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Wireless Communication standards

The whole world is getting more and more connected. We are all used to a myriad of wireless technologies like GSM, CDMA, BlueTooth, Wifi, GPS etc.

The emergence of the Internet Of Things (IOT) means that the amount of wireless devices is growing exponentially to connect our lamps, fridges, doorbells to applications on our phones and tablets.

There are many communication standards for different applications like mobile data, home data, voice, navigation and home automation. Several of these standards have evolved from basic implementations to ever increasing bandwidths and data rates.

This overview shows most of the current communication standards with operating frequency range, modulation, RF bandwidth and data throughput. Networks are still evolving and new technologies are emerging.

The operating frequencies given can vary or be restricted depending on the country or region where they are used.

The MegiQ products cover most of the frequency ranges and allow you to measure and develop hardware for any of these technologies. Our products are generally independent of the communication system or protocol.

Mobile Telephony and Data

Name

Standard

Frequency

MHz

Modulation

Bandwidth

MHz

Data

bps

2G

GSM

850/900/1800/1900

GMSK

0.2

9.6 k

3G

UMTS

WCDMA

850/900/1900/2100

QPSK, 16-QAM

5

384 k +

4G

LTE

700 – 3800

QPSK,

16/64-QAM

1.4 to 20

100 M

5G

NR

Sub-6 GHz and mmWave

QPSK

16/64/256-QAM

100

400

20 G

DECT

DECT

1880 - 1900

GFSK

1.728

500 k

4G Frequency Bands

4G FDD

   

4G TDD

 

Band

MHz

 

Band

MHz

1

2100

 

33

1900

2

1900

 

34

2000

3

1800

 

38

2600

4

1700

 

39

1900

 

2100

 

40

2300

5

850

 

41

2500

7

2600

   

2600

8

900

 

42

3400-3600

12/17

700

 

43

3600-3800

13

700

     

20

800

     

25

1900

     

26

850

     

28

700

     

29

700

     

30

2300

     

66

1700

     
 

2100

     

71

600

     

 

FDD = Frequency Division Duplex

TDD = Time Division Duplex

5G Frequency Bands

5G Low

   

5G Mid

   

5G mmWave

Band

MHz

 

Band

MHz

 

Band

GHz

n5

850

 

n1

2100

 

n257

26.50-29.50

n8

900

 

n3

1800

 

n258

24.25-27.50

n20

800

 

n7

2600

 

n260

37.00-40.00

n28

700

 

n41

2500

 

n261

27.50-28.35

n71

600

 

n48

3600

     
     

n50

3400

     
     

n78

3300

     

 Navigation

Name

Standard

Frequency

MHz

Modulation

Bandwidth

MHz

GPS

NMEA, RTCM

L1 1575.42

L2 1227.60

etc

BPSK

~2

GLONASS

GLONASS

L1 1602

L2 1246

etc

FDMA/BPSK

~10

Galileo

Galileo

E1 1575.42

E5a 1176.45

etc

BOC

~4 to ~20

BeiDou

BeiDou

B1 1561.098

B2 1207.14

etc

BPSK, BOC

~4 to ~10

 Wifi

Name

Standard

Frequency

GHz

Modulation

Bandwidth

MHz

Data

Mbps

Wi-Fi 4

802.11b/g/n

2400 to 2483, 5

OFDM, BPSK, QPSK, 16/64-QAM

20, 40

Up to 600

Wi-Fi 5

802.11a/h/j/n/ac

5.170 to 5.825

OFDM, BPSK, QPSK, 16/64/256-QAM

20, 40, 80, 160

Up to 1300

Wi-Fi 6E

802.11ax

5.925 to 7.125

OFDM, BPSK, QPSK, 16/64/256/1024-QAM

20, 40, 80, 160

Up to 9600

 Interdevice and Home Automation

Name

Standard

Frequency

MHz

Modulation

Bandwidth

kHz

Data

kbps

NFC

ISO/IEC 18092

ISO/IEC 21481

13.56

ASK

~14

106 to 424

Bluetooth

Bluetooth 4, 5

BLE

2400

GFSK, π/4-DQPSK, 8DPSK

~1000

~2000

3000 to 48000

LoRa

LoRaWAN

868

915

CSS

125 to 500

0.3 to 50

NB-IoT

3GPP

700, 800, 850, 900, 1700

QPSK, π/4-QPSK

200

10 to 100

Zigbee

802.15.4

868

915

2400

O-QPSK

600

2000

40

250

Z-Wave

Z-Wave

868

908.42

FSK

200

9.6 to 100

Konnex

KNX

various

various

various

various

Thread

Thread

802.15.4

2400

O-QPSK

5000

250

Philips Hue

Zigbee 3.0

2400

O-QPSK

2000

250

Insteon

Insteon

869.85

815

FSK

200

38.4

LIFX

Wi-Fi

2400

5000

LIFX HTTP API

 

 

IKEA TRÅDFRI

Zigbee 3.0

2400

CoAP API

 

 

Yeelight

Wi-Fi, BLE

2400

Yeelight API

 

 

Osram Lightify

Zigbee

2400

Unofficial API

 

 

Tuya Smart / Smart Life

Wi-Fi, Zigbee

2400

Tuya Cloud API

 

 

Various

Various

310

433.92

868.3

915

Various propriatary protocols