Motorola bullish on potential of 'white spaces'

Tests will show white spaces can be used without interfering with TV broadcasts, company predicts

Citing gains in mobile devices' sensing and geo-location capabilities, Motorola is feeling hopeful that the Federal Communications Commission will soon give device manufacturers the OK to use TV white spaces to deliver high-speed broadband.

Steve Sharkey, Motorola's senior director for regulatory and spectrum policy, says the company has spent the past month working with the FCC to test out its geo-location database in order to help provide protection for existing broadcast signals that could potentially clash with devices that utilize the unlicensed pieces of television broadcast spectrum known as "white spaces."

Essentially, geo-location tracks mobile devices by locating them through their specific IP address, Media Access Control address, RFID or other location-based information. From there, the geo-location database looks at what licensed spectrums are being used within a given area, and ranks the remaining available spectrums by their strength and their closeness to spectrum already in use. Finally, Sharkey says, the database will automatically select the optimal white space spectrum for the device based on its location, and will then switch the device to different spectrum once it moves to a different location.

"The key for successfully testing our device has been having access to the database and then knowing what channels are open and then using sensing capabilities to rank the channels," he says. "The most important finding for the test has been the importance of geo-location as part of the solution."

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Citing gains in mobile devices' sensing and geo-location capabilities, Motorola is feeling hopeful that the Federal Communications Commission will soon give device manufacturers the OK to use TV white spaces to deliver high-speed broadband.

Steve Sharkey, Motorola's senior director for regulatory and spectrum policy, says the company has spent the past month working with the FCC to test out its geo-location database in order to help provide protection for existing broadcast signals that could potentially clash with devices that utilize the unlicensed pieces of television broadcast spectrum known as "white spaces."

Essentially, geo-location tracks mobile devices by locating them through their specific IP address, Media Access Control address, RFID or other location-based information. From there, the geo-location database looks at what licensed spectrums are being used within a given area, and ranks the remaining available spectrums by their strength and their closeness to spectrum already in use. Finally, Sharkey says, the database will automatically select the optimal white space spectrum for the device based on its location, and will then switch the device to different spectrum once it moves to a different location.

"The key for successfully testing our device has been having access to the database and then knowing what channels are open and then using sensing capabilities to rank the channels," he says. "The most important finding for the test has been the importance of geo-location as part of the solution."

The FCC first began its latest round of white space field tests in July, with the goal of finishing them in three to four weeks. The tests are being conducted as part of the FCC's rulemaking procedure to consider whether low power devices should be allowed to use white spaces for high-speed data services.

The controversy over the use of unlicensed white spaces has been brewing for the past few years. On one side is the White Spaces Coalition, an industry group including Google, Dell and other tech companies that has been lobbying the FCC to approve wireless devices that operate on white spaces. On the other side is the National Association of Broadcasters, which has argued that using unlicensed personal, portable devices on white spaces would be detrimental to the entire broadcasting industry.

Sharkey says that testing geo-location devices is an important step forward in the white spaces debate, because most devices that the FCC has tested have been so-called smart wireless-white-space devices that would lower their power or turn off completely in the presence of licensed spectrum devices. While the NAB has criticized these devices because their sensory mechanisms are incapable of intelligently interacting with other devices in the area, Sharkey says that adding geo-location databases to equation makes the devices dramatically more intelligent and will practically eliminate the risk of interference. If all goes according to plan and the FCC approves the geo-location-enabled devices for use in the white spaces, Sharkey thinks that they will go a long way toward providing more broadband access throughout the United States.