FCC Tests White Spaces Database

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Public Notice announcing that the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) will commence a 45-day public trial of Spectrum Bridge’s TV band database system, beginning September 19.

Unused spectrum between TV stations – called white spaces – may provide an opportunity for changing the wireless mobile landscape. The result of white spaces innovation has already led to new technologies, including Wi-Fi, baby monitors and cordless phones.

Commission rules require that unlicensed TV band devices contact an authorized database system to obtain a list of channels that are available for their operation (i.e., channels not occupied by authorized radio services) at their individual locations and must operate only on those channels.

The limited trial is intended to allow the public to access and test Spectrum Bridge’s database system to ensure that it correctly identifies channels that are available for unlicensed TV band devices, properly registers those facilities entitled to protection, and provides protection to authorized services and registered facilities as specified in the rules.? ?Parties may participate in the trial by accessing Spectrum Bridge’s TV band database test facility at http://whitespaces.spectrumbridge.com/Trial.aspx.

The trial of the Spectrum Bridge database system is scheduled to last for 45 days, ending November 2. During this trial, participants are encouraged to test the channel availability calculator; the cable headend and broadcast auxiliary temporary receive site registration utilities; and the wireless microphone registration utility to ensure that each of these elements of the database system is working properly and providing the interference protection required under our rules.