Multi-Gigabit indoor WLANs: Looking beyond 2.4/5 GHz

This work explores the idea of building multi-Gigabit indoor enterprise WLANs using the millimeter-wave technology. Instead of the legacy 2.4/5 GHz band, we look at the unlicensed band around 60 GHz and the new 802.11ad standard, which supports PHY data rates of up to 6.76 Gbps. Through a set of measurements with commercial hardware, we show the feasibility of building multi-Gigabit WLANs. Using observations from our experiments and results reported in recent studies, we point out both the advantages and drawbacks of the 60 GHz technology, and identify the research challenges towards making multi-Gigabit 60 GHz indoor WLANs a reality.

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