IEEE 802.22 Standard Approved for White Space Development

 

The 802.22 Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRAN) standard was formally approved on July 22, 2011. The new standard will operate in the UHF and VHF spectrum used for broadcasting, and will support single-channel 22 Mbps broadband wireless access with a theoretical range of up to 100 km. The 802.22 technology will be particularly suitable for areas with low population density and avoid the interference with terrestrial TV broadcast signals. To optimize spectrum utilization, the UK and US have been actively examining ways of exploiting the unused "White Space" in the TV spectrum. The passing of the 802.22 standard is expected to accelerate the development of "White Space" applications such as remote area communications, IoT (Internet of  Things) communications, and emergency disaster communications.

On September23, 2010, the FCC has removed the mandatory requirement on the White Space devices (WSD) to include a sensing technology for the detection of signals from TV stations and low-power auxiliary service stations (wireless microphones). The reason behind this move is that geolocation and database access methods and other provisions will provide adequate and reliable protection fr incumbent devices.


There is no particular reason for the development of  the White Space WRAN standard under IEEE. IEEE has took the initiative to do so when the FCC has sent a request for the development of the standard. Other institutes also had the chance to work on it.