A newly proposed FCC policy change will mean that sections of spectrum can be “checked out” for different purposes at specific locations. These means that many more airwaves could eventually be shared with the help of cognitive radios like xG Technology’s xMax, which can sense available frequencies and shift between them.
As reported by David Talbot in MIT Technology Review, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is poised to recommend the biggest regulatory change in decades: one that allows a newly available chunk of wireless spectrum to be leased by different companies at different times and places, rather than being auctioned off to one high bidder.
With mobile data traffic expected to increase by a factor of 25 by 2016, according to Bell Labs, the future growth and economic viability of wireless communications depends on the smart management of limited wireless spectrum.
David Tennenhouse, Microsoft’s vice president of technology policy, called the policy shift a “critical milestone,” adding that it will not only release more spectrum but also enable “dynamic spectrum sharing that is particularly well suited for absorbing growing wireless data traffic.”
“It’s very different—this is going to allow for people to get low-cost access to the spectrum, to support new types of wireless devices,” said one wireless researcher familiar with the approach.
Daniel Carpini
Marketing Director
xG Technology, Inc.
Tags: cognitive radio, spectrum, wireless spectrum