Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Beyond Today’s Radio Spectrum: Transmitting Wireless Data on Higher Frequencies

Friday, January 23, 2015, By Matt Wheeler
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Scienceresearch

Everything we do that requires a wireless connection uses the radio spectrum. We’re able to harness radio waves to listen to music in the car or stream Netflix from the 4G network on our smartphones. Each application is assigned its own frequency within the spectrum. The problem is that space is limited and our demand is only increasing. But what if we weren’t bound by this crowded spectrum?

Cenk Gursoy

Cenk Gursoy

The radio spectrum exists on the lower end of the larger electromagnetic spectrum. As you move up the spectrum into microwaves, infrared, visible and ultraviolet light, x-rays and gamma rays, the wavelengths get shorter and their frequency gets higher and higher. Associate Professor Cenk Gursoy of the  College of Engineering and Computer Science sees potential in using higher frequencies for wireless services in something called the “millimeter wave frequency band,” for the primary purpose of allocating more bandwidth to deliver faster, higher-quality video and multimedia content.

Gursoy explains, “The millimeter band is a much broader spectrum and, given the spectrum crunch we are experiencing, we should have already moved there. But there are certain challenges. We intend to look at the challenges and develop solutions to deal with them to move into these higher frequencies.”

The challenges he mentions will not be easily overcome. Substantial research is needed to make this a reality. To start, we don’t have the right equipment for this. New, smaller, adaptive antennas need to be designed for our mobile devices to receive these higher frequency waves. Additionally, while radio waves propagate in a way that can be received over great distances and through weather and structures, millimeter waves require a line-of-sight connection between the transmitting and receiving antennas to work well. Buildings, rain and even the position of a user’s hand on their device can block these shorter wavelengths or have significant impact on the quality of their reception. Attenuation is also a concern. Millimeter waves simply don’t travel the same distances as radio waves.

Research funded by the National Science Foundation will help overcome challenges of harnessing radio waves at the upper end of the spectrum.

Research funded by the National Science Foundation will help overcome challenges of harnessing radio waves at the upper end of the spectrum.

Gursoy and principle investigators at Ohio State University received an award from the National Science Foundation to address these challenges as part of the foundation’s Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum (EARS) collaborative research program. Their work will take place over the next three years. The work that Gursoy will be completing at Syracuse University will explore ways to address the line-of-sight and attenuation issues to integrate the use of millimeter waves through modeling.

“By the end of the third year, we will have a good understanding of the limits and what can be done to make this a reality. It’s something that the wireless industry clearly has a vested interest in, so we should see millimeter waves incorporated into things like the upcoming 5G network very soon. If it’s really as promising as it looks, then we should see many products using this by 2020 or earlier,” says Gursoy. “Everyone connected to the project is learning more and it’s exciting because it’s something that very few people are working on and it’s happening here at SU.”

 

  • Author

Matt Wheeler

  • Recent
  • “You Have the Power to Have a Profound Impact:” ABC News’ David Muir Addresses Syracuse University’s Class of 2022
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By John Boccacino
  • Commencement 2022 in Photos
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By News Staff
  • Senior Q&A: Tony Ruscitto ’22 Puts a New Mission on His Horizon
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By Stephanie Salanger
  • Karin Ruhlandt to Conclude Tenure as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Lois Agnew to Serve as Interim Dean
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By News Staff
  • Eleanor Maine Receives Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching
    Monday, May 16, 2022, By Dan Bernardi

More In STEM

Black Hole Image Shows Einstein Was Right, Once Again

Today a team of astronomers announced they successfully captured the first direct image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Duncan Brown is the Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics at Syracuse University’s College of…

Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Professor’s Research Team Receives Multiple Awards at Society for Biomaterials Conference

Biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Mary Beth Monroe attended the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) 2022 meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, with Ph.D. students Anand Vakil, Henry Beaman, Changling Du and Maryam Ramezani, master’s student Natalie Petryk ’21, G’22 and undergraduate students Caitlyn…

Viewing a Microcosm Through a Physics Lens

“What can physics offer biology?” This was how Alison Patteson, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ physics department and a faculty member in the BioInspired Institute, began the explanation of why her physics lab was studying bacteria. In…

University’s Top Putnam Math Competition Finisher Awarded Inaugural Erdős Prize

Junior Connor Ritchie has won the Department of Mathematics’ inaugural Erdős Prize for being Syracuse University’s top finisher in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. The Putnam contest is the preeminent mathematics competition for undergraduate college students in the United States and Canada,…

Sasha Valitutti Selected as a 2022 SMART Scholar

Sasha Valitutti, a junior aerospace engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, has been named a recipient of a Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The award will…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.