The frenzy to find more spectrum for encroaching third-generation services is mostly unwarranted if wireless technology keeps progressing as it has, according to Marty Cooper, chief technology officer of ArrayComm Inc.
Spurred by an Oct. 13 directive from President Clinton, wireless industry officials and players have been scrambling to work out a way to give everyone the spectrum they need. Analysts estimate an additional 160 megahertz will be needed for mobile systems by 2010. A plan under consideration could reallocate 90 megahertz of the 190 megahertz set aside for multichannel multipoint distribution services alone.
But is all this fuss necessary? Cooper isn’t worried.
“There’s lots of ways of increasing spectral efficiency that have not been introduced to the real world. The fact is there really has never been a shortage of spectrum. Somehow or another the FCC has managed to find the spectrum,” Cooper said.
Don Brittingham, director of wireless policy for Verizon Wireless, asserted several weeks ago the National Telecommunications and Information Administration was not being wholly honest in its assessment of how much sharing could occur between 3G mobile systems and military users, suggesting the spectrum is there, but efficient management of it is not.
“The government is not forthcoming on how they came up with the data,” Brittingham told RCR Wireless News.
One way of improving spectral efficiency is through spatial diversity multiple access, which uses software-driven phased array or “smart” antennas to provide communications with mobile units in beam widths of as little as three degrees. SDMA works with time division duplexing systems, which do not require paired spectrum. ArrayComm’s technology, i-Burst, generally requires about five megahertz of unpaired spectrum.
The Federal Communications Commission recently cited SDMA and ArrayComm as a possible solution to the spectrum shortage. Frequency reuse seemingly will shake out as the most logical option, and consequently lessen the panic.
Cooper estimated that spectrum efficiency can be improved during the next 50 years by the trillions, based on the pace that has been set since the days of Marconi. In fact, spectrum efficiency has been doubling about every 30 months, Cooper said.
Overall, the FCC and industry just want to figure out a way to make room without disrupting existing services. The goal is to “encourage new technologies that in fact provide spectrally efficient services, and also provide services that have not been done before,” said Cooper.
These services could include instant wireless downloads of music and wirelessly transmitted interactive games.
ArrayComm continues to test its technology at its headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and will commence an FCC-sanctioned trial next year in San Diego using specially allocated spectrum. The trial could involve up to 3,000 customers.
