ITU-R WP5D: Studies on technical feasibility of IMT in bands above 100 GHz
The development of IMT for 2030 and beyond is expected to enable new use cases and applications with extremely high data rate and low latency, which will benefit from large contiguous bandwidth spectrum resource with around tens of GHz. This suggests the need to consider spectrum in higher frequency ranges above 92 GHz as a complementary of the lower bands.
Report ITU-R M.[IMT.ABOVE 100 GHz] investigates technical feasibility of IMT in bands above 92 GHz including propagation characteristics, potential new enabling IMT technologies, which could be appropriate for operation in these bands, and relevant deployment scenarios.
The Report describes a series of propagation measurement activities carried out by academia and industry aiming at investigating the propagation characteristics in these bands under several different environments (such as outdoor urban and indoor office). It also includes a summary of the measurement activities collected for these bands, noting that bands of interest are more concentrated in 100, 140-160, 220-240, and around 300 GHz. Characteristics of IMT technologies in bands above 92 GHz, including coverage, link budget, mobility, impact of bandwidth and needed capabilities to support new use cases, have been presented in this Report.
To overcome major challenges of operating in bands above 92 GHz such as limited transmission power, the obstructed propagation environment due to high propagation losses and blockage, it describes enabling antenna and semiconductor technologies, material technologies including reconfigurable intelligent surfaces and MIMO and beamforming technologies as potential solutions.
Given the large bandwidth and high attenuation characteristics of bands above 92 GHz, some typical use cases are also envisaged in this Report, such as indoor/outdoor hot spots, integrated sensing and communication, super-sidelink, flexible wireless backhaul and fronthaul.
The radio wave propagation assessment, measurements, technology development and prototyping described in the Report indicate that utilizing the bands above 92 GHz is feasible for studied IMT deployment scenarios, and could be considered for the development of IMT for 2030 and beyond.
This ITU-R report is expected to be completed and approved in 2023.
References:
ITU-R Report in Progress: Use of IMT (likely 5G and 6G) above 100 GHz (even >800 GHz)
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Feb 6, 2024 Update: [PRELIMINARY] DRAFT NEW REPORT ITU-R M.[IMT.ABOVE 100 GHz]- Feb 6, 2024
Technical feasibility of IMT in bands above 100 GHz
1. Introduction
It is envisioned that future IMT systems will need to support very high throughput data links to cope with the growth of the data traffic, new extremely bandwidth demanding use cases, as well as new capabilities of integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). There has been academic and industry research and development ongoing related to suitability of mobile broadband systems in frequency bands above 92 GHz to enable services requiring tera-bit per second speeds. This has prompted researchers to consider the technical feasibility of higher frequency bands in IMT.
2. Scope
This Report provides information on the technical feasibility of IMT in bands between 92 GHz and 400 GHz. This Report complements the studies carried in Report ITU-R M.2376. This technical feasibility Report includes information on propagation mechanisms and channel models, as well as newly developed technology enablers such as active and passive components, antenna techniques, deployment architectures, and the results of simulations and performance tests.
ITU Related documents
Resolution ITU-R 56-3 – Naming for International Mobile Telecommunications
Resolution ITU-R 65-1 – Principles for the process of future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond
Recommendation ITU-R M.2160 – Framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2030 and beyond
Recommendation ITU-R F.699 – Reference radiation patterns for fixed wireless system antennas for use in coordination studies and interference assessment in the frequency range from 100 MHz to 86 GHz
Recommendation ITU-R P.525 – Calculation of free-space attenuation
Recommendation ITU-R P.676 – Attenuation by atmospheric gases and related effects
Recommendation ITU-R P.838 – Specific attenuation model for rain for use in prediction methods
Recommendation ITU-R P.2109 – Prediction of building entry loss
Question ITU-R 229/5 – Further development of the terrestrial component of IMT
Question ITU-R 262/5 – Usage of the terrestrial component of IMT systems for specific applications
Question 237/1 – Technical and operational characteristics of the active services operating in the range 275-1 000 GHz
Question ITU-R 228-3 – Propagation data required for the planning of radiocommunication systems operating above 275 GHz
Question 231/7 – Earth exploration-satellite service (active) and space research service (active) operating above 100 GHz
Question 257/7 – Technical and operational characteristics of radio astronomy applications operating above 275 GHz
Report ITU-R M.2516 – Future technology trends of terrestrial IMT systems towards 2030 and beyond
Report ITU-R M.2376 – Technical feasibility of IMT in bands above 6 GHz
Report ITU-R M.2412- Guidelines for evaluation of radio interface technologies for IMT 2020
Report ITU-R M.2417-1- Technical and operational characteristics of land-mobile service applications in the frequency range 275-450 GHz
Report ITU-R F.2416 – Technical and operational characteristics and applications of the point-to-point fixed service applications operating in the frequency band 275-450 GHz
Report ITU-R SM.2352 – Technology trends of active services in the frequency range 275-3 000 GHz