Representatives of six corporations met with the Federal Communications Commission this week to discuss a "cognitive radio" that will pick up broadband signals from "white space" - unused TV spectrum.

The reps say that the radio, part of a new generation of proposed "unlicensed devices," will not only match the success of Wi-Fi, but surpass it.

"Unlicensed devices operating in the TV band will offer longer transmission ranges using the same power, less risk of signal attenuation or harmful interference, and less power consumption at the same range than Wi-Fi," the six companies told the FCC.

This "coalition," as they call themselves, consists of Dell, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, and Philips. They sent the FCC a statement in support of the fledgling technology on January 31st, then followed up on Monday, February 5th with the specs for a Microsoft built machine, to be tested by the agency's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET).

In October the FCC gave the go-ahead to technologies that can take advantage of temporarily unused TV spectrum, more of which will become available thanks to the analog-to-digital TV transition, scheduled to finish in February of 2009.

Devices using geo-location and other techniques can detect such temporarily unused frequencies, or "white space," and route them to home entertainment systems, local area networks (LANs), and "community mesh networks" linking neighborhood LANs together.

A drawing of the cognitive radio's test set-up indicates that it will be able to access white space signals for a UHF radio, a CR scanner, and a laptop computer attached to network processor through an ethernet interface.

Users would at first specify a TV channel for the device to pick up. The machine would search for other signals if that one was already taken.

In their January 31st statement, the coalition asks the Commission to:

• Authorize the use of "spectrum sensing" rather than geo-location technology to find white space. The group argues that spectrum sensors do not need databases of available channels to function, and so are more flexible.
• Recommend that such devices check whether the channel is being used by a TV broadcaster once a minute, rather than every ten seconds as recommended by the Commission's First Report and Order on the technology.
• Avoid any delays in deployment of unlicensed devices. The FCC has given the ok for "white space" detecting TV band devices to go on sale on February 18, 2009, the day after all analog TV signals must stop.

The filing argues that "white space" technology will enhance videoconferencing for schools and non-profits, increase rural access to broadband, and facilitate "self-organizing mesh networks free from subscription service and free from monthly charges." Such networks could be used as emergency backup sites in the event of a network failure.

Interestingly, while the January 31st filing discloses the financial interest of Philips, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Microsoft in the new technology, it makes no mention of Google's motive for joining the group.

Not everyone supports this innovation. On the same day that the coalition filed their comments, Qualcomm submitted remarks urging the FCC to license white space detectors.

"At this juncture, Qualcomm remains highly skeptical that interference from mobile devices that would operate on an unlicensed basis, as many have advocated, can truly be mitigated through spectrum sensing technology," wrote Dean R. Brenner, the firm's Vice President for Government Affairs.