NRUWiFi Coexistence in 56 GHz bands Cable Labs

NR-U/Wi-Fi Coexistence in 5/6 GHz bands Cable. Labs, Comcast, Cox Communications, Midco © Cable. Labs 2018 – Confidential. Do not share this material with anyone other than Cable. Labs' Member Employees.

Unlicensed Spectrum Growth 5 GHz Band (United States, Current) 802. 11 channels UNII-1 UNII-2 a UNII-2 b 5470 5150 5250 5350 MHz MHz Available Channels MHz UNII-2 c UNII-3 UNII-4 5925 5825 5725 MHz MHz Not Yet Available § FCC is set to propose an expansion of unlicensed access into the 5. 9 GHz band § Coexistence is crucial: 802. 11 ac/ax/be, LAA, NR-U, DSRC, and C-V 2 X may all share this spectrum § The entire 5 GHz band is being considered for enhanced global access (WRC-19) 2

US and Europe Move Forward to Address Wi-Fi Spectrum Shortfall 5 925 MHz 6425 MHz UNII-5 59 x 20 MHz 29 x 40 MHz 40 14 x 80 MHz 7 x 160 MHz 40 40 40 80 80 40 40 80 160 40 40 40 80 80 160 3 x 160 MHz 40 40 40 80 80 160 40 40 80 160 20 20 40 40 80 40 40 160 80 40 40 80 80 202020 20 20 40 40 80 160 40 40 40 80 160 US: 1. 2 GHz (under discussion) 20 20 202020 20 20 40 40 80 160 5925 - 6425 24 x 20 MHz 12 x 40 MHz 40 6 x 80 MHz 40 40 UNII-8 202020 20 20 202020 20 7 125 MHz UNII-7 UNII-6 20 20 202020 20 20 6875 MHz 6525 MHz 202020 20 20 40 40 80 EU: 500 MHz (under discussion) 160 § Both US and Europe are considering to open significant license-exempt bandwidth in the 6 GHz range § 6 GHz (~1. 2 GHz) critical to expand the Gbps broadband access to the residential environments 3

Unlicensed Spectrum Growth: 6 GHz Proposed Unlicensed Bands § IEEE and 3 GPP technology will populate this band: both need to operate in the context of i) existing incumbent users and ii) equal air time access probability § Coexistence is as critical in 6 GHz as in the 5 GHz 4

DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION WI-FI Remains a Broadband Workhorse Source: Cisco VNI Global IP Traffic Forecast, 2017 -2022 • By 2022: Wi-Fi networks will carry more than 50% of total global IP traffic and nearly 80% of total global IP wireless traffic Wi-Fi networks will remain the workhorse of personal wireless access technology for the foreseeable future. 5

DRAFT FOR DISCUSSION Cable WI-FI Footprint* Sample Operators Wi-Fi APs Altice USA (NY Tri-State) >2, 000 Cable. Labs members: Comcast (US) >19, 000 Liberty Global (Europe) 12, 000 § Collectively serve more than 135 Million high-speed data subscribers Shaw (Western Canada) >100, 000 Charter Communications (US) >250, 000 Total Sample (Member) Public APs (2018) > 33. 35 M Estimated Total (Public & Private) Member APs (2018) § Wi-Fi supports personal, small, business communications, entertainment, Io. T. ~135 M Source: Company websites, Cable. Labs member data § No wireless access technology intended for the unlicensed spectra (5/6 GHz) could be defined without considering Wi-Fi. § While these APs are mainly 802. 11 ac based, they are in course of transitioning to 802. 11 ax (5/6 GHz) by 2025. 6

LTE Offload on Wi-Fi networks Wi-Fi Offload %: Proportion of mobile data consumption on Wi-Fi networks § Wi-Fi Offload provides over 3/4 th of total data consumed through mobile devices. § A sub-optimal LAA LTE/NR coexistence with Wi-Fi will degrade the mobile to Wi-Fi offloading. 7

3 GPP – IEEE Communications. Lessons Learned. Goodwill § between the two SDOs during the LTE LAA workshop in 2015*: “. . . IEEE: would like to see a collaboration to be established between the coexistence group of IEEE 802 and RAN 5…” “…RAN Chair: 3 GPP is totally open to such interaction and collaboration…” LS exchanges § The LS exchanged between IEEE and 3 GPP, on LAA LTE and NR-U, failed to address multiple points of contention. Certification/Test Programs § RAN 4 LTE LAA coexistence testing specifications remained optional. § WFA LTE LAA coexistence testing specifications didn’t get a cross industry (mobile-fixed) traction. Agreement on the LTE LAA fairness criterion for coexistence (5 GHz) § However no such criterion was agreed on for the 6 GHz band. Should 3 GPP and IEEE continue the unlicensed bands standard developments, without a minimal synchronization: § The Wi-Fi (802. 11 ac/ax) and LTE LAA/NR-U equipment rolled out in the field may mutually degrade their end-user experience performance. § As the last resort, this may require the intervention of the regulatory bodies. 8 * 3 GPP LAA-1509, “Report of 3 GPP RAN workshop on Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA)”, Beijing, 08/29/2015

Coexistence Challenge An NR-U ED Threshold of -72 d. Bm would severely degrade more than 90% of the UL Wi-Fi STA traffic • Wi-Fi: -62 (Energy Detection) and -82 d. Bm (Preamble Detection) thresholds • LAA LTE: an unique -72 d. Bm ED threshold A common (e. g. 802. 11) preamble provides the optimal coexistence support between 802. 11 and 3 GPP technologies 9 * 5 GHz major East Coast City Wi-Fi 5 GHz network (17410 public outdoor APs). Data acquired by a Cable. Labs member for a duration of 7 days.

Way Forward § Require the 802. 11 preamble for NR-U (5/6 GHz) § Re-using an unique NR-U -72 d. Bm ED threshold, would effectively severely impair the performance of the coexisting UL STA Wi-Fi traffic. § Specify a new fairness criterion for 6 GHz § Without a jointly agreed 6 GHz fairness criterion (e. g. equal air time access), the 6 GHz NR-U specs development would remain challenging. § Setup a small joint tiger team representing both SDOs to address the challenges impacting the existing and the future unlicensed bands such as: § Pro-actively drive the LS process to accelerate the communications between the SDOs. 10