Tuesday, July 5, 2011
My Google Reader on the keyword "broadband" was flooded today with headlines about one story: Adaptrum's white space technology was unveiled in the UK and... drum roll please... IT WORKED!  Great.  So what does that mean?

First of all, what is White Space spectrum?
Imagine that TV channels are like those people who inherently shout every time they're on a cell phone as though they were still using one of the giant gray bricks from back in the 80's.  In a large room, if 5 or 6 of these people are all trying to have a conversation at one time, they will need to spread out.  One loud mouth can't chat on his cell phone right next to another.  And when they spread out, they leave unfilled space between them.  Then, in walks you: the super-cool guy wearing your bluetooth headset and talking at a normal volume.  You can walk freely in and among these other loudmouths without disturbing their conversation, nor them disturbing yours.  You're walking in the white space. 

When the FCC licenses channels, such as TV channels, they don't abut them one after another.  This is why I grew up watching a TV that utterly confused a young kid trying to learn to count.  We started at 4, then 6, then 8, then 13, 18, 23, 40, and 59.  What's up with that?  The FCC has to leave un-used white space between these loud channels so as to avoid interference.

What is so revolutionary?
That's great, but this spectrum has been here for decades.  What has Adatprum done that's so new?  For starters, they have made a solution that navigates the dynamic nature of white space.  Transmitters are typically provisioned for one specific spectrum.  Adaptrum scans the local channels (just like your TV would when you first plug it in) and finds the safe white spaces where it can transmit.

More than that, though, it has gotten the FCC's approval to use these white spaces without licensing.  Among the unseen costs of your wireless broadband are the fees that carriers have to pay to the FCC for the rights to exclusively own their spectrum.  Because Adaptrum is programmed to "play nice" with existing broadcasters, they've finagled a way to not have to pay those fees to use a given frequency.

Where can it be used?
There's lots of talk about this becoming the next generation of wireless broadband spectrum.  But, to be honest, we are years if not decades from that reality.  The major providers have a lot of testing, integrating, and provisioning to do before white spaces could be added to the till for wireless spectrum on a national level. 

Where this technology may see commercialization (Adaptrum is, after-all, a venture-funded startup) in the near future is in local Wi-Fi meshes in communities, neighborhoods, or on campuses like universities or corporate campuses spanning multiple buildings. 

Labels: Adaptrum, FCC, spectrum, white space, Wi-Fi

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