W H I T E PA P E R
Peter Flynn,
Product and program manager,
Multicore processors
Texas Instruments
Overview
White Space is the common term used
when referring to the reuse of the guard
bands (white space) in the digital TV
spectrum for the purpose of broadband
Wi-Fi networking. The formal standards
for this are IEEE 802.11af (White-Fi) and
IEEE 802.22 (Wi-Far). There are sev-
eral very enticing advantages for reus-
ing this bandwidth, not the least of which
is the potential for digital broadband hot
spots with a range of several kilometers.
This white paper will highlight the exciting
new potential of this space, yet tempered
with a few technical realities. Key to suc-
cess in this market will be products that
have flexible, programmable and scalable
architectures which provide cost-effective
solutions to match the density, power and
throughput needs of a wide range ap-
plication scenarios. And finally, we will
discuss how new System-on-Chip (SoC)
devices can be used to meet these strin-
gent, and often conflicting, requirements.
White Space
Potentials and Realities
The Basics
First, to be clear on what we are talking about, this is all about getting more spectrum for data
communication solutions. The current Wi-Fi bandwidth is nearly fully utilized and if you look
at a spectrum allocation mask (below) you will be hard pressed to find any free bandwidth.
However, there is a great deal of under-utilized bandwidth; in fact, in many cases up to 80
percent of the allocated spectrum in not being used.
A valuable chunk of this spectrum is allocated to television broadcasting which is particu-
larly underutilized. When TV stations are allocated, the FCC intentionally spreads them out and
puts blank channels in between stations in any geographic area to prevent adjacent channel
interference between these high-powered broadcast transmitters. These blank channels are
referred to as White Space. In 2002 the FCC initiated a process to assess the feasibility of
allowing unlicensed devices to operate in the TV broadcast spectrum at locations and times
when spectrum is not being used This, in a nutshell, is the key objective of all cognitive
radio solutions in TVWS. Consequently, the discussion has clearly changed from a debate over
spectrum allocation to one of spectrum utilization.
There is a simple reason that the spectrum debates are focused on the TV broadcast spec-
trum. The relatively long wavelengths of the TV band (in particular from 5 0MHz to 400 MHz)
are able to cover a large area and penetrate buildings, vegetation and terrain with good signal
integrity. These characteristics make this technology ideal for backhaul scenarios where other
Figure 1: US radio spectrum allocation
Source: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/spectrum_wall_chart_aug2011.pdf
2 Texas Instruments

technologies are difficult to justify the cost per user. The VHF/UHF TV spectrum will enable Non-Line-of-Sight
(NLOS) wireless communication that can reach up to 30 km with current technology.

Finding creative This year we will begin to hear a great deal more about a new wireless Internet access paradigm which will
solutions dramatically extend wireless access to new users and expand the Internet to new applications. This may
be referenced by many names including White-Fi, Super Wi-Fi, Wi-Far, Wireless Regional Area Networks
(WRAN), IEEE 802.11af (still a draft proposal) or IEEE 802.22 (published in 2011), Television Band Devices
(TVBD) or just White Space devices, and a few others. They all fall into a general category called cognitive
radio, which defines a model for using licensed spectrum which is underutilized in a given location.
The objective is two-fold; first to expand that available spectrum for wireless data services to relieve the
overcrowding that is common in the current Wi-Fi networks; and second to expand the area of access to
broadband Internet to more users that have little or no access today.
With the development of cognitive radio TV Band Devices, which can provide a high-capacity backhaul for
Wi-Fi access points across a large geographic area, we are able reach much further beyond the predomi-
nately city-based hot spot access points to develop a fully linked pervasive infrastructure which can reach
far out into rural areas. This can be done with cost-effective devices without the need for large cellular tow-
ers, providing Internet Everywhere capabilities.

Figure 2: Internet Everywhere via TVBD wireless infrastructure

These TVBD smart devices will be able to sense spectrum use and negotiate with a global database for
allocation of available spectrum to ensure they do not cause interference with any licensed users in its cur-
rent location.
For example, even in a typical urban area there are significant channels available for cognitive radio use.
Consider the regional map, on the following page, showing nine TV stations, noted by channels with a boxed
X next to them. The channels on either side of each station are also X out as the protected White Space.
And other devices, such a wireless microphones are often allocated to a few channels. What remains are 18
channels for use by TVBD cognitive radio devices.

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Figure 3: Most urban areas will have many channels available for cognitive radio use

Each channel will be able to provide of broadband data access through the TVBD infrastructure. In the
urban city scenario represented above, this would mean the potential for a city-wide wireless network with
significant broadband Internet capacity.
In rural areas, of course, there are far fewer TV stations, which allows for much greater TVWS capacity.
But also there are far fewer people per square kilometer so the challenge is to cover sufficient population
with each base station to warrant the cost of deployment. As noted, a key interest in TVWS is its propaga-
tion characteristics which can travel up to 30 km over various terrains. Consequently, solution providers can
cover nearly 3,000 square kilometers with a single base station and a cost-effective implementation can be
achieved even with population densities below one person per square kilometer.
The Figure 4, on the following page, showing the available TVWS channels in the US, underscores the
availability and the under utilization of this spectrum.

Application The list of applications for TVWS will expand with Internet applications in general but with the added benefit
scenarios that coverage will be pervasive; unlike today where we hop from one Wi-Fi hot spot to another and accept
the loss of Internet connectivity in between. This will open up new application scenarios which can benefit
from this universal and license free access to the Internet.

White Space Potentials and Realities January 2013

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Figure 4: Available TVWS channels in the US

AvailableTVWSChannelsintheUS

The most common applications sited are Unified Broadband Communication services which link together
ApplicationScenarios

anThelistofapplicationsforTVWSwillexpandwithinternetapplicationsingeneralbutwiththeadded
entire office park, campus facility or public community; dedicated machine-to-machine (M2M) connec-
benefitthatcoveragewillbepervasive;unliketodaywherewehopfromoneWiFihotspottoanother
tions between two remote devices; remote and broad-sensing network for weather, traffic, or environmental
andacceptthelossofinternetconnectivityinbetween.Thiswillopenupnewapplicationscenarios
monitoring; wireless smart grid for utility infrastructure monitoring and rapid outage response; and mission
whichcanbenefitfromthisuniversalandlicensefreeaccesstotheinternet.
critical communication with fault tolerant networks for public safety.
ThemostcommonapplicationssitedareUnifiedBroadbandCommunicationserviceswhichlink
togetheranentireofficepark,campusfacilityorpubliccommunity;dedicatedmachinetomachine
These scenarios will commonly mean a backhaul to the Internet via a high-capacity cable link at one or
(M2M)connectionsbetweentworemotedevices;remoteandbroadsensingnetworkforweather,
more base stations. Redundant Internet connections as well as cross connections between base stations will
traffic,orenvironmentalmonitoring;wirelesssmartgridforutilityinfrastructuremonitoringandrapid
beoutageresponse;andmissioncriticalcommunicationwithfaulttolerantnetworksforpublicsafety.
used to provide overlapping coverage, robust services and higher reliability.
ThesescenarioswillcommonlymeanabackhaultotheInternetviaahighcapacitycablelinkatoneor
morebasestations.RedundantInternetconnectionsaswellascrossconnectionsbetweenbasestations
willbeusedtoprovideoverlappingcoverage,robustservicesandhigherreliability.

Figure 5: Typical TVWS network topology

White Space Potentials and Realities January 2013

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The wireless Most urban areas today already have advanced cellular coverage which is designed primarily for voice ser-
data deficit vices. Data services have been added but with limited capacity. In fact, over 50 percent of all mobile smart
phone data is being off-loaded to the available Wi-Fi hot spots simply because the cellular infrastructure
cannot possibly handle the current demand. This is the situation when only 10 percent of the users out there
today are using smart phones. With smart phone use expected to increase to 5 fold within the next few
years, it is clear that the current macro cellular model will not be able to keep pace with this demand.
In addition, research has shown that there is a strong correlation between regional economic growth and
high-speed Internet access to global information and markets. Yet, more than 50 percent of the world popula-
tion is without such access due to the prohibitive cost of deployment for population densities below 100
people per square kilometer. This has resulted in a Global Digital Divide which has been identified as a key
factor of economic inequality.
Clearly, there is a need for a more cost-effective and scalable model to deliver the required broadband
capacity that will be demanded in the near future. This will require better spectrum utilization as well as more
cost effective and rapid deployment of infrastructure.

The unlicensed
spectrum approach
A key strategy to reconcile the data deficit is to free up the availability of underutilized licensed spectrum for
unlicensed device use (also referred to as license-exempt). Basically, the concept is that if the licensed use is
not being utilized in a given location then the spectrum should be made available for unlicensed use.
This strategy has several key advantages:
1) There is no loss of value to the licensed user, since the spectrum is not being used.
2) Unlicensed means that there are no licensing costs to pass on to the end user.
3) Cognitive radio means there is no need to involve government bureaucracies to deploy new solutions
and protect the licensed users priority use.
4) Much lower-cost solutions become possible, creating viable new applications and markets.
5) Multiple industries can take advantage of this spectrum to build inter-operable infrastructures that are
driven by broad market incentives.
6) Cooperative, standards-based solutions are likely to emerge and quickly expand.

The unlicensed spectrum approach, which was proposed by the FCC and reflected in the IEEE 802.22
standard, is a low-complexity cognitive radio design that will utilize available spectrum without the need for
licensing or complex negotiations between the various spectrum users.

Software-Defined A clear path to success for TVWS and cognitive radio is to build low-cost, yet highly adaptable equipment
Radios and common which can quickly be reconfigured for applications in different spectrum ranges. Most wireless data commu-
platforms
nication equipment today is locked into a specific spectrum, communication protocol and a single application.

White Space Potentials and Realities January 2013

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These stove pipe solutions create roadblocks to standardization and are expensive as well as time
consuming to adapt for new applications.
A new concept is emerging call the Software Defined Radio (SDR), which can operate on many different
platforms and will offer the ability to redefine the protocol, spectrum and application with simply a new
software build. Several open source solutions, such as the GNU Radio (www.gnuradio.org), can provide a
rapid ramp-up for new products and significantly reduce the time to market for new applications.
A critical barrier to SDR is that much of the signal processing required in modern radios is very complex
and requires a great deal of processing power to implement in the encoding algorithms in software. Even
more intense is the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processing which is often required to efficiently pack the
data into the available spectrum. In fact, a single point-to-point connection for a high-data-rate link imple-
menting a full SDR can easily require more processing power than a modern desktop computer can provide.
Fortunately, there are processing platforms specifically designed to solve this problem by implementing
many of the most demanding algorithms in dedicated accelerators or coprocessors; leaving the main proces-
sor for the variability of application code.
TI has developed an entire new family of SoC devices providing highly integrated solutions by combining
high-performance ARM processors, DSPs and digital radio accelerators and packet accelerators which will
make SDR solutions practical.
For example, the TMS320TCI6614 SoC includes a high-speed ARM Cortex-A8 processor, four C66x
DSP processors, dual GigE interface and extensive I/O capabilities. In addition, this device includes the fol-
lowing radio accelerators implemented in silicon which completely off-load the SDR for these CPU-intensive
functions.
Two FFT coprocessors (FFTC),
Two Viterbi decoder accelerators (VCP),
Two Turbo decoders accelerators (TCP3d),
Wideband CDMA Receiver/Transmitter coprocessors (RAC/TAC),
And up/down link bit-rate coprocessors (BCP).

This highly integrated approach provides the high performance, compact SoC implementation and low-
cost that is required to make SDR a reality. And the comprehensive scope of radio accelerators ensures this
device will be successful in a wide range of wireless applications scenarios.
The combination of SDR and SoC technologies will enable developers and system integrators to quickly
develop low-cost, low-power cognitive radio solutions and enable the rapid development of new applications.

Industry initiatives for The standards work developed in the IEEE 802.22 Working Group and certified in the White Space Alliance
rapid standardization (WSA) industry group Wi-Far specification intends to break the glass ceiling of wireless Internet which has

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restricted its broader distribution. Wi-Far defines an interoperable standard designed to meet the IEEE 802.22
requirements with cost-effective solutions, which defines both a full PHY and MAC layer standard.
With our participation in the WSA industry group and our work with IEEE standards for TVWS, TI is commit-
ted to making Internet everywhere a reality in the near future.

References White Space Alliance Industry group, www.whitespacealliance.org/

Texas Instruments TMS320TCI6614 SoC, www.ti.com/product/tms320tci6614
IEEE 802.22-2011 Standard for Cognitive Wireless Regional Area Networks (RAN) for Operation in TV
Bands, (July 2012), available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.22
Unlicensed Operation in the TV Broadcast Bands, ET Docket No. 04-186, Third Memorandum Opinion and
Order, 27 FCC Rcd 3692 (2012), available at
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db0405/FCC-12-36A1.pdf
Protocol to Access White Spaces Data Bases, available at http://datatracker.ietf.org/wg/paws/
Efficiency Gains and Consumer Benefits of Unlicensed Access to the Public Airwaves, Mark Cooper, at 14
(January 2012), available at http://www.markcooperresearch.com/SharedSpectrumAnalysis.pdf
A Look Ahead to Possible Wi-Fi Industry Trends in 2011, Andrew vonNagy, (Revolution Wi-Fi, Dec. 21
2010), available at http://revolutionwifi.blogspot.com/2010/12/look-ahead-to-possible-wi-fi-industry.html
The Economic Significance of License-Exempt Spectrum to the Future of the Internet, Richard Thanki,
(June 2012), available at http://www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/Presentation/CWS-Richard%20Thanki.pdf
AT&T Wi-Fi Milestones, available at http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/pdf/wi-fi_timeline.pdf
Report to the President, Realizing the Full Potential of Government-Held Spectrum to Spur Economic
Growth (PCAST, July 2012), (PCAST Report),
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-nitrd2013.pdf

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