Some Initial Results and Observations from a Series of Trials within the Ofcom TV White Spaces Pilot

Oliver Holland,Kazuo Ibuka,Keiichi Mizutani,Dominique Nussbaum,Florian Kaltenberger,Hiroshi Harada,Michele Bavaro,Heikki Kokkinen,Adnan Aijaz,Shuyu Ping,Nishanth Sastry,Reijo Ekman,Paulo Marques,Qianyun Zhang,Zhijin Qin,Jani Auranen,Philippe Viaud,Yue Gao,Mohammad Reza Akhavan,Juhani Hallio,Jean-Marc Chareau,Suleyman Taskafa,Raymond Knopp,Mikko Jakobsson,Arto Kivinen,Tiziano Pinato,Pravir Chawdhry,Hong Xing,Emanuele Anguili,Jarkko Paavola,Tomaž Šolc ,Julie A Mccann ,Ha‐Nguyen Tran ,Koji Ishizu ,José Carlos Ribeiro ,James M Bishop ,Mihael Mohorčič ,Toshiro Matsumura ,Rogério Dionísio

doi:10.1109/vtcspring.2015.7146093

Abstract

TV White Spaces (TVWS) technology allows wireless devices to opportunistically use locally-available TV channels enabled by a geolocation database. The UK regulator Ofcom has initiated a pilot of TVWS technology in the UK. This paper concerns a large- scale series of trials under that pilot. The purposes are to test aspects of white space technology, including the white space device and geolocation database interactions, the validity of the channel availability/powers calculations by the database and associated interference effects on primary services, and the performances of the white space devices, among others. An additional key purpose is to perform research investigations such as on aggregation of TVWS resources with conventional resources and also aggregation solely within TVWS, secondary coexistence issues and means to mitigate such issues, and primary coexistence issues under challenging deployment geometries, among others. This paper provides an update on the trials, giving an overview of their objectives and characteristics, some aspects that have been covered, and some early results and observations.

Highlights

Research in TV White Spaces (TVWS) has accelerated rapidly ever since the FCC produced its initial opinion on rules for White Space Devices (WSDs) in November 2008
After much regulatory tweaking [1], [2], and initial deployments of such devices in the US, Europe is following with the finalization of rules and testing of TVWS technology on a large scale [3]-[6]
We expect that Ofcom is most interested in testing the validity of the underlying TVWS technology and the conformance of WSDs with certification requirements

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Research in TV White Spaces (TVWS) has accelerated rapidly ever since the FCC produced its initial opinion on rules for White Space Devices (WSDs) in November 2008. After much regulatory tweaking [1], [2], and initial deployments of such devices in the US, Europe is following with the finalization of rules and testing of TVWS technology on a large scale [3]-[6]. This is driven by the UK regulator Ofcom’s work and instantiation of a large pilot of WSDs and the underlying enabling technology [6].

CONFORMANCE TESTING

TV WHITE SPACE DEVICES AND DEPLOYMENT LOCATIONS

Scenarios for TV White Space Usage

WSD Parameter Values and Parameter Acquisition

WSD Performance Assessments

White Space Capacity and Aggregation Studies

Coexistence with Primary Services

CONCLUSION