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<\/p>\nCommercial 5G networks are barely operational in the United States right now, but that hasn\u2019t stopped engineers from thinking ahead to 6G \u2014 and the U.S. government wants to facilitate their experiments over the next decade. After a\u00a0unanimous vote<\/a>, the FCC is opening \u201cterahertz wave\u201d spectrum for experimental purposes, creating legal ways for companies to test and sell post-5G wireless equipment.<\/p>\n The FCC\u2019s Spectrum Horizons First Report and Order deals specifically with the 95 gigahertz (GHz) to 3 terahertz (THz) range \u2014 a collection of frequencies that aren\u2019t currently being used in consumer devices, and have wide bandwidth with vast potential for data streaming. In addition to issuing 10-year licenses to experiment in that range, the FCC will offer a full 21.2GHz of spectrum for testing of unlicensed devices.<\/p>\n Collectively, that 95GHz to 3THz spectrum extends a little beyond the\u00a0300GHz to 3THz range defined as \u201ctremendously high frequency.\u201d At the lower end of the FCC\u2019s range, 95GHz to 300GHz signals are technically still millimeter waves, as they\u2019re at or\u00a0over<\/em>\u00a01 millimeter in wavelength. But\u00a0300GHz to 3THz signals are are at or\u00a0under<\/em>\u00a01 millimeter in wavelength, and for that reason called \u201csubmillimeter waves.\u201d<\/p>\n Even by comparison with the\u00a024GHz to 28GHz millimeter wave spectrum<\/a>\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0currently being auctioned off<\/a>\u00a0by the FCC, the terahertz spectrum is considered bleeding-edge enough to be nearly science fiction. FCC Commissioner Michael O\u2019Rielly said the nascence of terahertz technology made the vote felt \u201clike designating zoning laws for the moon,\u201d and noted his hesitance to \u201ccreate a class of incumbents, who then have to be moved or protected in the future when this spectrum becomes of greater interest for 6G, 7G, or whatever the next-next-generation wonder technology may be.\u201d<\/p>\n But other commissioners, including Jessica Rosenworcel, were largely optimistic on the plans for the spectrum. \u201cThere is something undeniably cool about putting these stratospheric frequencies to use and converting their propagation challenges into opportunity,\u201d she said. \u201cThis rulemaking gets that effort underway, so it has my support.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cpropagation challenges\u201d she references are non-trivial. Like millimeter waves, submillimeter waves face issues such as limited transmitting distances and an inability to penetrate buildings. However, NYU Wireless Professor Ted Rappaport (via\u00a0FierceWireless<\/a>) said that the higher-frequency signals will perform better with directional antennas, and claimed that with the new spectrum,<\/p>\n you can start having data rates that approach the bandwidth needed to provide wireless cognition, where the computations of the human brain at those data rates could actually be sent on the fly over wireless. As such, you could have drones or robotics receive in real time the kind of perception and cognition that the human brain could do.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Actual applications of the technology are yet to be demonstrated, and in most cases even imagined. But the dreaming of what\u2019s to come after 5G has already begun.\u00a0Keysight made a sizable donation to NYU<\/a>\u00a0last October to spur 6G development. Later this month,\u00a0scientists and engineers will gather in Oulu, Finland for a\u00a06G Wireless Summit<\/a>, in hopes of further defining what the standard could look like \u2014 when it comes together in or around the year 2030. Thanks to the FCC\u2019s vote, it looks like the United States is ready to welcome the next generation of wireless experiments with open arms.<\/p>\n
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