Allocation of Wireless Spectrum

White Space

Lance Lohman
Tuan Huynh
What is Spectrum?
Spectrum, or electromagnetic spectrum, was
discovered in the mid 1800s.
Spectrum
Spectrum, or electromagnetic spectrum, was
discovered in the mid 1800s.
Early 1900s: AM Radio
Spectrum
Spectrum, or electromagnetic spectrum, was
discovered in the mid 1800s.
Early 1900s: AM Radio
1930s: FCC licensed the first portions of the spectrum
in the 700 MHz band for the TV stations to use.
Spectrum
Spectrum
In 1950s, wireless
microphone technology
came along and used those
same white spaces as their
lanes to transmit signal.
The switch from Analog to Digital
With the advent of
digital broadcasting,
TV no longer required
the full 700 MHz
portion of the
spectrum at all.
To put it another way: TV got flying
cars, so the FCC wanted to put their
old lanes to better use.
The FCC Auction
In 2008, the government auctioned off pieces of it in
an anonymous auction process that sold it for $19.6
billion to Verizon and AT&T.
Another portion of the 700 MHz portion is going to
first responders, like police or firemen etc, and various
government agencies.
White Spaces
White spaces are the unused spectrum space that act
as buffers between TV broadcasts (less needed now
after digital transition)
Considered prime spectrum space because they have a
long reach and can easily pass through many materials
Many are excited about potential for WiFi over this
spectrum
9x faster
3x stronger
Reach farther
Wi-fi on Steriods
The Big Debate
To Be or Not to Be?

Unlicense the Spectrum and put it in the public

domain for open innovations

Or license the Spectrum to a few companies who are

qualified to handle it
FCC Rulings on White Space
November 2008 – suspended ruling for opening the
spectrum; extensive testing for wireless device
interference
June 2010: Rejection of wireless signal sensing device;
establishment of constantly updated databases of
occupied frequencies
September 2010: the final verdict was…
Who are the Players?
Who are the Players?
Technology
companies, mobile
companies,
broadcasting
companies.
Who are the Players?
Technology companies,
mobile companies,
broadcasting companies
The government: wants
to keep some of the
spectrum for its usage
Who are the Players?
Technology companies,
mobile companies,
broadcasting companies
The government: wants
to keep some of the
spectrum for its usage
Academia
Why unlicensed?
Economics: expand the market, with more
consumers/producers on Wi-Fi, stimulating the economy
Technology: similar to the Internet, rather than
centralizing the control, you decentralize the system and
let the public innovates on it: super-charges innovations-
crows of people can develop new ideas faster than
isolated geniuses and disseminate them even better
Political/Electoral – by helping the spectrum go public,
the FCC can gain popular support from the people
Social – expanding the social network
 Tech Troubles with Unlicensed Spectrum
Interference – Many devices, all
competing for same area
Database reliability – Accuracy
and speed
Infrastructure – Power and
Range
Management/Enforcement –
Tracking, penalizing those
using spectrum maliciously
“WiMax” Feasibility – a pipe
dream?
Unlicensed Spectrum Costs Society
Majority of country relies on broadcast TV for news,
information – cannot disrupt that
No matter how great tech is, if it’s inconsistent, it
won’t be used
Politically, lose leverage on companies
Government loses money from auction
Hurts economy and consumers by not being put to
better use
Spectrum Use: Prioritize!
Long range, high penetration spectrum is a limited
resource
Owned by public, which trusts the government to put
it to the best possible use for society
What task? And who to implement it?
Spectrum Use: Mobile Data Traffic
Rapidly reaching capacity of mobile spectrum while
mobile use is still climbing (currently 680 Mhz
available)
AT&T: 2006-2009 saw 5000% increase in mobile data
traffic
ITU ‘06: Projecting wireless needs of 1300 Mhz by 2015
CTIA ‘09: Requesting 800 additional Mhz by 2015
Cisco: Mobile data traffic will double every year between
2008 and 2013
 Cisco Projections
• Video is primary driver of increased need
Why License?
Need to maximize use; FCC can mandate priorities
during auction to ensure public/private balance
Dozens of interested companies that have the
infrastructure, experience, and capacity necessary to
get the most out of the spectrum
Uses market to solve tech and societal problems –
ensure continued growth now!
WiFi
Our current Wi-Fi system is worth around $4 billion a
year
With the advent of White Space, the wireless industry
is estimated to worth $7.3 billion per year
More new devices will come out and connect on a all-
time strong level.
The landscape will change. It will affect how people
going to access the Internet in different, novel way
beyond a cellphone
International Perspectives
International Perspectives
UK is supportive for unlicensing the spectrum. They’re
keeping an eye of the US’s model and see how things
unfold
Look into the Future
Talks of how this coming age of turbo-connection will
help the planet as a whole. It is taken from an IBM’s
presentation released in March.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfEbMV295Kk
Questions & Answers