Disappointed
When you said "Weightless" I was hoping for a new form of faster-than-light, neutrino-based communications. Rather than the wireless-mike killing white space mundanity. Light speed comms is so last week.
Next week will see the formal launch of the Weightless radio protocol, designed for use in the soon-to-be-available white space frequencies. But can a protocol without weight really do it all? Next Friday (30 September), all the major companies in the UK white space business will be gathered in Cambridge to talk about which …
"a single communications standard, as the Wi-Fi band (2.4GHz) has done"
So which single communication standard is that?
Is it 802-11, 802-11b, 802-11g, 802-11n, Bluetooth, 802-15.4 (Zigbee), my car alarm radar, my flash remotes, my neighbour's wireless doorbell, their video sender, or my other neighbour's baby monitor?
"Devices have to check with an online database to see what frequencies are available locally"
How does a wireless device check with an online database to see what frequencies are available for use to carry out tasks such as checking an online database to see what frequencies are available for use to carry out tasks such as checking an online database to see what frequencies are available...
The hub is expected to have some sort of internet connection by which to check, but P2P connectivity is something the SIG expects to discuss next week.
It's possible some sort of cached database could be used. A fire station could (for example) let the engine know the available frequenices at the location of the fire to which it was travelling, allowing fire fighters to use white space for P2P comms without any backhaul.
That would be dependent on Ofcom allowing it, but it's an interesting model.
Bill.
Like I used to get "Promulgated to NOTAMS (Notification to Airmen)" - (tautology, or what??) when I flew light aircraft as a hobby, I think "other means" is by Royal Mail.
It could also use the technique dangerously pioneered in the Internet Standard RFC 1149*
Sorry, been in Finland awhile. Does RM still exist?
*http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149
"(Weightless will happily carry IPv4 and IPv6 packets)"
But on reading the description of the protocol, I think the chances of TCP running over it will be near-zero.
A bit like TCP running over the 2G network, then.
On another topic, why is it that the TV spectrum space attracts such stupidity. It started with "slotting" Channel 5 into the "unused" guard channels in the band plan. And just goes downhill from there.
where are all the HD programmes going to be broadcast ? Over Astra Satelites ?
Why not just utilise the old analogue TV space.
As it is you have to go to Murdoch's evil empire to get any reasonable amount of HD / 3D, this space could let the Beeb , ITV , CH4 and Five all have more space to do their channels in Freeview HD and experiment with 3D.
Also , in the not so distant future, when the Beeb want to broadcast "3D Super-HiDef in 4096*2048" in the year 2020 (yes I am making this up ) , they'll have the bandwidth to do it and they will not be able to say "but you sold all the UHF TV Band off"
Of course I could be talking out of my arse , and in the near future well have 3D Super HiDef TV broadcast over IPTV.
Mind you Big Brother , X factor, Coronation St, I am a Celebrity Get Me out of here, and Eastenders will still not be worth watching no matter what definition they broadcast it in .
Still, IMO the TV UHF Band should be kept just as it is.