Nikkei Electronics Asia -- October 2009
Analysis
[Web-Exclusive] Millimeter-Wave Comms: Scenario for Lower Cost

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Oct 15, 2009 00:00 Hiroki Yomogita

Millimeter waves are attracting growing attention as a means of high-speed wireless communication exceeding 1Gbps in throughput. Perhaps the biggest point of all is that a wide (7GHz) bandwidth is available for use internationally, license-free. Manufacturers of products from digital home electronics and personal computers (PC) to mobile phones are planning to take advantage of the opportunity, but the key to widespread adoption is cutting component costs. Already efforts are under way to significantly slash costs, spearheaded by manufacturers in the equipment, semiconductor and other industries.

"Millimeter waves are going to be needed in a few years, no question about it. That's why we're working on them now," says Alexander Maltsev, principal engineer at Intel Corp of the US. 

Plans to utilize 60GHz-band millimeter-wave communication in applications including PCs and digital home electronics are accelerating (Fig 1). The goal is to utilize millimeter-wave communication to implement an ultra-high speed interface capable of pumping data between equipment at several Gbps. The positioning of millimeter-wave communication in the industry seems sure to change dramatically now that multiple manufacturers are working on it.

And now that shipment volume is rising, the remaining problem of component cost is also heading toward a lower-cost solution (Fig 2).

Pushing Development

In May 2009, 15 companies including Intel, Microsoft Corp of the US, Nokia Corp of Finland, Dell, Inc of the US and Panasonic Corp of Japan joined forces to create the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig), an industry group to define standard for millimeter-wave communication in digital home electronics. The specs should be completed by the fourth quarter of 2009, and interoperability testing could start as soon as 2010. 

Leading manufacturers of Wireless Local Area Network (LAN) integrated circuits (IC) such as Intel, Broadcom Corp of the US and Atheros Communications, Inc of the US also launched "Task Group ad" (TGad), a standardization working group for millimeter wave-based Wireless LAN, within the IEEE802 Committee in early 2009. According to principal engineer Eldad Perahia of Intel, 11ad Chair, "Millimeter waves constitute an effective technology that complements the existing 11n Wireless LAN approach. It will no doubt be used in a variety of applications including offices and homes."