Brought to you as a public service of the Open Spectrum Foundation (Stichting Open Spectrum), Amsterdam - Prague

 openspectrum.info logo

NEWS

Details emerge about Microsoft's "cognitive" radio for broadband in TV white-spaces

From "Microsoft Preps Cognitive Radio Prototype For Use With TV Spectrum" by Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek, 12 February 2007:

"An informal coalition of technology companies, including Dell, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, and Philips Electronics, has asked the FCC to make unused portions of the TV broadcast spectrum available for unlicensed use by wireless devices.

"Though the specific devices that might work with this 'super Wi-Fi' network have yet to [be] designed, Microsoft is preparing to submit its prototype 'cognitive radio' soon. A company spokesman said Microsoft and its partners aim to demonstrate to the FCC that consumer devices can utilize the spectrum 'white space' without causing interference with TV or other signals.

" 'This is all related to the FCC-proposed rulemaking to open up white spaces for additional uses,' says a spokesman for Microsoft. 'We think there's an opportunity for innovation in using those spaces.'

" 'We welcome innovation that helps put people in touch with information and expands user choice,' says a Google spokesman. 'Clearly, open access to unused TV spectrum will promote competition, spark a new wave of innovation, and holds the potential to provide broadband access to underserved communities.'

" 'Every market has empty television channels,' explains Scott Blake Harris, an attorney representing the unnamed coalition and a managing partner of the law firm of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP. 'The reason is if they're too close to each other they interfere. This coalition believes you can use low-power wireless devices in those empty channels without causing any interference.'

"Broadcasters are 'very concerned about potential interference,' Harris says, but he allows that interference may not be the only issue. 'My view is that for almost everything there's a good reason and a real reason. I suspect [interference] is not the real reason' for concern. The real reason might be that broadcasters - not to mention the telephone and cable companies - aren't eager to empower competing tech companies by allowing them to offer wireless broadband video content and Internet service.

"Whether or not that's the case, some companies such as wireless microphone makers do have real concerns about interference and have asked the FCC to make sure any use of white space spectrum accommodates the functioning of their products.

"The Microsoft cognitive radio prototype is described as being smart enough to sense the presence of a digital television or wireless microphone signal and move to a vacant channel or not transmit if there's no open channel.

"US TV broadcasters have until February 2009 to move from analog to digital broadcasting technology. Once that happens, a significant portion of the TV signal spectrum should become available. Harris expects the FCC will rule in support of the tech industry."
__________

Microsoft's technical description for the FCC of their "TV White Spaces Development Platform" - along with photographs of the actual device - is online here.

For a broader and much more detailed discussion of the technical requirements for coexistence between digital TV and unlicensed devices, see "White Spaces Engineering Study: Can Cognitive Radio Technology Operating in the TV White Spaces Completely Protect Licensed TV Broadcasting?" by Mark A. Sturza and Farzad Ghazvinian, Wireless Future Program Working Paper #16, New America Foundation, January 2007. Excerpt:

"This report answers the following question that is central to the FCC's current rulemaking about whether to open the unused TV-band channels in each market for wireless broadband and other innovation: Can unlicensed TV-band devices using cognitive radio techniques completely protect licensed broadcast TV services? Some published reports have postulated an affirmative response to the question, while others have claimed the opposite. This report provides the engineering support to definitively resolve this question in the affirmative; cognitive radio techniques can be used by unlicensed TV-band devices to protect licensed broadcast TV services..."

Sturza and Ghazvinian's study was funded by Microsoft.

[ - 14 February 2007]

Click here for the LATEST HEADLINES

Recent News...

"Deregulating Spectrum" by Lawrence Lessig (14 February 2007)

"How the death of TV sets could change mobile computing" (14 February 2007)

Edible, decaying, "intentionally fragile" RFID (14 February 2007)

Jonah Brucker-Cohen's "WiFi Liberator" (11 February 2007)

Riyadh may be 1st city in Middle East covered by free WiFi (11 February 2007)

Germany sees RFID as key to tech leadership (11 February 2007)

FCC affirms preference for unlicensed use of empty TV channels 4 February 2007)

"Unprecedented" BT-FON deal in the works? (4 February 2007)

Cover cities with mesh WiFi not WiMAX, says NY Times (4 February 2007)

Huge public RFID sensor mesh proposed in Australia (2 February 2007)

Bénin suspends WiFi, WiMAX and WLL authorizations in crackdown on "telecom anarchy" (31 January 2007)

1300% growth in Voice-over-WiFi handset sales (2007-2010), Infonetics predicts (31 January 2007)

Is radio spectrum the oil of the 21st century? (31 January 2007)

Vanu's AnyWave SDR a 2007 tech winner (31 January 2007)

Wireless heart implant enables remote monitoring (31 January 2007)

Hotspot log-on service for browserless WiFi devices (30 January 2007)

Researchers slash RFID reader cost, size (30 January 2007)

Whisher to compete with Fon (30 January 2007)

We interrupt our usual opposition to licensing to suggest it for heat-ray weapons (30 January 2007)

Industrial robot controlled by Wii, Bluetooth (30 January 2007)

RFID-tagged wasps reveal family secrets (28 January 2007)

RF pulses at 890 kHz detect explosives (28 January 2007)

First meeting of RuBee standards group this February (28 January 2007)

Beware of fake "Free WiFi" hotspots, especially in US airports (26 January 2007)

Tests show muni-WiFi beating 3G in North America (26 January 2007)

WiFi links waiters, kitchen to streamline restaurant work (26 January 2007)

Agreement on Bluetooth/WiFi protection leads to 802.11n draft (26 January 2007)

Radio spectrum: state property or universal heritage of mankind? (21 January 2007)

RFID in India (19 January 2007)

Prison for misuse of Bluetooth proposed in Bahrain (19 January 2007)

ITU Workshop on Market Mechanisms for Spectrum Management (18 January 2007)

GPS-Bluetooth integration to boost locative services (18 January 2007)

UWB can complement WiFi, reduce 2.4GHz congestion (18 January 2007)

Wireless Communications: The Future by William Webb (18 January 2007)

"Energy inefficiency could kill pure cellular" (16 January 2007)

Portable WiFi music downloaders debut at CES (12 January 2007)

RFID ink injections for tracking meat, lasers for detecting rot (11 January 2007)

Prague getting 'several hundred' free (ad-supported) hotspots (11 January 2007)

iriver W10 unveiled at CES: the first location-aware Personal Media Player (11 January 2007)

VoWiFi mesh test lets coal-miners make first phonecalls from 300m underground (10 January 2007)

Digital Divide closed in Chile's first "WiFi town," Salamanca (8 January 2007)

Automobile wireless shifts into high gear (8 January 2007)

600MB/s data transfers via concurrent use of 2.4 and 5GHz bands (7 January 2007)

Samsung developing RFID-aware refrigerator (5 January 2007)

Automobile router turns car into mobile WiFi hotspot (3 January 2007)

Visit our News Archive for additional stories.

To receive the openspectrum.info newsfeed by email, enter your email address:

(Email subscriptions managed by FeedBurner)