White Space in the Real World Update on Carlson TVWS Trials James Carlson, CEO
Introductions: Jim Carlson 25+ years as RF engineer CEO of Carlson, designer & manufacturer of fixed wireless equipment Specializing in rural territory & rugged terrain Early to TV white-space market with RuralConnect IP, available since Jan. 2011 under FCC experimental license
Carlson s Experimental Projects Allow us to develop most effective product Make improvements based on real-world scenarios Test product under challenging conditions Demonstrate the vast potential of the technology to offer real connectivity solutions
The Carlson Trials Eight exp. licenses granted, six trials begun Each trial at different stage of development
What Our Trials Have in Common Rural communities Challenged by rugged terrain, heavy foliage and low teledensity Seeking real NLOS solution Many committed but unservable customers who can be reached for the first time through TV white space technology
Rural New England Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts Low teledensity, low fiber miles Hilly, forested landscape Hundreds of failed installs
Rural Central Florida Low teledensity Dense foliage Marshland communities 12,000 users not servable via uwave Public-private partnership to get broadband to the underserved
WISP with hundreds of failed installs in three Oklahoma counties Using water tower to hit failed microwave sites Local TV station offered tower for interference test General 3.65 GHz service WiMAX with Omni Rural Oklahoma
Vergennes, Michigan WISP formed to serve bedroom communities near Grand Rapids Scattered homes on large properties Thickly forested with poor cell phone service Known as radio black hole by area public safety officials Hybrid network with WiMAX, TVWS and femtocells More info: http://carlsonwireless.blogspot.com
Cordova, Alaska Rural telephone co-op Remote island community surrounded by mountain ranges Phone service since 1996 with Carlson narrowband VHF radio Testing TVWS radios with VoIP + BB solution
Klamath, California 40+ square miles along the mouth of the Klamath River Very rugged terrain Heavily forested Sparsely populated Cultural constraints against visible infrastructure Yurok Tribal Territory More info: http://carlsonwireless.blogspot.com
The Yurok Project & Yurok Connect Carlson s earliest and most advanced trial Local unserved community Most challenging proving ground we could find for our developing product Yurok Tribal Territory
Yurok Connect: The Challenge Serving a scattered, remote population Originally planned with near line-of-sight 900 MHz 900 MHz would require many towers and repeaters Culturally unacceptable Cost-prohibitive Needed a better solution
Yurok Connect: The Solution We picked locations for 3 major access points that could be hidden in trees We found that VHF/UHF allowed the signal to reach well into obscured areas
Results for the Community Immediate community improvement Installed dedicated public safety line Currently installing fire station, elementary school and office building More info: http://carlsonwireless.blogspot.com
Results for Product Development Equalization Improvement Sharp canyons created significant multi-path A more robust equalization algorithm necessary Form Factor Redesign Antenna mount design better meets user needs
Preliminary Testing Shows Preliminary testing shows 80+ percent of the typical failed installs can be supported with TV white space 250,000 customers can benefit immediately Data throughput much more acceptable with two channels bonded together Price point still above major market acceptance
Thank You James Carlson CEO, Carlson Wireless jcarlson@carlsonwireless.com Office 707 822 7000