IEEE forms group to explore wireless personal area networks at 60 GHz - Standards - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - Brief Article

Mobile Internet, The, Oct, 2003

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has formed an interest group to explore the use of the 60 GHz band for wireless personal area networks (WPANs), which generally have a range of 10 meters. This little-used, 7 GHz-wide portion of the radio spectrum (as defined in FCC 47 CFR 15.255) avoids interference with nearly all electronic devices, given the high attenuation of these wavelengths by walls and floors, and promises to allow more WPANs to occupy the same building.

The IEEE 802.15.3 Millimeter Wave Interest Group (mm WIG) was formed in July 2003 as part of an effort to develop a millimeter-wave-based alternative physical layer (PHY) for the IEEE high-rate WPAN standard, IEEE 802.15.3-2003. Interest groups are the first step in the creation of a standard. The initial meeting of the IEEE mmWIG was held in Singapore in September.