Radio Frequency (RF) & Wireless Design

There is an article that came out saying that the 5G technology that is emerging is all hype and I tend to agree since its basically Wi-Fi for cellular but with much more complexity.

This is because the frequencies are in the Ku band above 27 GHz and require beam-forming and phased arrays in order to keep the power levels down (which may already be too high - see my other group article on the safety of 5G emissions)

One of the most profitable investors seems to have figured it out too named George Gilder.

https://www.discovery.org/tech/2020/04/28/the-future-of-wireless-harvested-by-wifi6/

Since Wi-Fi 6 has a data rate of up to 11 Gb/s but within the familiar 2.4 and 5.6 GHz bands as 802.11ax :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ax#cite_note-ieeetimeline-3

but will expand into lower frequency bands down to 1 GHz and up to 7.125 GHz as shown by this IEEE timeline

https://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/Reports/802.11_Timelines.htm#tgax

https://www.ieee802.org/11/PARs/P802.11ax.pdf

Whereas 5G networks support up to 10 Gbps they will also have much higher deployment costs of Ku band antennas, amplifiers, increased network cells, and other costs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G

Wi-Fi 6 leverages many of the well known and commoditized technologies that may only need increased power amplifiers for extended range.

What's your side of this topic ?