JAPAN: WIDEBANDING 920MHz LOW-POWER WIRELESS SYSTEM

 

Among the 920 MHz band low-power wireless systems, active systems are used in various applications centering on relatively small-capacity data communications such as smart meters and sensor networks. In recent years, there has been a growing demand not only for narrowband communication systems with low transmission rates, but also for wireless systems that perform broadband communication that can respond to new usage needs such as video transmission from security cameras and firmware updates for high-performance terminals such as robots. The demand is increasing internationally, as evidenced by the formulation of IEEE802.11ah as an international standard.

 

Based on this situation, MIC reviewed the technical conditions and received some opinions in March 2022 regarding broadening of the 920MHz band low-power wireless system. Based on the contents of some comments, the relevant regulations have been amended.

 

While it was allowed to bundle up to 5 channels (1MHz), according to the amended regulations, the transmitting channel is now able to bundle unit channels up to 20 channels (4MHz), as follows:

	New Regulation		Old Regulation
Frequency	920.5-923.5 MHz	920.5-928.1 MHz	920.5-923.5 MHz	920.5-928.1 MHz
Channel Occupied Bandwidth	200 kHz * n (n = 1~15)	200 kHz * n (n = 1~20)	200 kHz * n (n = 1~5)

 

With the introduction of the 920 MHz band active low-power wireless system that uses a wide band, it is expected to be be used in new use cases - transmitting large amounts of sensor data, which were difficult to handle with conventional LPWA systems, video transmission, or firmware updates for high-performance terminals such as robots.