Millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum may be the solution to the spectrum gridlock in cellular systems. WNCG director Robert Heath and former WNCG professor Ted Rappaport organized an invited session on millimeter wave cellular communication at theIEEE International Conference on Communications. The sessionfeatured presentations from Heath, Rappaport, Dr. Ali Sadri (Intel, WiGig), Dr. Amithava Ghosh (Nokia Siemens Networks), Dr. Wonil Roh (Samsung), Dr. David Astley (Ericsson), and Dr. Nader Zein (NEC Labs). At the workshop, there was a debate on the role of mmWave in future cellular systems. Two directions of thought emerged: access and backhaul. Those who agree on accessbelieve that mmWave can be used for cellular systems to provide the link from the base station to the mobile users. Those who agree on backhaul believe that mmWave is probably a technology for providing high bandwidth wireless connections between base stations. Heath expects this debate will continue at future conferences. Dr. Robert W. Heath Jr. is director of WNCG and the Wireless Systems Innovations Lab. His research focuses on MIMO communication, multi-user MIMO, OFDM, signal processing, smart antennas, DSP, and multiple-input.
