Anyone—everyone—in public safety can benefit from TV white space for their voice and data radio communications needs. There just aren’t enough traditional radio frequencies anymore for new licenses. Without a doubt we do need the 700 MHz D Block radio frequencies that APCO is lobbying for, but that won’t resolve all of our needs. So until we find a way to communicate without radios and wireless computers, you’ll want to read on about two of the very first TV white space installations.

What the Yurok Tribal Government is doing with the help of Carlson Wireless and the FCC, and what Vergennes Broadband is also doing, your department can do.

All radio systems use radio frequencies, including police and fire voice radio systems. Radio frequencies for voice-only radio systems are hard to find today. Broadband communications, such as Wi-Fi and WiMAX, also use radio frequencies, and each broadband system uses a lot more radio spectrum than a voice-only radio system or a text-only mobile data system. Because broadband uses more radio spectrum, the radio frequencies are even harder to find. And if you want to connect to the Internet without plugging a cable into the wall, you need broadband. And wireless streaming video without broadband? Forget it.

Thanks to FCC actions in 2010, TV channel white space has been freed up for some of our wireless broadband communications needs.

White space allows users to tap unused TV channel spectrum. Most areas have considerable white space radio spectrum that is not being used. To maximize this spectrum, the FCC is initially issuing experimental radio licenses and has assigned third-party administrators to maintain databases of available white space spectrum in each area to assist prospective white space users. TV white space can be mixed in radio systems with traditional radio system technologies to provide large-area systems. And each TV white space channel has enough radio spectrum for multiple broadband systems.

Imagine a broadband environment similar to Wi-Fi that is one to two miles in size, instead of just several hundred feet. It has the broadband advantages of Wi-Fi, without the severe range limitations of Wi-Fi. The Rural Connect IP products from Carlson Wireless create that environment using TV white space found in the 470–698 MHz spectrum, with speeds now up to 16 Mb/s with version II. And white space exists in most areas of the U.S.

The first question: Is there any available white space radio spectrum where you live? Don’t think you can find any unused TV channel spectrum in your area? You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

In the boondocks, apple-orchard and deer-hunting area where I live in western Michigan, the spectrum for at least 15 TV channels is listed as potentially available.

Don’t live in the boondocks? I also ran a search for the area of the city hall of Grand Rapids, Mich., located in the center of downtown, home to a number of commercial TV stations, across the street from the Convention Center, surrounded by federal, state and local court buildings and in the area of many moderately sized office buildings. So even in the county seat of Kent County with 500,000 residents, I found the radio spectrum for at least 11 TV channels listed as potentially available right in the center of town.

Try it and see. Enter your address at http://whitespaces.spectrumbridge.com/whitespaces.

Early Projects
There are two different white space projects underway in different parts of the county with different economics and different terrain and for different reasons.

Beta site testing is now being conducted by the Yurok tribe in northern California, where they are dealing with limited communications and limited economics in semi-mountainous terrain.

And concrete for one of the tower sites is now being poured in Vergennes Township, a Michigan county with 500,000 residents, where they are dealing with almost no high-speed Internet access in spite of good local economics and gently rolling terrain.

The Yurok System
The Yurok tribe is one of the first to use TV white space to solve some of their local government communications issues.
The 88-square-mile area is relatively rural, semi-mountainous with peaks over 3,000 feet and only limited communications for public safety first responders, government clinics and tribal members. The tribe has initiated a radio project to resolve the multiple communications problems with very limited funds to provide:

• Better links between existing police and fire radio repeaters in this challenging mountainous area;
• Broadband communications to the areas and clinics that have no digital communications or broadband access;
• Solutions for clogged communications, such as government clinics, that have only overloaded wire T-1 circuits with 60–100 computers on each T-1;
• Communications in areas that have no cell phone coverage;
• Communications for those areas where it now requires two–three hours to deliver messages to some tribe members.

As in many rural and semi-rural areas, economics simply prevent installation of many commercial solutions. In Yurok’s case, the terrain is too rugged and too large for economical solutions. Because there are not enough cell phone subscribers for the cell phone companies to economically support enough cell phone sites, many areas have no cell phone coverage. And Wi-Fi is not a solution; to cover its 88 square mile area, the Yurok tribe would need more than a thousand Wi-Fi sites.
The solution Yurok picked is blended and includes TV white space with the help of Carlson Wireless Technologies’ Rural Connect IP products. Carlson is one of the first companies to offer radios to utilize white space, and the company’s equipment is being installed in the Yurok system. Throughout this blended technology system, the best economic solution is being used for each specific segment of the total system.

For our engineer and technician APCO members, the backbone links themselves will be point-to-point communications on 5.8 GHz and will link up to 12 sites and UHF repeaters. This will provide more reliable links to public safety repeaters, provide broadband communications where none exists today and unload the clogged T-1 access points.

Why 5.8 GHz? Backbone links on the public safety frequency of 4.9 GHz was another option, but by using 5.8 GHz instead, the tribe can sell service to non-public safety users in the area to help fund the system.

Importantly, public safety communications will have priority access on the 5.8 GHz links.

For the sites serving as broadband hotspots, TV white space will be used with the broadband access points on Carlson equipment operating in TV white space spectrum. This will provide one- to two-mile (or greater) range at each access point, far greater than Wi-Fi. Each radio license permits up to 4 watts of transmitter power, with antennas up to 30 meters. The experimental license covers 174–216 MHz and 470–698 MHz, with a notch for Channel 37.

The new system with these King Kong hotspots and other connected equipment will improve radio communications for law enforcement, volunteer and full-time firefighters, EMS and government clinics. It will provide wireless transmission of medical records from facility to facility for current medical information for priority medical treatment. The new system will provide streaming video for public safety in the future.

As Jim Norton, Yurok broadband manager, and Paul Remaro, Yurok IT director described, schools, police and fire administration, EMS and consumer Internet will also be among the users. This will include tribal government Internet access, government office data text links and GIS mapping stations.

The total cost of Yurok’s project is expected to be $600,000–700,000. In Yurok’s case they were eligible for a grant from the Rural Utility Service under the USDA’s Community Connect Grant Program. The grant can cover up to 85% of acquisition costs. The Yurok grant covers salaries for three employees for two years and operating costs of $100,000 per year for two years.

At this starting point, the FCC licenses are experimental for one year. In Yurok’s case, it took less than 90 days to receive the FCC license with assistance from Carlson Wireless and Geoffrey Blackwell of the FCC’s Office of Native Affairs.

Vergennes Township, Mich.
Vergennes Township is located in Kent County, Mich., near Grand Rapids and Ada. TV white space capability is being installed here, also using Carlson equipment, in an environment quite different from the Yurok Tribal area.
A marked difference is that the Vergennes project is being installed as a commercial undertaking by local resident Ryan Peel, with possibilities for future economical use by local government. By comparison, Yurok is being installed by local government with possibilities for some future commercial use.

“Not unlike other rural townships in Michigan, Vergennes Township has many residents screaming for access to high-speed Internet,” notes Peel.

“The cost of expanding wireline infrastructure is too great given the population density, and the terrain and tree cover are the two biggest problems facing wireless broadband delivery. Vergennes Broadband plans to overcome the economical and technological obstacles and deliver broadband to places where all other solutions have failed,” he explains.

To accomplish this, the company is building a hybrid WiMAX/TV white space network. For its line-of-sight and near-line-of-sight customers, the company will use WiMAX technology.

“For customers that are buried in trees, Vergennes Broadband will bring in tree-busting wireless technology from Carlson Wireless. We’re looking forward to the release of Carlson’s second generation white space radio, purporting to deliver 16 Mbps on a single 6 MHz channel—and all interference free,” he says.

Because of what Peel calls the “excellent propagation characteristics” of white space, fairly minimal infrastructure will cover a wider area. “The new towers, while strategically placed, are relatively small, 100′ and 160′ respectively,” he says. One of the towers will hold a white space base station.

Vergennes Township is a black hole to many commercial and public safety radio systems in the county. As Peel summarizes, “If TV white space can deliver high-speed Internet to the home and assist first responders in some way, it’s a win-win.”

Both Systems
The common denominator in both systems is the use of TV white space even though the initial impetus is quite different. The founders of each system are different. The economics are different. And the terrain is different.

But TV white space is offering broadband solutions to both systems in spite of the differences.

White space is new. It’s evolving. It does not replace our need for the 700 MHz D Block radio spectrum. But white space offers solutions where we thought there were none. And it offers solutions that are economical.

Ralph H. Gould is past manager of radio licensing for 23 police, fire and local government voice and data radio systems operating on bands from 150 MHz to 10 GHz. Contact him via e-mail at r.gould@att.net.

Resources
•    www.carlsonwireless.com
•    http://whitespaces.spectrumbridge.com/whitespaces
•    www.vergennesbroadband.com

Originally published in January 2012 Public Safety Communications. Posted with permission of APCO International.