This February the FCC approved the commercial use of ultrawideband, a new “band” operating between 3.1GHz to 10.6 GHz. Interference is not expected to be an issue since the signal spreads out over a huge swath of frequencies. UWB signals are below the noise threshold of ordinary radios. According to the UWB Working Group (FAQ), range is short, less than 100 feet, but it has the potential to be a “wireless Firewire”. UWB could eliminate multipath and low-power chips are relatively easy to make. Chips from Multi-Spectral and Time Domain provide 40MB/sec with less power drain than Bluetooth or 802.11b. Firefighters, using higher power, can see through walls with UWB.
C/NET reports the FCC has now begun the process of licensing the “Millimeter Band”, between 71GHz and 95GHz, for commercial use. Industry leaders say it has the potential to deliver up to 12.5 gigabyte Internet access to homes or businesses as many as 12 miles away from an antenna. The FCC began looking at this area of waves in July 2000 after a workshop on new uses of spectrum in the 90GHz range.
There seems to be plenty of bandwidth (1200 MHz) in the lower 38 GHz like the LMDS band. Just ask Teligent and ART. But the 90 GHz millimeter band has at least one unique characteristic: it can “see” through clothing.
While infrared cameras, like FLIR create images from heat, the British QinetiQ millimeter camera can see through clothes in the 90 Ghz millimeter band.
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