IoT for 5G Era
On Nov. 10, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning officially announced technological standards on the apportionment of 8Hz frequencies of the K-ICT free band to help companies cope with the demand for things like the IoT and high-speed wireless telecommunication.
The K-ICT free band refers to a frequency band that can be freely used without permission or reports if the minimum technological standards such as power output are met to prevent interference between devices. A good example is Wi-Fi devices. Wi-Fi makers do not obtain rights to using frequencies, but simply install Wi-Fi modules in devices after having them certified.
The frequencies of the K-ICT free band that the ministry will apportion this time are 262-264 MHz (2 MHz bandwidth), 24-27 GHz (3 GHz bandwidth) in the extremely low band and 64-66 GHz (2 GHz bandwidth), 122-123 GHz (1 GHz bandwidth), 244-246 GHz (2 GHz bandwidth), all of which belong to the 8 GHz bandwidth. 200 MHz bandwidth can be used in long-distance IoT services such as remote meter reading and smart homes.
The 24 GHz bandwidth can work with small output radar and 5G mobile telecommunications repeaters. Ultra-high 60 GHz bandwidth will be chosen for uncompressed high-volume video and high-resolution short-range radar in the 5G era. The ministry said that in this frequency apportionment, they are giving priority to services that industries want, veering from past systems where they regulated technological systems in accordance with corporate purposes. The minimum necessary technological standards were included to make frequency apportionment free from specific uses such as output, occupied bandwidth and interference avoidance measures, the ministry explained.
“We laid a systematic foundation such as the apportionment of frequencies of the K-ICT free band and technological standards,” said Jin Sung-bae, the head of the Frequency Policy Department of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. “So we expect the creation of IoT services with wider coverage in the short term and the birth of future frequency-based industries such as remote medical diagnoses based on visual telecommunication service and security checks.”