas used in Wi-Fi, meaning no line-of-sight transmissions between WiGig devices and EESS satellite receivers, "and any energy 'reflected' towards [aircraft] windows will have negligible power levels," Wi-Fi Alliance said. It also said National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) suggestions that prohibit in-flight use of WiGig Channel 1 (57.24-59.4 GHz) are unnecessary, pointing to its own interference analysis and saying limiting WiGig channels on flights would restrict unlicensed capacity there and could mean the necessity of installing more access points throughout an aircraft. Wi-Fi Alliance also said the CORF-suggested requirement of RF-reflective window films "would be a costly impediment to the adoption of unlicensed technologies in the millimeter wave bands" and a fix for a reflected signals problem "that will not exist in the first place." It said CORF red flags about WiGig use in the 64-71 GHz band causing interference with Radio Astronomy Service operations are similarly misplaced because RAS doesn't have an allocation there. NAS didn't comment.