Kevin Werbach has just posted a fantastic, lucid whitepaper on open spectrum, covering radical ideas like cognitive radio, ultrawideband, and software-defined radio in ways that are accessible to the laiety. Kevin's paper paints a compelling picture of a world of non-scarce spectrum where high-speed wireless data networks drive community activism, economic recovery and unparalleled innovation.
WiFi (IEEE 802.11) is a protocol for unlicensed wireless local area networks, allowing
high-speed data connections anywhere within a few hundred feet of an access point. WiFi
deployments are growing at fantastic rates, doubling in the last year. A market that did not
exist three years ago now generates well over a billion dollars annually, continuing to
expand despite a severe technology recession. There are thousands of public access points
in the US, and hundreds of thousands more in homes and businesses. Several million
laptops are equipped with WiFi cards, and most laptop vendors are building WiFi into their
newer models. Investment and innovation run rampant. Venture-backed startups are
springing up to improve WiFi technology and apply it to new markets, such as residential
broadband access.WiFi shows only a fraction of open spectrum's potential. If the US government took steps
to facilitate the full realization of open spectrum, it would achieve several vitally important policy goals. Moreover, it would do so by moving away from heavy-handed regulation
towards a free-market environment in which innovation and service quality matter more
than government-granted privileges…With today's technology, the better metaphor for wireless is not land, but oceans. Boats
traverse the seas. There is a risk those boats will collide with one another. The oceans,
however, are huge relative to the volume of shipping traffic, and the pilots of each boat
will maneuver to avoid any impending collision (i.e., ships “look and listen” before setting
course). To ensure safe navigation, we have general rules defining shipping lanes and a
combination of laws and etiquette defining how boats should behave relative to one
another. A regulatory regime that parceled out the oceans to different companies, so as to
facilitate safe shipping, would be overkill. It would sharply reduce the number of boats
that could use the seas simultaneously, raising prices in the process.
Link (148k PDF)
(via Werblog)
