Architecting a Low Cost Television White Space Network For Developing Regions

Abstract

There has been a number of Television White Space (TVWS) deployments in developing regions, using equipment designed for the western market. In this paper we assess a solution that addresses three of the limiting factors of existing solutions: high cost, database dependence and high power consumption. We argue that as there is enough TVWS spectrum availability especially in rural areas in developing regions, we do not need to use any geolocation databases nor do we need a tight transmit spectrum mask. We propose a low cost and an energy efficient TVWS network device that uses an embedded linux board equipped with a miniPCI card operating in the TVWS frequencies, for which we test the RF performance and power consumption for comparison to those of a commercial TVWS equipment.

Coverage, capacity and energy efficiency of TV white space technology

“…The maximum allowable path loss is calculated based on the link budget parameters listed in Table I. These parameters are retrieved from specifications provided in the standards [6], [7], as well as values from manufacturers or published research [15], [16], [17], [18]. The cell interference margin is considered 0 dB.…”

“…As Fig. 4 shows the power-consuming components of an outdoor IEEE 802.22(b) BS are the Radio Unit (28W) [16], Power over Ethernet (4W) [23], Outdoor Optical Backhaul (32W) [24]. The considered power consumptions are referred to the BS peak time load traffic to investigate the worst-case scenario.…”