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      Taking Waves: FCC Green Lights Unlicensed Use of Wireless "White Space" Frequencies [Slide Show]

      But now comes the hard part: making phones, PCs and other mobile gadgets that can take advantage of the broadcast spectrum's strong signals

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      Taking Waves: FCC Green Lights Unlicensed Use of Wireless
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      Credits: COURTESY OF MICROSOFT

      Taking Waves: FCC Green Lights Unlicensed Use of Wireless "White Space" Frequencies [Slide Show]

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      • PESQ-Y The researchers analyze the quality of the recording using a set of standards known as perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ), also used by phone-makers, network equipment vendors and telecom operators to assess voice quality... COURTESY OF MICROSOFT
      • QUIET PLEASE The FCC prohibits a white space device from sharing channels with wireless mics, even if that mic does not use the entire channel. To ensure there is no interference, Microsoft Research's Ranveer Chandra and his team are testing white space transmissions in an anechoic chamber, whose walls absorb sound to prevent echos and reverberations... COURTESY OF MICROSOFT
      • VACANCY? Microsoft set up a prototype database to find vacant portions of the broadcast spectrum that white-space devices could use. COURTESY OF MICROSOFT
      • WHITEFI TO WI-FI The access points get their wireless signals from WhiteFi antennas set up last October and then hand off the connection to mobile devices on the shuttle via wi-fi. COURTESY OF MICROSOFT
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      • ON THE MOVE Microsoft's WhiteFi network wants to give wireless users Internet access while they ride the 220 shuttle buses and cars used to transport employees and visitors around the company's city-size campus... COURTESY OF MICROSOFT
      • WHITEFI ANTENNA Microsoft favors a database lookup function in lieu of a spectral-sensing capability that could probe white spaces to see if they are being used by an FCC-licensed user at any given time... COURTESY OF MICROSOFT
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      • PESQ-Y
      • QUIET PLEASE
      • VACANCY?
      • WHITEFI TO WI-FI
      • ON THE MOVE
      • WHITEFI ANTENNA
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