RF and Microwave Engineering: Fundamentals of Wireless Communications

1.2 Frequency Bands

For better orientation, the electromagnetic spectrum is divided into a number of frequency bands. Various naming conventions have been established in different parts of the world, which often are used in parallel. Table 1.2 shows a customary classification of the frequency range from 3 Hz to 300 GHz into eight frequency decades according to the recommendation of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) [4].

Table 1.2 Frequency denomination according to ITU

Frequency range	Denomination
3 … 30 kHz	VLF - Very Low Frequency
30 … 300 kHz	LF - Low Frequency
300 kHz … 3 MHz	MF - Medium Frequency
3 … 30 MHz	HF - High Frequency
30 … 300 MHz	VHF - Very High Frequency
300 MHz … 3 GHz	UHF - Ultra High Frequency
3 … 30 GHz	SHF - Super High Frequency
30 … 300 GHz	EHF - Extremely High Frequency

Figure 1.2a shows a commonly used designation of different frequency bands according to IEEE-standards [5]. The unsystematic use of characters and band ranges, which has developed over the years, can be regarded as a clear disadvantage. A more recent naming convention according to NATO is shown by Figure 1.2b [6, 7]. Here, the mapping of characters to frequency bands is much more systematic. However, the band names are not common in practical application yet.

Figure 1.2 Denomination of frequency bands according to different standards. (a) Denomination of frequency bands according to IEEE Std. 521–2002 (b) Denomination of frequency bands according to NATO. ...