Work On LTE-U Testing Regime Makes Progress But No Scheduled Date In Sight
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Last month, reports that the battle over LTE in Wi-Fi bands could come to a conclusion brought some optimism. But the Wi-Fi Alliance’s efforts to resolve the battle are continuing, with no end date for testing is yet in sight, according to Fierce Wireless.
Kevin Robinson, VP of marketing for the Wi-Fi Alliance, stated that the group is making headway in its attempts to establish a testing regime for the LTE-U technologies in order to find common ground between the cellular and Wi-Fi industries, but no timeline has been established for the release of an LTE-U testing process.
At a Nov. 4 Wi-Fi Alliance workshop in Palo Alto, CA, 100 people from 54 companies agreed to jointly develop coexistence tests for unlicensed LTE products, Robinson told InfoWorld. The participants included Qualcomm, Ericsson, Verizon, Comcast, Microsoft, Google, and Broadcom. “Everyone involved has already committed to protecting users of Wi-Fi,” Robinson said.
The battle has been a tenacious one, with Wi-Fi backers, including Google, cable operators, and the Wi-Fi Alliance, up in arms over emerging technologies that would let LTE networks use unlicensed frequencies. Technically, these radio bands are open to any system that meets some basic requirements for minimizing interference, but Wi-Fi proponents say that LTE could cause wireless LANs to get squeezed out.
This makes the truce that the Wi-Fi Alliance can arrange through the development of an LTE-U testing regime very important. IT could provide the necessary guidelines and testing to ensure that LTE devices can peacefully co-exist with Wi-Fi without interference.
IT World also reported that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission was investigating the debate over Wi-Fi and unlicensed LTE, but Wi-Fi Alliance President and CEO Edgar Figueroa said the Wi-Fi Alliance wants to maintain the status quo of the unlicensed ecosystem the way in order for innovation to continue.
The LTE-U testing regime under development includes three basic elements: basic scenarios; low-energy detection scenarios; and complicated scenarios, according to Fierce Wireless. The Wi-Fi Alliance’s testing regime is designed to allow industry players to conduct standardized tests on new LTE-U technologies to assess their impact on Wi-Fi users.
A Wi-Fi Alliance workshop is scheduled for February 10, in San Jose, CA, where the Wi-Fi Alliance plans to announce when it will complete its testing regime.