4 ms·

Television White Spaces database receives FCC certification

34 points by cleverjake 13y ago

rgovind 13y ago
For the layman, What does database administrator mean in this situtaion?
jleader 13y ago
Apparently a "database administrator" is a kind of registry of spectrum and location, keeping track of what devices are using which frequencies in which places, and so ensuring no overlaps? Based on this description of the proposal they submitted: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-proposal-to-build-and-operate-white.html http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-proposal-... and this FCC page: http://www.fcc.gov/topic/white-space http://www.fcc.gov/topic/white-space It turns out that I live in one of the largest "black" areas on their map of channel availability, Los Angeles. The other large black spots are Salt Lake City and New York. There are also a couple odd black spots in New Mexico that must be regulatory rather than physical, since they don't have any "gradient" of decreasing channel availability around them. https://www.google.org/spectrum/whitespace/channel/ https://www.google.org/spectrum/whitespace/channel/ (looks like it's US-only). ETA: It looks like the NM rectangular black spot is the "Very Large Array" of radio-telescopes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array)
jauer 13y ago
This is exciting progress on the (regulatory) future of radio systems in the US. In a nutshell, in the past the FCC assigned exclusive use for a slice of spectrum to a particular user. A while back the FCC established spectrum ghettos (the ISM band) in 900Mhz, 2.4Ghz, and 5Ghz as a sort of power-limited free-for-all. This enabled the explosion of personal connectivity that we've experienced in the past decade. They are trying a hybrid approach with the TV Whitespace (TVWS) spectrum freed up from the analog to digital TV conversion (~400-700Mhz). Multiple competitive databases were commissioned (Google, Spectrum Bridge, Telcordia, etc). When a TVWS AP powers up it checks for free channels with the database over the internet (each TVWS AP has a embedded GPS for location-awareness)[1]. This allows for APs to slot in between licensed users (TV Stations) and the politically connected illegitimate users, cough, I mean key stakeholders, such as stadiums and churches (wireless microphones). 1: The idea is database operators can charge for access and give you a API key to put in the radio or something. The super exciting part comes (if this works to the FCC's satisfaction) when you can dynamically allocate spectrum that otherwise would have been reserved for users that rarely use it. E.g. DoD spectrum that is only used during natural disasters or spectrum used for ship to shore (if you are in the midwest).

34 points by cleverjake 13y ago

For the layman, What does database administrator mean in this situtaion?

Apparently a "database administrator" is a kind of registry of spectrum and location, keeping track of what devices are using which frequencies in which places, and so ensuring no overlaps? Based on this description of the proposal they submitted: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-proposal-to-build-and-operate-white.html http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-proposal-... and this FCC page: http://www.fcc.gov/topic/white-space http://www.fcc.gov/topic/white-space It turns out that I live in one of the largest "black" areas on their map of channel availability, Los Angeles. The other large black spots are Salt Lake City and New York. There are also a couple odd black spots in New Mexico that must be regulatory rather than physical, since they don't have any "gradient" of decreasing channel availability around them. https://www.google.org/spectrum/whitespace/channel/ https://www.google.org/spectrum/whitespace/channel/ (looks like it's US-only). ETA: It looks like the NM rectangular black spot is the "Very Large Array" of radio-telescopes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array)

jauer 13y ago

This is exciting progress on the (regulatory) future of radio systems in the US. In a nutshell, in the past the FCC assigned exclusive use for a slice of spectrum to a particular user. A while back the FCC established spectrum ghettos (the ISM band) in 900Mhz, 2.4Ghz, and 5Ghz as a sort of power-limited free-for-all. This enabled the explosion of personal connectivity that we've experienced in the past decade. They are trying a hybrid approach with the TV Whitespace (TVWS) spectrum freed up from the analog to digital TV conversion (~400-700Mhz). Multiple competitive databases were commissioned (Google, Spectrum Bridge, Telcordia, etc). When a TVWS AP powers up it checks for free channels with the database over the internet (each TVWS AP has a embedded GPS for location-awareness)[1]. This allows for APs to slot in between licensed users (TV Stations) and the politically connected illegitimate users, cough, I mean key stakeholders, such as stadiums and churches (wireless microphones). 1: The idea is database operators can charge for access and give you a API key to put in the radio or something. The super exciting part comes (if this works to the FCC's satisfaction) when you can dynamically allocate spectrum that otherwise would have been reserved for users that rarely use it. E.g. DoD spectrum that is only used during natural disasters or spectrum used for ship to shore (if you are in the midwest).