Joerg Widmer, Research Professor at IMDEA Networks, has been one of the three selected keynote speakers at the thirteenth International Conference on Ad-Hoc Networks and Wireless, ADHOC-NOW 2014. The event, which focuses on presentations and discussions about ongoing experimental and theoretical research on wireless and mobile computing, took place in Benidorm, Spain, from the 22nd to the 27th of June, 2014.
Abstract of the talk “Spectrum for the Masses: Networking in the Millimeter Wave Band”
State-of-the-art wireless communication already operates close to Shannon capacity and one of the most promising options to further increase data rates is to increase the communication bandwidth. Very high bandwidth channels are only available in the extremely high frequency part of the radio spectrum, the millimeter wave band (mm-wave). Upcoming communication technologies, such as IEEE 802.11ad, are already starting to exploit this part of the radio spectrum. However, communication at such high frequencies suffers from high attenuation and signal absorption, often restricting communication to line-of-sight (LOS) scenarios and requiring the use of highly directional antennas. This in turn requires a radical rethinking of wireless network design. On the one hand side, such channels experience little interference, allowing for a high degree of spatial reuse and potentially simpler MAC and interference management mechanisms. On the other hand, such an environment is extremely dynamic and channels may appear and disappear over very short time intervals, in particular for mobile devices. This talk will highlight some of the challenges of and possible approaches for networking in the mm-wave band.