ISM 2.4GhZ and Sub-GHz

ISM radio bands are portions of the radio spectrum reserved internationally for industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) purposes. ISM Bands are license free and not available for Telecomm Applications, which are regulated.

When preparing your application, it is important to note that in some regions the permitted frequencies might differ, e.g. 863 to 870 MHz can be used in Europe and Africa, but in North America 902 to 928MHz is the allowed frequency.

Only some bands are used globally such as the most common ISM Band 2.4GHz to 2.5 GHz used for e.g WLAN and Bluetooth, 802.15.4 is also covered in this section.

Very often we refer to SRD (Short Range Devices) if the Sub-GHz band for data communication is used. The benefit of those Sub-GHz devices is mainly the achieved radio range. Avnet Silica offers mesh networking enabled products based on 802.15.4 in Sub-GHz and 2.4 GHz, as well as simple Sub-GHz transceivers.

Additionally, LoRa, using 868 MHZ, 915 MHz and 2.4 GHz band as well chirp spread spectrum (CSS) modulation can extend the radio range to up to 40 km.

The table below will help you select the most suitable product for your application.