Spectrum Sharing in 6 GHz: How is it working out?

It has been over four years since the 6 GHz (5.925 - 7.125 GHz) band was released for unlicensed use on a shared basis. During this period, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued two Report and Order (R&O) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) to facilitate the efficient use of the band between unlicensed devices and licensed incumbents. The former has implemented two power regulations for unlicensed operations, low power indoor (LPI) and standart power (SP). The latter enables the operation of very low power (VLP) devices in two segments of the 6 GHz band, U-NII-5 and U-NII-7, and seeks comment for client-to-client (C2C) communications, VLP operations in U-NII-6 and U-NII-8, and geofenced VLP operations with a high power level. In this paper, we first discuss spectrum sharing in the 6 GHz band with reference to the two R&Os. We assess the outcomes of two extensive measurement campaigns conducted at the University of Michigan (UMich) and the University of Notre Dame (UND) in relation to the regulations and proposals outlined in the second R&O and FNPRM. Later, we assess the enabling signal level for C2C communications in the 6 GHz band to offer insights into the optimum threshold. Our findings show outdoor median RSSI levels of -84 dBm and -81 dBm at UMich during driving and walking measurements, respectively. At UND, outdoor median RSSI levels are -79.5 dBm for connected BSSIDs and -89 dBm for all received BSSIDs.