The FCC has certified Carlson Wireless Technologies’ RuralConnect TV white space (TVWS) radio system for use with the Spectrum Bridge TV white spaces database.
The certification essentially allows Carlson Wireless to start marketing its non-line-of-site (NLOS) fixed wireless broadband system.
Designed using software-defined architecture and dynamic spectrum sharing, RuralConnect transmits in unused frequencies in the UHF TV band (470-698 MHz). The system uses the Spectrum Bridge database to determine what frequencies are unused in any given broadcast area.
As the name of its product implies, Carlson Wireless aims to provide wireless connectivity in rural areas previously difficult or expensive to reach. The company also sees opportunities with businesses and governments that need to extend their communications and private networks, such as data monitoring and control for utilities, oil & gas operations, resource management, public safety, video surveillance, VoIP networks and more.
“FCC certification enables us to offer this technology domestically,” said Jim Carlson, CEO of CWT. “And because of the FCC’s stature worldwide, it also gives a boost to global efforts to adopt TVWS technology,” Carlson continued.
RuralConnect is rapidly deployable and transmits at distances exceeding cellular and Wi-Fi, the line-of-sight technologies used to deliver broadband to hundreds of millions of urban and suburban customers worldwide, the company said.
The product has operated for the last three years in more than 58 trial deployments both domestically and internationally, including a successful trial with Google and others in 2013 with schools in Cape Town, South Africa, Carlson Wireless said.
