Worldwide Standards for Gb/s WPAN Using the 60 GHz

Unlicensed BandBruce Bosco

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Overview• What is a standard ?• What are the types and advantages of

various standards organizations (SDOs)?• Why is 60 GHz band generating so much

interest?• What are the SDOs presently looking at this

space?• Why do we care?

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Standards: What & Why?• Standard (n): “a pattern or model that is generally accepted”• Standardize (v): “to make things of the same type all have the same basic features”• This discussion: Standard (n): “ A technical

specification, usually a formal document specifying uniform criteria”

• A means to enable interoperability…

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Types of Standards• Open Standard

– “Anyone” can participate– Implies reasonable and non-discriminatory royalty fees

• Proprietary Standard– Privately held by a single entity

• “Private/membership” Standard– Consortium of members. Generally requires a paid

membership and usually by invitation • De facto Standard

– Informally established and accepted over time– As opposed to De Jure, or by decree

• Mandatory Standard– Generally Government mandated

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Proprietary Vs. Standardized Solution

• Proprietary– First to market– Minimize technological compromise– Often most innovative– Can be very successful (Microsoft, Apple)

• Standard– Slow, often messy process– Always some compromise– But alternate sources usually available– Interoperability increased marketing base– Competition lower product cost & more demand– Takes advantage of economies of scale

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Economy of Scale • Producer:

– Lower profit margin/unit but potentially much larger total profit!

• Example:– 10M units @ $1 net Vs.

– 10k units @ $100 net

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Motivation for Gb/s Standards• Ever increasing amount of digital data for

consumer applications– High definition uncompressed streaming video***

– Interactive gaming

– Digital photography

– Digital home movies

– Data and file transfer***

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Common Use cases• Required for proposal evaluation in both 802.15.3c and ECMA-387

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Motivation for Gb/s Standards• Present wired standards/data rates

– Wired: de facto standard presently for high data rates

– Gigabit Ethernet- 1 Gb/s for consumer, typical interoffice

– Firewire/IEEE 1394 - 400 Mb/s to 800 Mb/s (rates up to 3.2 Gb/s defined)

– DVI/HDMI – 3.986 Gb/s to 4.5 Gb/s ( 10.2 Gb/s for versions 1.3a and 1.3b)

– USB 2.0 (Hi-speed) 480 Mb/s

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Motivation for Gb/s Standards• Present deployed wireless WPAN/WLAN

standards/data rates– 802.11 b/g/n –

– .11n advertises rates up to 300 Mb/s

• Note that these are maximum data rates– Sustained rates are usually ½ or less than the max

– Recent benchmarking of several commercially

available systems indicate maybe ¼ advertised

rate is more accurate

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Motivation for Gb/s Standards• Expectation from consumer is that wireless

maintain a quality of service (QoS) very close to that of wired– Deployed systems requirements

• Robust

• Easy to set up

• Cost effective (cheap)

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Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN)

• What is our working definition of WPAN?• Traditionally, less than 10m in radius from user• More recent definition is that range is not key

defining factor:– Focus is inward, towards a single user or isolated ad-

hoc network

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Why 60 GHz?

• Bandwidth, bandwidth, bandwidth…– Unlicensed

– 7 GHz US & Japan

– 3.5 GHz contiguous spectrum available world wide

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Why 60 GHz?• Attenuation due to atmospheric absorption and

most other materials

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Why 60 GHz?

• Relatively high gain antennas required– Limited interference to adjacent link even at same

frequency

– Spatial and frequency reuse enabled• Multiple users at closely space channels in very near proximity

possible

– Inherent degree of security • Very difficult to intercept a signal

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Why 60 GHz?• Demonstrated multi-gigabit performance

– Motorola, IBM, NEC and others have published results showing sustained rates up to at least 3.5 Gb/s for LOS applications

– IBM, Sibeam and others have implemented solutions in low cost SiGE and CMOS technologies

– Because of the available bandwidth, very low complexity modulation schemes can be implemented for robust operation and high QoS

– Example: Motorola demonstrated over 3 Gb/s at low BER at 10m using OOK modulation (2005)

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Standards and Alliances for 60 GHz WPAN

• IEEE 802.15.3c • ECMA (European Computer Manufacturers

Association ) - 387• 802.11 VHT60/Tgad • WirelessHD

• Other SDOs and Alliances

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IEEE 802.15.3c• IEEE “Open” SDO• Task Group (TG) formed March 2005• Define an alternate physical layer (PHY) operating in

the new and clear US band including 57 – 64 GHz• At least one mode capable of > 1 Gb/s @ at least 10m• Key players

- Motorola - Intel- NICT - IBM- Panasonic - Sibeam- Qualcomm - Samsung- OKI - Phillips

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IEEE 802.15.3c

• Notable features and accomplishments:– Media access layer (MAC)

• 802.15.3 MAC with “enhancements”• Developed for 802.15.3a UWB standard• Enables ad-hoc networks

– PHY• Four channels of 2.16 GHz/channel defined

– First three for US applications• Common mode is /2 BPSK at 25.3 MHz• Single carrier data rates up to 5.18 Gb/s• Optional single carrier and OFDM modes

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IEEE 802.15.3c

• Notable features and accomplishments:– Channel Model

• Developed comprehensive indoor model based on measured data for line of sight (LOS) model

• NLOS model derived from LOS model and verified through selective measurement

• Required an large amount of resources and time to complete

• Implemented in MATLAB

• Recommended for Tgad 60 GHz model

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IEEE 802.15.3c

• Status:– In Sponsor Ballot (closes today)

– Next to final step

– Expected release ~ September 2009

Alternate millimeter-wave PHY for 802.15.3 timeline

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ECMA-387

• International, private (membership-based) SDO• Key member companies for this standard

– Panasonic

– Phillips

– IBM

– Ericsson

– Newlans

– GEDC (Georgia Electronic Design Center)

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ECMA-387

• Notable features:– MAC

• Based on ECMA-368 MAC, with changes to support directional communication in 60 GHz

• Uses discovery beacon to establish network• Similar to 802.15.3 MAC but appears simpler

– PHY• “Homogeneous Networking” - all device PHYs have the same

capabilities• On-OFF Keying (OOK) is mandatory for all devices• Type A: SCBT, DBSK, OOK• Type B: DBSK, OOK• Type C: OOK• Other SC and OFDM modes are optional• Very simple compared to 802.15.3c

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ECMA-387 • Status

– Revision 1 completed and published December 2008– Approved for JTC-1 “fast-track” procedure for approval by IEC and ISO members– Typically ~ six month process, full approval expected by June/July 2009

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IEEE 802.11 VHT60/Tgad

• Very high throughput (VHT) group - study options for obtaining higher throughput for .11n• VHT 60 – subgroup for > 1 Gb/s using 60 GHz band• Project Authorization Requirement (PAR) approved January 2009• First Task Group meeting January 2009

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IEEE 802.11 VHT60/Tgad • Notable features:

– MAC• May use 802.11n MAC for .11n functions• Could use 802.15.3 MAC for high rate/high frequency – hybrid• Or modified .11n MAC for both

– PHY• Dual PHYs - .11n and “.15.3c like”• Not set how it would be implemented• Two main points that differentiate from .15.3c

1. PHY would automatically and quickly fallback from 60GHz to 5 or 2.4 GHz 802.11 networks when blockage or other problems occur maintaining quality of service (QOS)

2. Compatible with existing 802.11 services, access points and base stations as well as its network management features

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IEEE 802.11 VHT60/Tgad

• Status– Project Authorization Requirement (PAR) approved January 2009– First Task Group meeting January 2009– Plan to finalize standard through full approval 2012– Periodic conference calls with Tgac (VHT6) and 802.15.3c – on coexistence issues

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WirelessHD• WirelessHD

– Formed in 2006– Generate next generation specification for consumer targeted A/V applications– Coalition includes: Intel, Broadcom, LG, Panasonic, Sibeam and others– Lots of press, hype, CES “demos” and so on– Specification released January 2008– First generation production chip set – limited availability and access– Key features: OFDM exclusively, beam steering (low rate PHY only)

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Other SDOs and Alliances • NGmS

– Next generation millimeter-wave specification– Members:

• Broadcom, Intel, others – Details

• Possibly will leverage work done in 802.15.3c• May focus primarily on OFDM PHY• Little else know at this time

• Bluetooth – Still appears to be some interest in order to obtain high speed (not necessarily large file) data transfers

• Others?

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Recent Developments• Gefen reportedly to begin producing WirelessHD compliant adapters with first production available Q2 2009. Cost is

around $700 per link. (Jan 8, 2009)• IBM announces initial results of new chip with hybrid antenna in a single package. Rates up to five Gb/s at five

meters were reported. Technology is based on SiGe HBT. (Jan 23, 2009)• IMEC reports on results for several key blocks of a 60 GHz radio based on 45nm CMOS. Results included a power

amplifier with 11 dBm 1 dB compression point – right at the requirements for ~ 10m range .(March 2009)

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Why do we care?

• OPPORTUNITIES – still early enough to get into the game…– Integrated semiconductor solutions

• RF• Baseband• ADC & DAC

– Antenna– Packaging– Network architecture – Software– Systems– Consumer products– Enterprise products

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Summary

• Standards are needed for interoperability and conformance

• Various types of standards each address a specific space

• 60 GHz band is the front runner for addressing multi-gigabit wireless requirements

• Several SDOs are targeting this space• Opportunities to leverage this developing market

are emerging presently and could be exploited

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Acknowledgments

• Steve Rockwell – SKR Consulting LLC

• Abby Mathew - Newlans

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References 1. Cambridge Online Dictionary http://dictionary.cambridge.org/2. IEEE 802.15 website http://www.ieee802.org/15/3. ECMA website http://www.ecma-international.org4. IEEE 802.11 website http://www.ieee802.org/11/index.shtml5. Wireless HD website http://www.wirelesshd.org/ 6. B. Bosco, S. Franson, R. Emrick, S. Rockwell, J. Holmes, “A 60

GHz Transciever with Multi-Gigabit Data Capability”, RAWCON 2004

7. IEEE Publication “15-09/0245R0 Project Timeline”8. IEEE Publication “15-06-0369-09-003c Summary Usage

Models”9. http://www.engadget.com/tag/60ghz/

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THANK YOU!