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    TV White Space Communications and Networks
    TV White Space Communications and Networks
    TV White Space Communications and Networks
    Ebook403 pages4 hours

    TV White Space Communications and Networks

    By Robert Stewart

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    About this ebook

    TV White Space Communications and Networks summarizes the current state-of-the-art in this important aspect of wireless communication. Part One covers related technologies, while Part Two looks at policy, regulation and standardization issues. Part Three discusses the commercialization and potential applications of white space networks, rounding out a comprehensive book that provides a standard reference for those researching and commercializing white space networks.

    • Presents broad-ranging coverage of all the key issues in white space networks, including regulation, standards, technologies and commercial applications
    • Brings together an international group of experts to summarize the state-of-the-art
    • Builds on the results of the first trials of white space networks
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherElsevier Science
    Release dateNov 10, 2017
    ISBN9780081006153
    TV White Space Communications and Networks

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      Book preview

      TV White Space Communications and Networks - Robert Stewart

      Strathclyde.

      Chapter 1

      TV White Space Developments in the UK

      Andrew Stirling    University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

      Abstract

      The United Kingdom was not the first country to consider regulations for TV white spaces (TVWS). However, following its detailed and painstaking implementation the UK regulatory model has been influential as other regulators around the world seek a solution that fits their needs.

      Keywords

      TV white spaces; PMSE; Spectrum; Geolocation database

      1.1 Introduction

      The United Kingdom was not the first country to consider regulations for TV white spaces (TVWS). However, following its detailed and painstaking implementation the UK regulatory model has been influential as other regulators around the world seek a solution that fits their needs.

      From the introduction of mobile services in the 1990s, the appetite for spectrum to support the growth of wireless services has developed quickly. The perceived need to add data capacity to mobile networks fuelled the interest of operators, who bid a total of £22 billion in the auction for 3G licences in the United Kingdom in 2001. This unexpected windfall, in turn, increased Government interest in making more spectrum available, and led to a review of spectrum management (by Professor Martin Cave) and to a mandate (and budget) for the new UK regulator Ofcom to conduct research on how to manage spectrum more efficiently.

      It was against this backdrop that digital TV switchover was kicked off with the aim of freeing spectrum in order to exploit the greater efficiency of digital broadcasting technology. At the same time, Ofcom was open to gaining additional economic benefits from the application of new technology to tap into unused spectrum. Thus, the first glimmerings of UK regulatory interest in TV white spaces (TVWS) began.

      1.2 What Are TV White Spaces?

      TV white spaces are essentially unused spectrum in the frequency bands allocated for terrestrial television broadcasting. As with holes in materials, they need to be defined in terms of the absence of something rather than being entities in their own right.

      In the United Kingdom, the frequencies used for terrestrial TV broadcasting range from 470 to 790 MHz (which accounts for a significant fraction of UHF Bands 4 and 5).

      The white spaces can be considered in terms of time, place and frequency. In any given location:

      •  Particular frequencies may be available if the nearest TV transmitters are not making use of them;

      •  The availability of frequencies might be restricted in time, for example if PMSE applications (e.g. wireless microphones) are making use of the frequencies at the location in question.

      The nature of TV broadcasting means that the frequencies available in one location are often different to those available in another location. Indeed, the spectrum allocated to broadcasting is also referred to as the interleaved spectrum because of the ‘patchwork quilt’ of frequencies used by transmitter stations to provide coverage across the nation and/or across a region for each television network. This fragmentation has complicated the allocation of the spectrum to potential uses. Typically, licences are granted for large areas because this enables efficiency for the users and for the administrations and regulators. The smaller the area to be licensed, the smaller the potential value compared to the transaction costs involved in licensing and the costs in provisioning a network to cover it.

      1.3 What Does Available Mean?

      Availability of a frequency does not mean empty or unoccupied, but merely that whatever signal might be carried on those frequencies is not needed or is not protected by regulation. All frequencies have a level of noise and interference. Background noise arriving from outer space provides the ultimate floor, whilst man-made radio sources raise this floor by varying degrees, depending on the time and place.

      In the TV band, signals from distant transmitters are the most likely reason for ‘noisy’ but available UHF frequencies, sometimes termed ‘grey spaces’. Considering an example from the south-east coast of England, a viewer may be able to receive a range of terrestrial services from the BBC and other UK broadcasters, as the service planners intended. However, it might also be technically possible for the same viewer to receive signals from French broadcasters on other UHF frequencies. These latter frequencies would be regarded as white spaces by the UK regulator Ofcom since it has no duty to protect the reception of French TV services by viewers based in the United Kingdom.

      1.4 Why TV Band Spectrum Is Valued

      The UHF frequencies offer enhanced propagation compared with the much higher frequencies used for 3G and Wi-Fi networks in the 2 GHz and 5 GHz bands. This translates into:

      •  Coverage extending further from the base-station/access point, enabling sparser and more cost-effective infrastructure for a given transmission power;

      •  An ability to serve locations which are not directly in sight a base station or which are sheltered by woodland;

      •  Improved indoor coverage.

      Another factor in favour of the TV white spaces is that TV broadcasting occupies similar frequency ranges around the world, providing potential for device volumes that would help to make the technology more affordable.

      1.5 Origins of TVWS

      TV white spaces arise for two reasons:

      1.  The way that terrestrial television services are planned: high tower, high power transmitter networks are used to achieve cost-effective coverage with only relatively simple and inexpensive hardware installations being required at the receiving end. Because of the range of the television broadcast signals, TV broadcast planning is an international exercise. To provide each European country with the capacity it needs for regional and national networks, the 32 UHF frequencies currently available for broadcasting (extending from 470 to 790 MHz) need to be reused intensively across the continent. With the traditional multi-frequency approach to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting, neighbouring transmitters need to use different frequencies in order to avoid mutual interference and the resulting destruction of coverage. Under this model, there is a minimum separation required before a frequency can be reused at another transmitter site. Thus, the established terrestrial TV distribution model naturally leaves many gaps in frequency use, which we refer to as the TV white spaces.

      2.  It is not economically feasible to serve certain remote rural locations with terrestrial broadcasting. This is a more significant factor in countries such as the United States, where broadcasters are more commercial and tend to be city-based. The UK/European broadcast licensing model has enabled regional and national networks, with coverage across the licensed region or nation in rural and in urban areas. However, because the United Kingdom is relatively highly urbanised, around 90% of households can be covered with transmitters providing coverage reaching only just over half of the landmass of the country. The TV spectrum is left unused outside of these areas for economic reasons, and therefore white spaces arise.

      1.5.1 A Short History of Terrestrial TV in the United Kingdom

      Terrestrial television services in the UK commenced as early as 1929, following the pioneering work of John Logie Baird and others, just a few years after the start of public radio broadcasting. The first television service provided by the British Broadcasting Corporation made use of spectrum in the VHF (Band III). By the 1960s, advances in television led to the introduction of further higher definition services in colour. These later services used spectrum which had been cleared in UHF (Bands 4 and 5) under international agreements (facilitated by the ITU).

      The initial transmitter sites, such as Crystal Palace in South London, were chosen with the aim of serving a large number of households from a single site. Over time, other sites which served smaller and smaller pockets of population were added, eventually reaching 1154 sites in total across the United Kingdom.

      At each transmitter site, only a handful of the available 48 UHF channels (frequencies) were used to carry the relatively modest number of TV networks that were broadcast to UK audiences. Up to 1998, when the first digital terrestrial TV (DTT) services were introduced, there were a maximum of 5 (analogue) TV networks. The 6 DTT multiplex networks, which were simulcast with the analogue services, brought the total number of networks to 11 (with each DTT multiplex network carrying several digital TV channels), so that around each transmitter site there were at least 37 (i.e. 48-11) frequencies left unused.

      Switching off the analogue services freed up to 5 frequencies. However, the introduction of two temporary multiplexes to support the clearance of broadcast services from the 700 MHz band and a local TV multiplex in some areas brought the total number of occupied UHF channels to up to 9 at each transmitter site.

      1.6 The UK Road to TV White Spaces Regulation

      1.6.1 A Brief Overview of UK Spectrum Regulation

      Spectrum regulation in the United Kingdom has grown from being a pure administrative matter, referred to as a ‘command and control’ approach [1] to being more open and responsive to market

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