Airspan Networks, announced today that it had obtained FCC certification to market its HiperMAX base station in the 3.65GHz band in the United States. It’s the first of a series of products planned for this band, says the company, which will include their MicroMAX, a compact base station, and several subscriber devices including the EasyST and outdoor ProST, both of which also support optional WiFi and VoIP extensions.
Airspan’s HiperMAX solution provides MIMO support and 10MHz channels, which can significantly improve the business case for operators, says the company. The 3.65GHz solution adds to Airspan’s product line for the U.S., which already includes products for the 700MHz, 2.5-, 4.9- and 5.8-GHz bands.
Redline had the first 3.65 GHz WiMAX product to be FCC approved for operation in the United States, although the RedMAX AN100U base station (pdf), using the 3.65 GHz spectrum, is based on the fixed (802.16d) protocol. RedMAX 4C is designed to conform to the requirements for 802.16e Certification Wave 2, which is the WiMAX Forum’s official certification program for Mobile WiMAX.
Tim Sanders, CEO of the Final Mile says this band has a solid block of spectrum (50 MHz) that has a lot of utility. Unrestricted gear could be used across all 50 MHz, while restricted gear could be used only in the lower 25 MHz of the band.
WiMAX falls into the restricted category. This 3.65 GHz block can use two power levels; 25 watts per 25 MHz of spectrum for fixed/portable use, and only 1 watt per 25 MHz of spectrum for mobile use.
As Steve Stroh explains the FCC’s plan:
It partitioned 3650 into two 25 MHz segments - 3.650-3.675 GHz and 3.675 - 3.700 GHz. As I understand what the FCC has proposed, any device that uses any mechanism that can be described as a contention protocol can use the lower segment - contention protocols in that segment do not have to be interoperable. That means that the lower segment will be something of a “free-for-all” or as I prefer to call it - Darwinian.The upper segment is reserved for systems that can “play nice”, whose contention protocol does attempt to work with other systems. A Wi-Fi system adapted for 3650 would be allowed to use both segments because it “listens before transmit” for any kind of transmission on the channel it’s tuned to and if it does receive other transmissions, refrains from transmitting.
WiMAX systems would only be allowed in the lower segment because their contention protocol only interoperates with other WiMAX systems.
Bottom line: a WiMAX channel with the 1W/MHz maximum for fixed services — and MIMO support — as specified in Wave 2 Mobile WiMAX, may also prove useful for last mile applications at 3.65 GHz.
Related Dailywireless articles include; 3.65 GHz Gets Real, Is 3.65GHz Cost/Effective?, 3.65GHz: Made for Independent ISPs, and Airspan Does 3650.
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