NSF convenes Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum workshop
The NSF is hosting a workshop this Wednesday through Friday called “Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum” (EARS) that’s designed to explore ways for the research community to help service providers and others better exploit radio spectrum. The event is taking place in Arlington, Va.
Why the effort? The NSF points out that wireless services are said to directly or indirectly contribute $700 billion to $1.4 trillion to the national economy annually. But congestion and interference threaten to stymie growth even as demand for wireless services and applications explodes for applications ranging from basic communications to entertainment, security and healthcare.
The NSF is already funding a slew of related research, including into areas such as cognitive radios and smart antennas. It has been called upon by the government to step up such efforts as well to support the National Broadband Plan released by the FCC this past spring. The Obama administration is backing the FCC in its effort to roughly double wireless spectrum available over the next 10 years. Lots of attention is being directed toward White Spaces as well, that spectrum freed up for wireless service use by way of the TV industry’s shift from using analog to digital signals.
Representatives from the federal government (including Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke) and technologists from universities such as Virginia Tech and the University of Illinois will be among the speakers at the event.
