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Like WiMAX, but at ~5Ghz - can the 5150/5350 wireles adapter work on a different band?

BDoig
Beginner
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Howdy All,

I'm working on a project for a WiMAX-like network, but at 5091-5150 MHz band (federally protected spectrum). The system is/will be called AeroMACS and is based off the WiMAX / IEEE 802.16-2009 spec. It works as a subset to the overall WiMAX spec - i.e. limited to 5MHz channels, code rates between QPSK 1/2 and 64 QAM 5/6, etc. and I'm looking to see if there is any COTS hardware that might be able to talk to it.

In my search I came across the WiMAX/WiFI Link 5150 (2 antenna) and 5350 (3 antenna) network adapters. After a quick read, they're listed as not being able to talk to 802.11a/b/g/n and 802.16 at the same time. My guess (I'm just a lowly mechanical engineer, unaccustomed to EE voodoo) is that the boards are using SDR for the radio and it reconfigures it or switches amplifiers when switching between bands. If this is the case, then it gives me hope that using these boards might be a viable option. I'd expect that since the radio can talk at ~2.5 GHz and at ~5 GHz between 5180-5835 MHz, it's likely that it has a wideband front end and it's just a matter of configuration to get it to talk to an AeroMACS base station between 5091-5150 MHz.

So my question is this... are my guesses correct or am I barking up the wrong tree? Could this work or am I so hopelessly lost that I don't even understand why it might be impossible?

-Beaker

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CarlosAM_INTEL
Moderator
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Hello Beaker,

Thank you for contacting the Intel Embedded Community.

The information that may help you is stated in the FCC Radio Frequency Interference Requirements sections of the http://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/wireless/wlan/5300_5100/sb/regstatements.pdf Intel(R) WiMAX/WiFi Link 5350 and Intel(R) WiMAX/WiFi http://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/wireless/wlan/5300_5100/sb/regstatements.pdf Link 5150 Adapters Regulatory Information, also at the http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005725.html Different Wi-Fi Protocols and Data Rates for Network and I/O article.

 

Also, please review the http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000006740.html Regulatory Documents for Intel® WiFi Link 5300/5100, http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005544.html 802.11n Connectivity Recommended Settings for Wireless, http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000006042.html Improve Your 802.11n Wireless Performance for Network and I/O, http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005585.html Advanced Wi-Fi Adapter Settings for Network and I/O, and as a reference http://www.wi-fi.org/ Wi-Fi Alliance web site.

Please let us know if this information is useful to you.

Best Regards,

Carlos_A.

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BDoig
Beginner
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Howdy Carlos_A,

Maybe I should have stated it more clearly... I'm intending to use it outside of it's normal operating parameters. When I said "WiMAX-like network, but at 5091-5150 MHz band (federally protected spectrum)" I should have stated that the team has an experimental FCC license in order to operate devices in that band of protected spectrum.

Given the right antenna, can the radio in the device be physically made to operate reliably in that band? I want to see what devices might be available for testing.

Regards,

Beaker

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CarlosAM_INTEL
Moderator
839 Views

Hello Beaker,

Thanks for your reply.

In order to help , we suggest you to address your consultations related to this topic at the https://communities.intel.com/community/tech/wireless Forum: Wireless Networking to further answer them.

We hope that this information is useful to you.

Best Regards

Carlos_A

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