A wireless broadband platform that works on any frequency between 100 MHz and 6 GHz provides the foundation for a new white space (TVWS) cognitive radio system rolled out this week by Toronto-based Redline Communications Group.
The company was founded in 1998 and already provides its Virtual Fiber specialized wireless broadband system to industrial enterprises, governments, public safety agencies and the telecom industry. Its largest vertical is the energy sector, in particular oil and gas fields where M2M connectivity is needed.
Redline's new Universal Wireless Transport (UWT) platform--operating in licensed, reserved and unlicensed bands--is aimed at multinational companies, including oil and gas producers, which may need to use many different frequencies within a single field.
The UWT platform also provides the foundation for Redline's new TVWS end-to-end networking system, which the vendor claims is the first such system to pass FCC testing and meet Industry Canada specifications. TVWS is the vacant spectrum between TV channels.
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Bojan Subasic |
Bojan Subasic, vice president of research and development at Redline, said the TVWS system is ideal for wide-area applications in oilfields, mining operations and public infrastructure monitoring--such as utilities, highways and water systems--and for bringing communications to remote communities.
Redline's TVWS system features a software-adaptable radio and a database lookup system supplied by Spectrum Bridge, which complies with regulations requiring unlicensed TV band devices to contact an authorized database system for a list of channels available for their use in a particular geographic location.
The TVWS software configuration also limits power and channel size to comply with FCC regulations. Using U.S. TVWS spectrum, the system can deliver speeds of up to 27 Mbps in a single 6 MHz channel covering up to 35 miles.
Redline said all of its sub-700 MHz (470-698 MHz) network systems are software configurable to comply with any country's regulatory specifications and can be used anywhere in the world. Outside of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, Redline's sub-700 MHz RDL-3000 network systems can use a typical configuration of four channels to operate at speeds of up to 100 Mbps over distances as great as 20 miles and at slower speeds can reach distances up to 35 miles. Those numbers can change depending upon channel size, terrain and local regulations.
In September 2010, the FCC opened up 700 MHz white-space spectrum for U.S. mobile broadband use. More white-space spectrum is expected to be freed use via the 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum auction in 2014.
For more:
- see this Redline release and this release
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