In Wi-Fi 5 (OFDM) the subcarrier spacing was 312.5 kHz. In Wi-Fi 6 it is 1/4th of that, 78.125 kHz. In LTE it’s only 15 kHz. In 5G, it can be 15, 30, 60, 120, or 240 kHz.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of having more/less subcarriers?
In: 3
Many carriers, each with a narrow band, means that they individually have a low data rate. This makes them less susceptible to various common forms of corruption in the signal, particularly what’s called “multipath”. That’s when the signal arrives both directly and also via reflections off other objects, so you get the same signal arriving with varying amounts of delay.
The data being carried by such a signal get smeared out and, at high data rates, earlier bits can interfere with later bits in the same signal. Having a very low data rate means that each bit is spaced far enough apart that multipath is much less of an issue.
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