Google Zeroing in on White Space Spectrum

After being part of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s wireless spectrum auction, Google is now looking at another spectrum with wireless Internet potential. Though Google may not have scored big at the FCC auction for 700 MHz of wireless spectrum, it managed to get the FCC to endorse open access.

Now, it has filed a request with the FCC to open up the ‘white space’, i.e. the unused spectrum allotted for T.V. broadcasting. The Google request for throwing open the white space is to enable it to its latest wireless phones and related applications running on the Android platform. The Android platform is one that manufacturers of mobile phones are looking to utilize for creating Internet-ready phones.

In a letter addressed to the FCC, the Washington media and telecom counsel for Google, Rick Whitt, said there could be fresh avenues for wireless communications if the FCC were to release the white space.

In his letter to the FCC, Whitt wrote, “This large amount of spectrum, coupled with advanced signal processing techniques made practical by the exponential growth in computing power (Moore's law), can make data rates in the gigabits-per-second available in the not-too-distant future.”

Whitt wrote in his letter that the white space could help provide the infrastructure for functionality in rural areas where there has been under deployment. The infrastructure could also be utilized to service first responders as well, he said.

The letter went on to say, “As a result, we soon could see a low-cost and open infrastructure, supporting a near-unlimited bandwidth Internet service, improving every year as computer and radio technologies continue to evolve. This would be akin to a faster, longer range, higher data rate WiFi service – ‘WiFi 2.0’ if you will.”

According to Whitt, the combination of white space with the Android platform, which is an open source platform for mobile applications targeted at the consumer level, could enable all Americans the ability to access mobile broadband at low rates.

Whitt wrote, “Over 30 other companies are working with Google through the Open Handset Alliance to develop a fully open source software stack, including the operating system, middleware, and user applications. Android-powered handsets should begin appearing commercially later this year, and would be an excellent match for the TV white space.”

A report by Reuters said there was a strong possibility that by February 2009, the white space would be up for grabs too, as that was when TV broadcasting companies moved over to digital from analog. The Reuters also said that Google’s idea was meeting with resistance from wireless phone manufacturers and broadcasters in the U.S.

Whitt has an answer to the doubts about interference the broadcasting companies are raising. According to him, companies could use ‘spectrum-sensing technologies’ to determine the status of a channel before trying to use it. He said the military was already using applications such as these, and they helped cut down on interference that other devices could potentially cause.

Google has suggested that all wireless microphones would have a ‘safe harbor’ between two specific channels – 36-38. A device using white space from the television would not have the required authority or clearance to use these dedicated channels.