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White Space Broadband Where Broadcasting Began


Was it fate or just a coincidence that one of the first tests of white space broadband would also be at the location where regularly scheduled radio broadcasting began? That Charles D. Herrold opened the Herrold College of Wireless and Engineering and later began broadcasting at 50 West San Fernando in San José was a surprise to Adaptrum’s Darrin Mylet. Herrold’s launch of his radio station in 1909 was a precursor to an explosion in radio transmitters, which led to interference and, eventually, government rules for allocating and the use of spectrum.

To see a video from one of the earliest tests of TV White Spaces (TVWS), click here. Additionally, this article provides more detail of the technology behind TVWS and some of the early trials.
Fast-forward 100 years to a new approach by Adaptrum and others, where radios dynamically manage allocation of spectrum, instead of government agencies. The key to this automation is the use of cognitive radios. These radios sense when spectrum is being used and shift to different frequencies, as needed. Further, the use of the so-called TV white spaces (TVWS – using unused TV broadcast channels for broadband connectivity), allows the use of fallow spectrum. These relatively low, sub-1 GHz frequencies allow for propagation through trees and buildings, as we found in our testing around downtown San José last week.

With power levels of 100 milliWatts, which is the specification for personal, portable devices (4 Watts EIRP for fixed devices), we were able to achieve multi-megabit connections over distances of several blocks, as seen in the above video. Set-up was straight-forward; easier than aligning a point-to-point WiFi link. We were able to set up point-to-point connections in four different locations in about two hours with Adaptrum’s commercially available equipment.

To be clear, white spaces and the associated technology is another tool that, as Adaptrum’s Darrin Mylet says, can be used to ensure that the Internet gets to all the nooks and crannies. Whether it is crossing a river, penetrating through building in urban areas or connecting libraries, TVWS provides a fast way (no FCC licensing, easy equipment set-up) to connect Internet to locations where it otherwise might not be practical.

As Mylet alludes to in the above interview, what may be the most exciting thing about the TVWS approach is the idea of the localized use of spectrum. TVWS could represent the next generation of citizen broadcast, such as was seen in the 1970s with voice radios and, more recently, with data transmission via WiFi. Time will tell whether the above demonstration points to something as revolutionary as what Herrold started 100+ years ago.

7 responses to “White Space Broadband Where Broadcasting Began”

  1. Ken Pyle Avatar
    Ken Pyle

    I could have used this sort of technology a couple years ago, when connecting a school to the Snack Shack of our Little League field. The connection was cross the field about 800 feet. Fortunately, we had line-of-site and could use WiFi transmitters. The challenge was we had to point the antennas and put them on the outside of the buildings. That entailed several hours of wiring, as well as many trips to coordinate between the volunteer installers and the school district personnel.

    With the lower frequencies of the TVWS approach, we could have put the radios and associated antennas inside the building next to our WiFi base stations, eliminating wiring through the attic and the creation of ingress and egress points in both the school as well as our snack shack.

    On an operational basis, we have found that for whatever reason, we occasionally have to re-point the antennas. Occasionally, we find that someone will unplug the power over Ethernet adaptor that powers the roof-mount radio. These outages have lasted for weeks at a time, if an “expert” isn’t around to diagnose the issue.

    With a TVWS solution like we tested above, we would have been able to set it up in an afternoon, saving many hours of volunteer as well as school personnel time.

  2. […] White Space Broadband Where Broadcasting Began […]

  3. Jean-Claude DUCASSE Avatar

    Very interesting video in No LOS conditions
    Here is a video,

    , for the use of white space in Paris to transmit Video-surveillance live from a car in Paris Streets . The Mobirake OFDM TDMA proprietary is very robust and the link still OK during the Urban Canyon rodeo. strongly no LOS
    More info here: http://www.e-rake.us.com/index.php/mobirake

    1. Ken Pyle Avatar
      Ken Pyle

      Thanks Jean-Claude, I only had time to watch the intro, but it looks like an interesting video of some White Space testing in Paris. Look forward to watching the entire video.

  4. Ken Pyle Avatar

    This could be a significant development as this Japanese research institute has integrated the electronics into an IEEE802.11af-compatible Baseband IC for TV White-space Wireless LAN Systems. With low-power consumption, it is possible to power via USB. This could herald lower cost, lower power devices for client application.

    http://www.nict.go.jp/en/press/2015/12/16-1.html

  5. Ken Pyle Avatar

    And the Weightless-W specification seems an ideal way to take advantage of TV White Space for Machine-to-Machine (aka IoT) applications.

    http://www.weightless.org/about/weightlessw

  6. […] Ground addresses those concerns by taking a page out of the TV White Spaces book by creating a database (Channel Master) that is derived from the FCC Universal Licensing System […]

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