Darrin Mylet of Adaptrum demonstrates their white space solution at 2011 NAB. Using TDD OFDMA technology, tunable from 400 to 1,000 MHz, they were able to acheive 94% efficiency on a 6 MHz television channel with aggregated data rate of 11.1 Mbps.
The equivalent transmitter output was less than 1 milliWatt and, using a 0 dBi gain antennas, they were able to transmit 8.8 Mbps downstream and 2.3 Mbps upstream over the 0.8 mile link. The client station would communicate to the Microsoft database every 40 seconds. They simulated the addition of a registered microphone on channel 34 and the radios would automatically switch to the next candidate channel, channel 39. They didn't notice any noticeable disruption in the video streaming and attributed this to the deep play-out buffer of the XBox streaming client software.
This is an exciting development, as Mylet suggests that the approach they demonstrated could be the, "Next Generation of WiFi."
For more detail on TV white spaces, check out this ScreenPlays Magazine article, which I co-authored.
Light Reading Mobile reports that start-up Neul received $12.8M in funding.
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=209490&f_src=lrmobiledailynewsletter
It is official, Microsoft has been added to the FCC’s list of approved database administrators, making for a total of 10 database administrators. Interestingly, their application was approved despite comments from the Engineers for the Integrity of Broadcast Auxiliary Services Spectrum (EIBASS). The way the above demonstration was handled was one reason EIBASS argued that Microsoft shouldn’t be an administrator.
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0729/DA-11-1291A1.txt
Good interview with Darren Mylet on Broadband US.TV talks about the challenges of managing spectrum and not having enough granularity in the auction blocks, how incumbents often sit on spectrum and how broadcasters are beginning to embrace white spaces as a way to provide a return path to for their mobile data plans.
http://www1.tvworldwide.com/events/superwifi/120207/default.cfm?id=14316&type=flv&test=0&live=0