Motorola Submits White Space Device for FCC Testing

Motorola has delivered and demonstrated a prototype white space device (WSD)—or, as Motorola calls it, a Cognitive Radio Device—to test whether it can sense, and thus avoid, interfering with DTV signals.

Motorola officials gave the device to FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff at a meeting Nov. 15 and dropped off a two-page sheet of instructions for operating and testing the device. Motorola previously demonstrated a prototype device to FCC staff Aug. 30.

In an FCC filing, the company said the device uses a "geolocation database that is augmented by sensing algorithms" to determine which TV channels are available for use.

EU: European telecoms framework review

Spectrum liberalisation and secondary trading: Spectrum policy was one of the most outdated and bureaucratic areas in need of most reform. In our view the proposals are positive and amount to giving something back to operators after the intrusive retail regulation this summer over international roaming. The digital dividend spectrum has great potential to improve the availability of broadband in rural areas, although the commission must be mindful of technical aspects, such as problems with interference.

Vanu announces 700 MHz prototype, dual-mode SDR deployment

Demonstrated before two potential clients—including a carrier—the Vanu/BitWave prototype supports cellular waveforms in the 700, 850, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands for both CDMA and GSM operation. The prototype uses BitWave’s Softransceiver chips, which can receive and transmit a wide range of RF signals, and Vanu’s Anywave software to allow a single Femtocell unit to be built that can provide coverage in numerous deployment scenarios.

Software Defined Radio Forum Launching Special Interest Group for International Tactical Radio Market

Software Defined Radio Forum Launching Special Interest Group for International Tactical Radio Market

AT&T Mobility acquires Aloha’s 700 MHz spectrum for $2.5B - RCR Wireless News

AT&T, which said it remains committed to using Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFLO network for multimedia wireless broadcasts, said the deal gives it 12 megahertz of spectrum covering 196 million people in 281 markets. AT&T Mobility said the deal is expected to close in the next six to nine months.

Pressure on Radio Spectrum Sharing Will Lead to Greater Deployment of Dynamic Spectrum Access Technologies | Press Release | ABI Research

“Spectrum, especially in the UHF band, is attractive to mobile operators for mobile TV, voice and high-speed data services,” says ABI Research analyst Ian Cox. “It is also used by terrestrial TV broadcasters, the military, and security services, and they all want more of it. Regulators, over the years, have boxed themselves into a corner by allocating it exclusively for individual applications. This can now begin to change as software radio emerges and spectrum sharing becomes feasible.”

Frontline petitions for 700MHz changes

A wireless start-up has launched an appeal with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to try to alter the terms of the forthcoming 700MHz spectrum auction. Frontline Wireless wants the FCC to change the bidding rules to block incumbent operators from building up what it calls an ‘excessive concentration in spectrum holdings’. Frontline also wants smaller operators to be allowed to employ a wholesale business model on the 700MHz network, which will be used to offer both commercial and public safety services, and has called for the minimum bid level to be lowered. Verizon Wireless recently launched its own appeal against the FCC’s rules for the 700MHz auction; it wants open access provisions removed, barring the way for firms such as Google and Apple to use the frequencies to offer a wide range of applications and devices.

Application of spectrum liberalisation and trading to the mobile sector | Ofcom

Application of spectrum liberalisation and trading to the mobile sector | Ofcom

Unlicensed Devices Threaten America

The White Space Coalition says each of the nation’s 210 TV markets will have 15 to 40 unassigned, vacant and unused tv channels (pdf) which “could deliver Internet access to every American household for as little as $10 a month.”

Google, others suffer setback as FCC nixes ‘white space’ devices :: RCR Wireless News

“Coalition members are encouraged that FCC engineers did not find fault with our operating parameters and remain confident that unlicensed television spectrum can be used without interference,” the group stated. “In fact, in its report the FCC stated that ‘the bench test results indicate that under laboratory conditions this device is generally able to reliably detect DTV signals.’ We will work with the Federal Communications Commission to resolve any open questions quickly enabling the FCC to meet its October deadline and delivering on the common goal of driving innovation and expanding Internet access for all Americans.”

700 MHz Explained

The FCC has described the 700 MHz as beachfront property, and has talked up the broadband capabilities of this spectrum swath. About 60 MHz of the former UHF (TV) spectrum is going to be reclaimed by the U.S. government and will be reallocated for public safety and commercial broadband networks. The TV channels using this spectrum are going to go dark on Feb. 19, 2009, if all continues as planned.

Remote-Sensing Devices Fail FCC White Spaces Test

In one test, where a DTV signal could be received by a TV at the test site, "the scanner reported its channel to be free or available 40% to 75% of the time with an average of 58.2% of the time."

An earlier FCC test of TV sets had found interference to all eight models tested.

Divided FCC sets b'band rules

While the auction is known as the 700 MHz for the band in which the frequencies lie, a total of 62 MHz will be sold under the new plan; 22 MHz will be subjected to Martin's "open access" rules, and another 10 will be dedicated to the national public safety network, which will be shared between a commercial operator and public safety agencies.

Wireless spectrum auction presents unique opportunity, says FCC’s Martin

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will soon finalize its rules for the 700 Megahertz (MHz) auction, the last big slice of premium wireless spectrum the agency is likely to put on the block for years. The sale, which must take place before Jan. 28, is expected to raise billions for the Treasury and has attracted the heated interest of Internet and telecom giants, the public-safety community and public interest groups.

FCC Auction Could Mean More Flexible Wireless Broadband

A coalition that includes Google, Skype, Frontline Wireless, the Consumers Union and Media Access Project and other nonprofit groups, urge the FCC to require the winner to wholesale. "Without the license conditions proposed here, the advantages enjoyed by incumbents in spectrum auctions allow them to freeze out new entrants [and] eliminate rival business models," the group says in a letter to Martin.

Reasons to Focus on MediaFLO: KDDI President Onodera Talks -- Tech-On!

On the other hand, Onodera underscored KDDI's clear focus on "cognitive radio." It is a wireless communication system that actively recognizes surrounding radio environments, available frequency bands and access formats, and chooses an optimum one from several formats it supports.

Google Commits $4.6 Bln to Wireless Auction - Mobile News - Digital Trends

Internet giant Google has promised the FCC it will bid at least $4.6 billion in the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction - if the FCC adopts four openness principles.

Broadband Wireless

dailywireless.org � Broadband Wireless — Hello Goodbye

Public sector given chance to sell £20bn of radio spectrum

Ofcom has established a new set of guidelines that will allow government agencies such as the Ministry of Defence to cash in on valuable spectrum worth up to £20bn by selling it on to telecoms companies looking to beef up mobile coverage.The regulator said that public sector organisations, including the Ministry of Defence, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the UK's emergency services, hold around half of all radio spectrum below the 15 gigahertz band. That band of spectrum is the most sought after and congested frequency according to the regulator, suggesting the interest in securing the asset for commercial usage could be very high.Ofcom will detail its final proposals for public sector spectrum trading in October. The move follows a Treasury-backed review of spectrum in the UK published in 2005 that detailed the amount of available spectrum owned by the public sector and how it could be used to launch innovative new services.

Cognitive Radio Information Center

This page aims at collecting all the information related to Cognitive as well as Software, Opportunistic, Dynamic and such like radios.

OverDRiVE Project Homepage

The European research project OverDRiVE (Spectrum Efficient Uni- and Multicast Over
Dynamic Radio Networks in Vehicular Environments) aims at UMTS enhancements and coordination
of existing radio networks into a hybrid network to ensure spectrum efficient provision
of mobile multimedia services. An IPv6 based architecture enables interworking of cellular and
broadcast networks in a common frequency range with dynamic spectrum allocation (DSA). The
project objective is to enable and demonstrate the delivery of spectrum efficient multi- and
unicast services to vehicles.

FT.com / Comment & analysis / Letters - Digital dividend is in danger of not happening

The US plans to auction some of this spectrum for mobile broadband services later this year. In contrast, many European countries have yet to decide whether there will be a "digital dividend" at all, and Europe as a whole intends to defer any decision about whether the spectrum should be usable for anything other than broadcasting until the next World Radio Conference in 2011.

Europe can lead the world again in the next generation of mobile communications. But it will not do so if it defers decisions until the next decade and thereby denies Europe's consumers and businesses the benefits of innovation that their American and Asian counterparts are already well placed to enjoy. European governments should instead grasp the opportunity of mobile and support a co-primary allocation for mobile services in this spectrum at the World Radio Conference in October this year.

OBSAI

OBSAI aims to create an open market for cellular base stations. An open market will substantially reduce the development effort and costs that have been traditionally associated with creating new base station product ranges.

Programme-making and special events: future spectrum access | Ofcom

We examine a wide range of options in light of these goals. We believe that the leading options are:

* auctioning the digital interleaved spectrum as proposed in the DDR but with a longer transition period during which the PMSE sector would have guaranteed access; this auction might involve a pre-qualification process designed to ensure that bidders have the skills and expertise to manage the spectrum efficiently, for PMSE use in particular; and
* awarding the digital interleaved spectrum by beauty contest, with criteria designed to ensure a good alignment between the interests of the winner and the PMSE sector; there would also be pricing and incentives to promote efficient use.

Spectrum sharing is a tool for growth

Another form of spectrum sharing is to permit a licensee of spectrum to sub-lease a part of the allocated spectrum, either on a temporary or permanent basis, depending upon his own requirements. One way of doing this would be spectrum trading, while another approach could be leasing or franchising. These approaches are followed in several countries as a more evolved spectrum management technique.

EC proposes TV spectrum for WiMax - ZDNet UK

UHF spectrum should be allocated to WiMax once Europe's analogue television signals are phased out, the European commissioner for information society and media has proposed.

Viviane Reding made the suggestion during a broadband-related speech in Greece at the start of June. Noting that plans were already underway across Europe to open up the 2.6GHz band for mobile broadband usage, which could be WiMax or a variation of 3G, she again called the so-called digital dividend — the freeing up of spectrum brought about by the switch from analogue to digital — a "once-in-a-generation opportunity" to tackle the digital divide.

DySPAN

DySPAN

First Trials of Collaborative Dynamic Spectrum Access, Cognitive Radio Succeed | Wireless IQ

The world’s first collaborative dynamic spectrum access and cognitive radio trials were performed by the second IEEE International symposium on New Frontiers in Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySPAN). Held in Dublin, Ireland, DySPAN gathered 300 of the world’s foremost wireless experts, many of whom participated in the trials conducted at the Centre for Telecommunications Value-Chain Research (CTVR), headquartered at University of Dublin, Trinity College.

The Irish Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) awarded CTVR a trial license enabling several leading global companies and research groups, which includes Motorola, Shared Spectrum Company, Virginia Tech University, QinetiQ, University of Kansas, and SRI International, to participate in the trials. Licensed and license-exempt frequency spectrum segments in the VHF/UHF and microwave bands were used by the companies during the trials.

New superfast wireless broadband device prototype submitted to FCC

New superfast wireless broadband device prototype submitted to FCC

The White Spaces Coalition's plans for fast wireless broadband: Page 1

The White Spaces Coalition's plans for fast wireless broadband: Page 1

Google proposes innovation in radio spectrum auction | CNET News.com

Google filed a proposal on Monday with the Federal Communications Commission calling on the agency to let companies allocate radio spectrum using the same kind of real-time auction that the search engine company now uses to sell advertisements.

Software defined radio gets configurable RF - 16/05/2007 - Electronics Weekly

TechnoConcepts of Boston, which is developing a re-configurable RF front end for software defined radio (SDR) systems, has a design in which its RF front end is plugged into a re-configurable baseband from PicoChip of Bristol.

The combination allows the possibility of a fully reconfigurable SDR system in which the same piece of silicon can act successively as different radio standards, said the company.

This first platform is confined to WiMAX. Since WiMAX is notorious because the spectrum frequencies allocated to it vary from country to country, 2.1GHz in the US, 2.3GHz in Korea, 2.5GHz in Europe and 3.4GHz, 3.6GHz, and 4.9GHz elsewhere, a reconfigurable platform is a suitable starter product for a re-configurable wireless platform.

“This is very much a Phase One product,” Rupert Baines, v-p for marketing at PicoChip, told EW, “it’s just for WiMAX because it has so many different systems, so many different frequencies.”

ComReg welcomes moves to trial DSA technology: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research

The Irish telecoms regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), has invited companies to begin trialling so-called ‘intelligent radio’ or Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) technology, which it believes offers additional benefits to advanced technologies such as Wi-Fi. According to online news portal siliconrepublic.com, ComReg said on Friday that DSA technology is about ‘maximising the use of the radio spectrum by gaining access to highly sought after frequencies at certain times or in certain locations’. It could offer benefits to mobile and broadband by accessing greater parts of the radio spectrum and accessing it faster. Ofcom in the UK is also exploring the possibilities of using DSA and is currently looking at advanced roaming applications for mobile phones, PDAs and other mobile devices. ComReg chairman Mike Byrne said: ‘ComReg is keen to encourage innovative developments and more efficient ways to use spectrum. We wish to encourage development in these technologies through our test-and-trial licence scheme… We would like to invite interested parties to consider using the test-and-trial licence scheme to investigate the potential of this technology.’

FCC begins testing mysterious "white space" wireless broadband device

Earlier this month, a consortium of companies including Microsoft, Intel, Dell, and Google submitted a device to the Federal Communications Commission for approval that would use the so-called "white space" in the analog television spectrum for wireless Internet access. The FCC is testing the new device and will have results ready in July, according to an attorney for the companies, and the Commission could then adopt final rules for such devices in the fall of this year.

Microsoft leads internet industry bid to fill up white space | The Register

A coalition led by Microsoft, and backed by most of the heavyweights of the internet industry, has submitted a device for use in this white space to the FCC for approval, signaling the determination of these players to make use of new spectrum availability to promote their own business model. The main aims of the prototype are to demonstrate ways that interference with TV broadcasts can be avoided, and to showcase new services and access mechanisms to boost broadband competition.

RadioScape Extends Software Defined Radio Approach to Mobile TV

RadioScape plc is extending its leadership in Mobile TV broadcast technology with the addition this year of solutions for Mobile TV receivers, which will be based on the latest additions to the Blackfin® processor family from Analog Devices (ADI). Announced today these new, high performance, low power processors will enable RadioScape to integrate the DAB baseband decoder and the audio video decoder onto a single platform. This provides a clear saving in costs while being very competitive on space and power compared to the conventional approach today of having these on two separate chips.

More spectrum needed for mobile-TV, pleads GSM group

Europe's mobile network operators have called on governments and regulators for more spectrum to be made available for the provision of mobile TV, echoing one of the findings in the final report of the European Mobile Broadcasting Council (EMBC), an initiative of the European Commission.

Broadcasters fight for high definition spectrum guarantees | Business | Money | Telegraph

Executives from ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and Five met DTI Minister Margaret Hodge in an eleventh-hour plea for guaranteed spectrum to supply free high-definition (HD) television.

Smart radio technology could be used to enable the spectrum to be shared between broadcasters and other applications.

Cognitive radio functionality supports spectrum avoidance requirements

Realtek Semiconductor Corp. has demonstrated a cognitive radio functionality for UWB using its RTU7010 combined single-chip radio and base band processor, currently in mass production.

This cognitive radio functionality complies with the spectrum avoidance requirements that will apply in several worldwide regulatory domains beginning in 2009, and that are directed at ensuring satisfactory coexistence of UWB devices with other wireless services.

DTT spectrum allocated to Italian majors

Italy’s communications regulatory authority has allocated the first major portion of the digital terrestrial TV spectrum to Italy's three leading terrestrial broadcasters RAI, Mediaset and Telecom Italia Media.

Agcom's board voted to allocate equal portions of the DTT transmission spectrum the three in an effort to boost the market and "to promote pluralism". The broadcasters will have access to 40 per cent of the DTT spectrum.

Telecom Italia Media chief executive Antonio Campo dall'Orto has admitted that the less rapid development of the DTT platform, caused by the government's decision to delay the switchover from analogue to digital from 2008 to 2012, has made the group re-think its DTT strategy.

Operating profitability was influenced by the impact of the depreciation of the new DTT network bought at end 2005 and the investments made on it in 2006, the company said.

GSME calls for UHF band to be opened up to mobile and fixed telecoms service:Wireless Design & Development

GSM Europe has called on the European Commission to define a harmonised sub-band within the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band, which is currently used for broadcasting analogue television, to be used for fixed and mobile telecoms applications. This is one of the options set out in the Radio Spectrum Policy Group's (RSPG) Opinion on "EU Spectrum Policy Implications of the Digital Dividend", which examines how UHF spectrum could be used once television broadcasting has become entirely digital within the European Union. The RSPG advises the European Commission on spectrum policy.

Spectrum auction 'not driven by Treasury'—Hodge

Trade and Industry minister Margaret Hodge has sought to dispel industry speculation that Chancellor Gordon Brown is seeking to maximise revenues from a spectrum auction by not setting aside capacity for high-definition television (HDTV) channels on Freeview. Hodge told trade body the Digital Television Group's annual summit that the Government was mindful of the public policy implications of spectrum allocation post switchover.

Alcatel-Lucent offers CDMA product for 700 MHz public safety :: RCR Wireless News

Alcatel-Lucent introduced a new CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A-enabled base station for the 700 MHz spectrum band aimed at supporting the specific needs of public-safety organizations. The company said the technology will support high-speed access to data, images and video, and will provide users with push-to-talk and location-identification services.

The move is essentially a nod to the growing interest in supplying wireless products to public safety, which stands to gain extra spectrum as part of TV broadcasters’ transition to digital technology. According to Congress’ mandate on the topic, public safety is allotted some spectrum in the 700 MHz band while another chunk is set to be auctioned. However, several plans circling around Washington could ultimately add to the pool of 700 MHz spectrum for public safety.

TelecomView Report Identifies How Smart Radio Technology will Multiply the Digital Dividend

SAN FRANCISCO, BUSINESS WIRE -- Regulators globally are grappling with the Digital Dividend as analog TV services are replaced by digital. Should they allocate the spectrum for new uses or let smart radio technology shape the market? These questions are addressed by TelecomView's new report Smart Radio Technology-and the Digital Dividend.

"The Digital Dividend will create significant opportunities for both licensed and license exempt applications," stated Ian Cox, Principal Analyst at TelecomView and author of the report. "Bringing Smart Radio technology into the mix will maximize the traffic that this spectrum can carry and create new license exempt opportunities for wireless ISPs and metro deployments."

The report discusses plans for switching off analog TV in the UHF spectrum along with the new capabilities that Smart Radio technology brings. Smart radio technology include both centralized systems where GPS based location services are used to identify locally available spectrum as well as self learning techniques that allow the radio to adapt to local conditions. The report describes the regulatory issues that all of this presents and describes the significant benefits that may ensue. "The superior ability of this UHF spectrum to penetrate structures can create a quite positive business cases for a variety of wireless services," stated Bob Larribeau Principal Analyst at TelecomView. "Our previous reports Broadband Strategies for the Fixed Market and Investing in Mobile TV identified these benefits in detail."

This 16 page report addresses these issues and provides the information and analysis that wireless operators, and system suppliers need to prepare for the opportunities that these changes will bring.

Information Society - Radio Spectrum Policy - home page

Wireless communications is one of Europe’s most dynamic technology sectors and underpins European society in areas as diverse as transport, security and environmental protection. The entire industry relies on radio spectrum – a ‘raw material’ in short supply.

The development of radio spectrum policy in the Community is based on the Radio Spectrum Decision 676/2002/EC and contributes to the implementation of the eCommunications regulatory framework. It includes co-ordinating and supporting the radio spectrum needs of EU policies and initiatives in such sectors as communications, R&D and broadcasting.

EU endorses flexible frequency use

The EU has released a policy document calling for frequencies to be allocated with no restriction put on what they can be used for.

"Europe must fully exploit the potential use of certain spectrum bands by new wireless products and services, so as to encourage market development," EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding said, as Brussels unleashed the document, catchily entitled Rapid access to spectrum for wireless electronic communication services though more flexibility.

Initial set of frequency bands under investigation
for the implementation of more flexibility
(1350 MHz in total)

• 470-862 MHz: the band is used for broadcasting today, but issues arising from the digital dividend as well as convergence of broadcasting and mobile services call for action;
• 880-915 MHz / 925-960 MHz as well as 1710-1785 MHz / 1805-1880 MHz: these bands
are used for GSM mobile services today, but issues surrounding the introduction of 3rd generation mobile services and the continuing restrictions in the GSM Directive call for action;
• 1900-1980 MHz / 2010-2025 MHz / 2110-2170 MHz; these bands are used for 3rd
generation mobile services (IMT-2000/UMTS) today, but market developments point
towards the introduction of broadcasting type services as well as broadband connections in residential and rural areas in the light of convergence;
• 2500-2690 MHz (the 2.6 GHz band); this band (still to be licensed) is intended for use by 3rd generation mobile services (IMT-2000/UMTS), but it is of equal interest for the provision of broadband using other technologies such as WiMAX;
• 3.4-3.8 GHz: this band is used for broadband connections to the customer’s premises, but there is of equal interest for the provision of mobile services within the EU. However, it is also intensively used for satellite communications within Russia and a number of African countries.

EC plans to relax spectrum regulation - ZDNet UK

Viviane Reding, information society and media commissioner, has introduced a plan for better use of radio spectrum. According to a new proposal filing, called a Communication, innovative mobile services are being held up by the reservation of spectrum for narrowly defined uses.

The Communication noted: "The ability to provide a combination of broadcasting, mobile and broadband offerings to the consumer in a wireless environment could be hampered if network operators are not treated equally with regard to their access to a specific spectrum band and to the authorisation conditions to which it is subject."

Under the proposal, the Commission will examine some bands where regulation can be removed and agree on rights and authorisation conditions to apply to those bands. The conditions are expected to be agreed this year.

The Commission will also put an end to the practice of reserving spectrum for a single purpose, such as mobile. Constraints on usage will remain, however, in order to prevent interference.

Reding said the regulatory environment will begin to loosen up but added that spectrum hunters might be in for a long wait. "We seek to provide new opportunities for industry through less restrictive regulatory conditions that strengthen competition and increase consumer choice. However, this is a gradual process which will not happen overnight," she said in a statement.

A new regulatory framework on spectrum management is expected to come into force across Europe in 2010.

UMTS Forum Urges ITU to Back Harmonised 'Digital Dividend' for Frequencies Below 600 MHz

Industry body The UMTS Forum has urged the ITU to develop its new digital broadcasting plans so that the "digital dividend" following analogue television switch-off in the band 470-600 MHz is harmonised and made available for mobile services.

The Ofcom Digital Dividend Review (DDR) | Ofcom

Ofcom announced today the beginning of the Digital Dividend Review (DDR) - the project which will examine the options arising from the release of spectrum afforded by the digital switchover programme.

The airwaves – or radio spectrum – are a finite national asset. The five terrestrial television channels that currently broadcast in analogue (BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4 and five) use nearly half of the most valuable bands of spectrum below 1GHz.

Microsoft preps cognitive radio prototype for use with TV spectrum - Convergence - www.itnews.com.au

Dell, HP, Google, and others want the FCC to sign off on letting consumer devices utilize the "white space.".

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.

XG1 - Commercial cognitive radio from Adapt4

"If you look at the entire RF frequency up to 100 Ghz, and take a snapshot at any given time, you'll see that only five to ten percent of it is being used. So there's 90 Ghz of available bandwidth." -- Ed Thomas, Former Chief Engr., FCC

Wireless Communications & Signal Processing

Cognitive Radio, Software-Defined Radio References

White space ok FCC

The FCC has released a report and proposed rule making in its 2004 proceeding dealing with the authorization of unlicensed devices to operate in the spectrum currently set aside for TV broadcasting.

Software-defined radio

A software-defined radio (SDR) system is a radio communication system which can tune to any frequency band and receive any modulation across a large frequency spectrum by means of a programmable hardware which is controlled by software.

SDR Forum

his new site was designed to provide you with more information and an easier way to access member's only material. If you are a member, click on the Members Only link at the bottom of the left side navigation area to create a login. If your organization is not a member of the Forum, click the Join the Forum tab to find out more information.

OET -- Cognitive Radio

The Commission has issued a Notice of Public Rulemaking regarding service rules for advanced wireless services (cognitive radio technologies). These technologies can enable a radio device and its antenna to adapt its spectrum use in response to its operating environment. The technology provides a variety of options for a radio device/antenna to identify available spectrum that is unusable under current conditions.

Radios Get Smart

Here’s why: widespread use of cognitive radios could make more efficient use of radio spectrum. Estimates of how much additional traffic the airwaves could hold vary, but by some accounts, less than 14 percent of radio spectrum is truly busy at any given time. That includes big chunks of spectrum that are assigned but that aren’t fully used. Prime among them are the upper ranges of the TV bands: channels 14 to 83, better known as ultrahigh frequency or UHF. In 2004, a study by the International Telecommunication Union, in Geneva, found that “many TV channels are unused over significant geographical areas” and concluded that “cognitive radio techniques appear to be a promising approach” for using spectrum more efficiently while avoiding interference with current operations.

IEEE 802.22 WRAN WG Website

The charter of IEEE 802.22, the Working Group on Wireless Regional Area Networks ("WRANs"), under the PAR approved by the IEEE-SA Standards Board is to develop a standard for a cognitive radio-based PHY/MAC/air_interface for use by license-exempt devices on a non-interfering basis in spectrum that is allocated to the TV Broadcast Service.

IEEE 802.22

The IEEE 802.22 working group on Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRAN) is the youngest group of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN standards committee. Its project, formally called as Standard for Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRAN) - Specific requirements - Part 22: Cognitive Wireless RAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications: Policies and procedures for operation in the TV Bands focuses on constructing a consistent, national fixed point-to-multipoint WRAN that will utilize UHF/VHF TV bands between 54 and 862 MHz. Specific TV channels as well as the guard bands of these channels are planned to be used for communication in IEEE 802.22.

ESRF Homepage

ESRF is the First International Technical Forum for the exchange of experiences in the implementation of the Intelligent Software Definable Radio, including Base Station and Mobile Station. Considering the newest development of the 3rd/4th Generation Mobile Communication systems, Wireless Multimedia Communication systems, Broadband Global Communication systems as well as Next Generation Wireless Access systems, ESRF aims to construct an open intelligent infrastructure with utmost software definable functions in delivering an innovative enhanced radio technology for the 21st century. This advanced radio solution will surely bring-up a revolution in the traditional Base Station technology and implementation.

Terms of Reference for ECC TG4: Implications of Digital Dividend

ERO

End-to-End Reconfigurability (E²R) — End-to-End Reconfigurability (E2R)

Phase 2 (E2R II) website! E2R is an Integrated Project (IP) of the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission, addressing the core of the strategic objective "Mobile and wireless systems and platforms beyond 3G". E2R II is the second phase of the project, starting on 01.01.06.

Cognitive radio

The idea of Cognitive radio was first presented officially in an article by Joseph Mitola III and Gerald Q. Maguire, Jr. [1]. It was a novel approach in wireless communications that Mitola later described as:

The point in which wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the related networks are sufficiently computationally intelligent about radio resources and related computer-to-computer communications to detect user communications needs as a function of use context, and to provide radio resources and wireless services most appropriate to those needs.[2]

It was thought of as an ideal goal towards which a software-defined radio platform should evolve: a fully reconfigurable wireless black-box that automatically changes its communication variables in response to network and user demands.