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EU Calls for Unified Approach to Allocating "White Space" Spectrum
judgecorp writes "The European Union has proposed that operators should share their spectrum, to make better use of it. The European authorities want to go beyond the 'white space' re-use of geographic gaps in spectrum, acknowledging that intelligent radio systems can now avoid interference. The EU wants operators to allow other players onto their licensed spectrum with short range equipment, in exchange for help building wireless infrastructure and creating more mobile data capacity"
Good: Yay! The EU wants to free up spectrum for mobile applications...but for who?
Bad: Not you.
Worse: Not them either.
Oh shit: The same people who are fucking you over a barrel in the mobile broadband arena now.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Yes, using whitespace well is good. The problems start when a cognitive radio malfunctions and interferes with licensed and in use spectrum.
The crux of sharing spectrum (as any down to earth shared whitespace proponent will tell you) has to do with the rules the cognitive radios use. Liken these to rules of the road or right of way. Traffic on the roads and freeways works (for the most part) because of a common understanding of the rules that govern right of way. These rules are determined by the government (in some cases better than others, try figuring out when you can do a u-turn in a given city).
The point is that while in theory, sharing unused white space is great, the devil is in how you share it. Without rules and guidelines defining this sharing of whitespace will simply be a property grab.
Think radios positioned to transmit constantly when they don't have actual network traffic. Think about radios that start bombing unused whitespace to claim it for a telco as soon as it goes out of use. Defining the rules of the road is a good thing. The EU may do a bad job of this, but it still needs to be done before that grand idea of free spectrum can even begin to have a hope of being realized.
4 space indents, no tabstops, and opening braces on the same line as method declaration.
The crux of sharing spectrum (as any down to earth shared whitespace proponent will tell you) has to do with the rules the cognitive radios use. Liken these to rules of the road or right of way. Traffic on the roads and freeways works (for the most part) because of a common understanding of the rules that govern right of way. These rules are determined by the government (in some cases better than others, try figuring out when you can do a u-turn in a given city).
Imagine that one decided that traffic was on the wrong side of the road. Someone would suggest, "Lets phase it in, trucks first."
Mod parent up for suggesting to mod up a message which states "fuck america". Way to go!
Just wanted to let you know that you're doing a great job. Keep up the good work and keep those Americunts in line!
Unfortunately they don't always get it right and end up interfering with legit stations. Probably because back in the day most pirates were run by trained engineers and people who knew what they were doing whereas now its usually any old bunch of halfwit punks who have sufficient IQ to but an FM transmitter off ebay and plug it in.
"If we run out of spectrum then mobile networks and broadband wonâ(TM)t work,â
We're in no danger of running out of spectrum. Now analogue TV has been switched off theres a surfeit of it in europe currently. Someone should point this out to her.
"That is unacceptable, we must maximise this scarce resource by re-using it and creating a single market out of it. We need a single market for spectrum in order to regain global industrial leadership in mobile and data, to attract more R&D investments."
Another techno illterate beaurocrat talking out of her backside about stuff she knows nothing about but is good at chucking soundbite marketing buzz phrases about and looking like she has her finger on what - in Brussels - counts as a pulse. I'd lay money on her angling for a promotion and this is just a bit of self publicity to help it along.
All the tests of cognitive spectrum switching that have taken place so far (Cambridge in the UK, the HP thing in the US), although they've been "Declared a Success" by the respective companies PR department have all shown that a good deal more work is needed. Ofcom have abandoned plans to licence cognitive devices (i.e. ones that avoid other users), and are now working on a database-based solution (devices switches on, and pings a database with its GPS coords to be told what it can use). Why don't it work? PMSE users - radio mics, IEMs and talkback, which often run as low as 10mW - nothing has yet been able to reliably sense them with sufficient protection margins. Why don't we move the PMSE users? Lower freqs, and the antennae get too big (and it's already very busy down there!), higher freqs and once you get up past all the mobile gubbins, the propogation characteristics are rotten for the application (specifically, penetration). Why don't we tell PMSE users to b*ll*cks? It wouldn't do that if you want any industry left in this country to produce film, TV, sports events, rock concerts, musicals, and lectures to broadcast on all this whizzy new bandwidth.
So, it looks to me as if the various lobbyists have given up on Ofcom (who, in a really, really good move, have started to bring technical expertise and facilities back in-house), and are now working on our less technically literate friends in Brussells. Balls to them.
What is this "brace" thing of which you speak?