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By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer Joelle Tessler, Ap Technology Writer
Mon Sep 13, 12:35 am ET
WASHINGTON A new flavor of Wi-Fi, with longer range and wall-piercing power,
could show up in wireless gadgets a year from now if the Federal Communications
Commission works out the last details of new spectrum rules that have been long
in the making.
Nearly two years ago, the FCC voted to open up the airwaves between broadcast
TV channels so-called "white spaces" for wireless broadband connections
that would work like Wi-Fi on steroids. But wrangling over key technical
details, including concerns about interference with TV signals and wireless
microphones, has prevented exploitation of these spaces.
On Sept. 23, the FCC plans to vote on rules meant to resolve those issues. FCC
Chairman Julius Genachowski predicts electronics makers will jump at this
"super Wi-Fi" technology, as the agency calls it, and make it just as popular
as conventional Wi-Fi.
"We're hoping history will repeat itself," Genachowski said. "White spaces are
a big deal for consumers and for investment and innovation."
The commission's plan would make white spaces available for free, without
specific permission, just as it already does for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Last year's transition from analog to digital television broadcasting freed up
enough spectrum to make this possible, but the plan faced serious opposition
from television broadcasters worried that their signals could be disrupted.
Wireless microphone manufacturers and users including churches, theatres,
karaoke bars and all types of performers also raised concerns about
interference.
To address these issues, the FCC has been working with broadcasters and
white-spaces proponents to map TV channels across the country. The current FCC
plan would require installers to configure white-spaces devices to use a
frequency that's vacant in their area a white space. Alternatively, the
devices themselves could figure out their location using such technologies as
GPS; a database would then help the devices figure out the right frequencies
for their area.
In addition, the agency hopes to set aside at least two channels for minor
users of wireless microphones. And it plans to put big wireless microphone
users, such as Broadway theaters and sports leagues, in the database, so
devices would know to avoid their airwaves.
The upcoming FCC vote is a welcome development for some of the country's
biggest technology companies, including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Dell
Inc. The tech industry hopes that white-spaces networks will create a
multibillion market for advanced wireless devices, including laptops, set-top
boxes and smart phones.
"We've all been chomping at the bit in the tech community ... to get going with
white spaces," said Richard Whitt, Google's Washington-based counsel for
telecommunications and media. "These are highly valuable, open, unused
airwaves."
If all goes according to plan, Liam Quinn, chief technology officer for client
business at Dell, expects to see "proof of concept" products at the Consumer
Electronics Show in January, followed by early products in about a year and
mass production a year after that.
White spaces are particularly well suited to providing broadband, tech
companies say, because they can penetrate walls, have plenty of network
capacity and are able to cover large areas. According to Quinn, the signals can
travel several miles and deliver Internet speeds ranging from 15 to 20 megabits
per second as fast as a cable modem.
Technology companies envision all sorts of uses for white spaces: providing
emergency services in disaster zones and creating home wireless networks that
can send video between television sets and computers, to name just a few
possibilities.
Wilmington, N.C., one of a handful of U.S. communities testing the technology,
is using white-spaces connections to send live video feeds from traffic and
surveillance cameras.
The city's network also gathers real-time data from a sensor in a remote part
of the local watershed to monitor water quality and levels. Previously,
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said, the city had to send a worker out in a boat
once a month to collect the data, as the city's Wi-Fi network could not reach
the sensor.
"There are a million and one possibilities for this spectrum," Saffo said.
Neeraj Srivastava, a vice president at a Florida company called Spectrum Bridge
Inc., noted that white-spaces networks could be used to bring high-speed
Internet access to remote corners of the country where the phone and cable
companies don't offer landline broadband. That's a high priority for the FCC.
Indeed, Spectrum Bridge, which helped build the Wilmington network, also helped
build a test system in rural Claudeville, Va., a community that had only
dial-up Internet and costly satellite-based broadband service before.
For now, it remains unclear whether the FCC's plan for dealing with
interference will go far enough for the broadcast industry, which wants the FCC
to require that white-spaces devices include spectrum-sensing technology that
can detect when airwaves are already being used. The FCC left that requirement
out amid opposition from the tech industry.
"This is still a work in progress," said David Donovan, head of the Association
for Maximum Service Television, which handles technical issues facing
broadcasters. "But we're trying to make it work."