60 GHz radio system design tradeoffs

Many of the proposed applications for the 60 GHz unlicensed band are extremely cost sensitive;for example, consumer-oriented broadband wireless access over the last one hundred meters. In some instances the business model behind these applications assumes that the requisite premises equipment is provided to the end-user at or below cost. Several MMIC foundries now offer devices that operate in the 60 GHz frequency range, but these devices have performance limitations and cost penalties, relative to lower frequency devices, that dictate careful evaluation of system design tradeoffs. This article explores these tradeoffs, such as noise figure, power output, linearity and freqnency stability in the context of waveform choices and link performance, and suggests an optimal class of waveforms for the band and chosen parameters.