Thursday, September 22, 2016

Understanding ISM Band - 2.4GHz and 5GHz -- PART I



Description: This Document will help you in understanding the Radio Frequencies with its classification and uses of Frequency Band in Wireless and in others applications.  

About Radio Frequency (RF)

Radio frequency (RF) is any form of the electromagnetic wave frequencies that lie in the range extending from around 3 kHz to 300 GHz which is used for wireless communications or radar signals and many others purposes as Signal Broadcasting, military operations [1].

Band name
Frequency and wavelength in air
Uses
Extremely low frequency (ELF)
3–30 Hz
100000 km-10000 km
Communication with submarines
Super low frequency(SLF)
30–300 Hz
10,000 km – 1000 km
Communication with submarines
Ultra-low frequency (ULF)
300–3000 Hz
1000 km – 100 km
Submarine communication, communication within mines
Very low frequency (VLF)
3–30 kHz
100 km – 10 km
Navigation, time signals, submarine communication, wireless heart rate monitors, geophysics
Low frequency (LF)
30–300 kHz
10 km – 1 km
Navigation, clock time signals, AM longwave broadcasting, RFID, amateur radio
Medium frequency (MF)
300–3000 kHz
1 km – 100 m
AM (medium-wave) broadcasts, amateur radio
High frequency (HF)
3–30 MHz
100 m – 10 m
Shortwave broadcasts, citizens' band radio, amateur radio and over-the-horizon aviation communications, RFID,  automatic link establishment (ALE), marine and mobile radio telephony
Very high frequency (VHF)
30–300 MHz
10 m – 1 m
FM, television broadcasts and line-of-sight ground-to-aircraft and aircraft-to-aircraft communications, land mobile and maritime mobile communication, weather radio
Ultra-high frequency (UHF)
300–3000 MHz
1 m – 100 mm
Television broadcasts, microwave oven, microwave devices/communications, radio astronomy, mobile phones, wireless LAN, Bluetooth
Super high frequency (SHF)
3–30 GHz
100 mm – 10 mm
Radio astronomy, microwave devices/communications, wireless LAN, most modern radars, communications satellites, cable and satellite television broadcasting
Extremely high frequency (EHF)
30–300 GHz
10 mm – 1 mm
Radio astronomy, high-frequency microwave radio relay, microwave remote sensing, amateur radio, directed-energy weapon, millimeter wave scanner
Tremendously high frequency (THF or THz)
300 GHz – 3 THz
1 mm – 0.1 mm
Experimental medical imaging to replace X-rays, ultrafast molecular dynamics, terahertz time-domain.

What is ISM Band?
The industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands are radio bands (portions of the radio spectrum) reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency (RF) energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other than telecommunications [2].

            Wi-Fi is aimed to use frequencies which are within unlicensed spectrum. This enables users to access the radio spectrum without the need for the regulations and restrictions that might be applicable elsewhere.

ISM bands are also called unlicensed bands. Unlicensed bands that can be used for any purpose without a license in most countries.


The Unlicensed ISM Band categorized into following three (3) range of Frequency Range in which 5 GHz Frequency Range are further divided into 3 levels of band as classified by the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII).

ISM Frequency Band
(unlicensed bands)
Brief Description

902 to 928 MHz
The 33-centimeter or 900 MHz band is a portion of the Ultra high frequency (UHF) radio spectrum internationally allocated to amateur radio on a secondary basis. It ranges from 902 to 928 MHz.


2.4 GHz
(2400 MHz to 2483 MHz)
Generally referred to as the 2.4 GHz band, this spectrum is the most widely used among all the bands available for Wi-Fi. Used by 802.11b, g, & n standards. It can carry a maximum of 3 non-overlapping channels.

5 GHz

          Band A (Lower) UNII-1
(5180 MHz to 5240 MHz)

Band A (Middle) UNII-2
(5260 MHz to 5320 MHz)

Band B (Extended) UNII-2
(5500 MHz to 5700 MHz)

Band C (Extended) UNII-3
(5745 MHz to 5805 MHz)

The 5 GHz spectrum are broken into four bands according to the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) providing a 555 MHz of spectrum, with total 27 channels in which 23 are non-overlapping channels and remaining 4 are overlapping with other channels.
 
This 5 GHz band provides additional bandwidth, and being at a higher frequency, equipment costs are slightly higher and because of this its usage is low, and hence interference is less. Used in 802.11a & n standard. It can carry up to 23 non-overlapping channels, but gives a shorter range than 2.4 GHz.





Brief introduction about Wireless IEEE 802.11 standards
             
IEEE 802.11 is a set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication in the 900 MHz and 24GHz, 3.6GHz, 5GHz, and 60 GHz frequency bands. These standards are created and maintained by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802) [3].

Following are the ISM frequency bands with corresponding IEEE Standards -


IEEE 802.11 Standards
ISM Frequency Bands
                Description
Equipment that operate on  RF Range


802.11y


3.6 GHz

Standard for WLAN and operates in the 3650-3700 MHz
(introduced in 2005 )
Operates at much higher powered Wi-Fi equipment than traditional Wi-Fi equipment (coverage up to 3 miles or more)

802.11b

2.4 GHz
Max raw data rate of 11 Mbps
(introduced in 2000)



Wireless Devices such as Mobile Phones, Laptops, Bluetooth devices, cordless telephones, and some radio equipment.

802.11g

2.4 GHz
Max raw data rate of 56 Mbps (introduced in 2003)



802.11n

2.4 GHz & 5 GHz (Dual Band)
Operates on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands with max. data rate at 450 Mbps
(introduce in 2007)

802.11a

5 GHz

Data rates are within the range of 1.5 to 54 Mbps with error correction.
(introduced in 1999)


Wireless devices
802.11ac
5 GHz
Also Known as "Wireless AC" capable of 1300 Mbps which is 3x faster than 802.11n
(introduced in 2013)
For faster Wi-Fi performance, 802.11ac standards is mostly used because it operates on data rate from 433 Mbps to 1.3Gbps.






                       Fig-1: Graphical representation of IEEE Standards operate at max data rate




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