Wi-Fi Coexistence in 6 GHz
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) historic opening of 1,200 MHz in the 6 GHz band (5.925–7.125 GHz) for unlicensed use represents one of the most substantial expansions of unlicensed spectrum in history, powering next-generation Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7. However, this vast spectrum band is already densely occupied by mission-critical incumbent operations, including fixed point-to-point microwave links utilized by utilities, public safety, and cellular backhaul, as well as broadcast auxiliary services and satellite uplinks.
Our research investigates the foundational coexistence and interference dynamics between unlicensed devices and incumbent fixed services across all authorized operating classes: Low Power Indoor (LPI), Standard Power (SP) controlled by Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems, Very Low Power (VLP), and Geofenced Variable Power (GVP). Leveraging our customized, SigCap crowdsensing platform, we have executed unprecedented empirical measurement campaigns across large-scale deployments—including over 16,000 indoor APs across 225 buildings at the University of Michigan, campus-wide deployments at the University of Notre Dame, and outdoor stadium-scale environments with ~900 standard power APs during 80,000-spectator football games.
In close collaboration with the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) under DOE CESER, we quantify building entry loss (BEL), outdoor signal leakage, additive interference from uncorrelated access points, and the validity of line-of-sight (LoS) propagation models within the main beam of incumbent microwave receivers. We also analyze client-to-client (C2C) communications and conduct ns-3 simulation studies of LPI/SP self-coexistence. Our empirical findings directly substantiate formal regulatory filings before the FCC and international bodies such as Europe’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG).
Group Participants: Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, Dr. Seda Dogan-Tusha, Dr. Armed Tusha, Hossein Nasiri, Joshua Roy Palathinkal, Francis A. Gatsi, S.M. Haider Ali Shuvo.
Collaborators: Dr. Aaron Striegel, Saeid Mehrdad, Mike Atkins — University of Notre Dame; James Helzerman— University of Michigan; Arupjyoti Bhuyan, John M. Beck, Nicholas James Kaminsky — Idaho National Laboratory; Jay Herman, Tim Godfrey — Electric Power Research Institute; David Hattey — Lockard & White, Inc.; Thomas Willis — AT&T Labs; Hardani Ismu Nabil — Sebelas Maret University.
Publications:
[link] Seda Tusha, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, and Monisha Ghosh “6 GHz Usage Analysis in Real World,” (2026)
[link] Hardani Ismu Nabil, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, SM Shuvo, Joshua Roy Palathinkal, and Monisha Ghosh “App-Based Performance Characterization of Cellular and Wi-Fi Networks in Dense Stadium Deployments,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.16008, accepted to 2026 ACM WiNTECH Workshop, (2026)
[link] Saeid Mehrdad, Francis A Gatsi, Muhammad I Rochman, Aaron Striegel, and Monisha Ghosh “Breaking the Link: Head-Motion Effects on VR Wi-Fi Connectivity Across 5 GHz and 6 GHz,” ICC 2026-IEEE International Conference on Communications, pp. 1–6, IEEE, (2026)
[link] Arupjyoti Bhuyan, John M Beck, Nicholas James Kaminski, Jay Herman, Tim Godfrey, David Hattey, Monisha Ghosh, Muhammad Rochman, and Thomas Willis “DOE CESER 6 GHz Interference Study,” Technical Report, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States), (2026)
[link] Jay Herman, Tim Godfrey, John M Beck, David Hattey, Muhammad I Rochman, Monisha Ghosh, Tom Willis, and Arupjyoti Bhuyan “6 GHz Band Sharing Real-world Experimental Investigation Results and Recommendations,” 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Spectrum Innovation (DySPAN), pp. 1–10, IEEE, (2026)
[link] Hossein Nasiri, Seda Dogan-Tusha, Francis A Gatsi, and Monisha Ghosh “Wi-Fi Self-Coexistence in the 6 GHz Band: An ns-3 Evaluation of LPI and SP Usage,” 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Spectrum Innovation (DySPAN), pp. 1–6, IEEE, (2026), DOI: 10.1109/DySPAN69846.2026.11571098
[link] Monisha Ghosh “Recent Regulatory Actions in 6 GHz,” IEEE Wireless Communications 33(2), pp. 7–8, IEEE, (2026)
[link] Joshua Roy Palathinkal, Hardani Ismu Nabil, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, Hossein Nasiri, Francis A Gatsi, and Monisha Ghosh “Evaluating Smartphone GNSS Accuracy for Geofenced 6 GHz Operations,” 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Spectrum Innovation (DySPAN), pp. 1–6, IEEE, (2026), DOI: 10.1109/DySPAN69846.2026.11571132
[link] Seda Dogan-Tusha, Armed Tusha, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, Hossein Nasiri, Joshua Roy Palathinkal, Mike Atkins, and Monisha Ghosh “Evaluation of Indoor/Outdoor Sharing in the Unlicensed 6 GHz Band,” 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySPAN), pp. 1–6, IEEE, (2025), DOI: 10.1109/DySPAN64764.2025.11115954
[link] Seda Doğan-Tusha, Armed Tusha, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, Hossein Nasiri, and Monisha Ghosh “Spectrum Sharing Characterization Using Smartphones: Exploring 6 GHz Sharing Through Large-Scale Wi-Fi 6E Measurements,” IEEE Communications Magazine 63(2), pp. 70–76, IEEE, (2025)
[link] Seda Dogan-Tusha, Armed Tusha, Hossein Nasiri, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, and Monisha Ghosh “Spectrum Sharing in 6 GHz: How is it working out?,” 2024 IEEE 25th International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), pp. 791–795, IEEE, (2024)
[link] Seda Dogan-Tusha, Muhammad Iqbal Rochman, Armed Tusha, Hossein Nasiri, James Helzerman, and Monisha Ghosh “Evaluating The Interference Potential in 6 GHz: An Extensive Measurement Campaign of A Dense Indoor Wi-Fi 6E Network,” Proceedings of the 17th ACM Workshop on Wireless Network Testbeds, Experimental Evaluation & Characterization (WiNTECH ’23), pp. 1–8, ACM, (2023), DOI: 10.1145/3615453.3616854
Analysis of Real-World Cellular Networks
TBA
Publications:
Direct-to-Cell (D2C) Satellite Networks
TBA
Publications:
CBRS/C-band Coexistence
TBA
Publications:
Neutral Hosts for Spectrum Sharing
TBA
Publications:
Indoor/Outdoor Classification
TBA
Publications:
Measurement-Driven Wireless Network Intelligence
TBA
Publications:
Platforms for Wireless Data Acquisition and Sharing
TBA