NYU WIRELESS Founder Applauds FCC Move Toward the Next Generation of Wireless Technology
Statement by Professor Theodore S. (Ted) Rappaport, founder of NYU WIRELESS at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering
NYU WIRELESS salutes the FCC Commissioners for today's decision to put the world’s first concrete rules in place for the 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum. Today’s decision will open huge bands of licensed and unlicensed wireless bandwidth to enable super-fast wireless and Wi-Fi and will encourage carriers to serve dense areas with vastly more bandwidth while also enabling broadband service to areas that are currently unprofitable to reach. The FCC's action will thereby potentially increase access where it is being consumed the most while bridging the digital gap in many rural areas of the country.
We are gratified that the Commissioners accepted a majority of the recommendations made as a result of groundbreaking research into millimeter wave wireless technology by NYU WIRELESS and its 16 affiliated sponsors from industry. By setting the ground rules for this exciting new technology, the FCC is accelerating the potential for development of the Internet of Things, the Tactile Internet, new wireless personal medical devices, and breakthroughs as yet unimagined. Our groundbreaking mmWave research into radio propagation and channel modeling has demonstrated to the FCC and the world that mmWaves will work for mobile settings, in both outdoor and indoor scenarios.
While we agree with Commissioner Pai that more spectrum—particularly above 71 gigahertz—would have been good to include, today's decision was a strong start, and much speedier than anticipated. It is a proud day to be an American as the United States takes the lead in moving to revolutionary products and services. The United States led the way in creating the spectrum bands that led to Wi-Fi, in authorizing the unlicensed use of the spectrum at 60 GHz, and now is taking the lead for licensed millimeter wave mobile operations, and providing vastly more unlicensed frequencies above 60 GHz. By vastly increasing the inventory of licensed and unlicensed bandwidth—all of which enable data to flow more freely through our airwaves—completely new applications and products will emerge, while also improving present-day wireless connectivity.
See NYU WIRELESS filings with FCC for detail on technology and its impact.
About the NYU Tandon School of Engineering
The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, when the NYU School of Civil Engineering and Architecture as well as the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly) were founded. Their successor institutions merged in January 2014 to create a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to programs at its main campus in downtown Brooklyn, it is closely connected to engineering programs in NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai, and it operates business incubators in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn.
