By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
The FCC continues to lead the world in regulatory innovation by a wide margin: Yesterday, the US regulator created a new class of Wi-Fi devices operating in nearly the full 6 GHz band under a new set of rules dubbed ‘geofenced variable power’ or GVP. GVP devices will be permitted to operate both indoors and outdoors at significantly higher power levels compared to current VLP devices, the FCC announced in a statement released here. The FCC also suggested hiking indoor 6 GHz Wi-Fi by 6 dB when under the control of AFC.
While other countries and regions are spending years trying to decide what to do with the 6 GHz band, the FCC is not pulling any punches. Yesterday, the FCC launched another breakthrough in unlicensed 6 GHz regulation by creating a new Wi-Fi device class. “GVP devices will support high data rates suitable for AR/VR, short-range hotspots, automation, and indoor navigation. GVP devices will overcome limitations of previous device classes by allowing higher power and outdoor mobility,” the FCC’s statement says.
In technical terms the GVP device class will be permitted to operate in nearly the entire 6 GHz band, meaning in the U-NII-5 (5.925-6.425 GHz) and U-NII-7 (6.525-6.875 GHz) sections of the band. The new devices will operate at up to 11 dBm/MHz PSD and 24 dBm EIRP. Furthermore, the FCC says that “GVP devices will be restricted from operating in exclusion zones on certain frequencies as specified by a geofencing system in order to prevent harmful interference from occurring to microwave links that share the 6 GHz band.” See more details here.
Word has it that Apple, Broadcom, and Meta are pushing for this new regulation because the current VLP (Very Low Power) device class operates at power levels that are too low to be practical. There is obviously much work still to be done here in that GVP devices will depend on AFC-like methods (including geolocation) in order not to interfere with incumbents. That said the FCC is arguably starting from a position of strength when it comes to introducing dynamic spectrum sharing schemes.
“Exclusion zones will be calculated consistent with the protection methodology being used by the AFC systems and GVP devices will obtain that information to avoid causing any significant risk of harmful interference to incumbent licensed users,” the FCC says.
Meanwhile – and at least equally important if not more so – the FCC is seeking comment on a proposal that would allow LPI and standard power APs to operate at 6 dB higher power levels indoors when under the control of an AFC system. This constitutes a highly sensible (many would say fairly obvious) evolution of the current rules for AFC-based Wi-Fi as AFC calculation methods have not previously taken into account building penetration losses when determining permitted power levels.
And while the FCC is barreling ahead and creating huge new opportunities in connectivity, the EU is still – to say the least – dragging its feet and appears to be mostly stuck in a pre-1990’s mobile paradigm when it comes to spectrum allocation. We wrote about it here. The one other shining star in regulatory innovation is the UK’s Ofcom who is adopting a ‘best of both world’s’ approach to Wi-Fi in the upper 6 GHz band.
Also read Cisco’s brand new paper on how Europe could and should shift to a ‘better together’ 6 GHz spectrum strategy accommodating both Wi-Fi and IMT (mobile services) here.
/Claus.
