外文翻译--空白频段标志着无线界.doc

/ White spaces marked off as wireless arena Posted: 16 Oct 2008 When the long-awaited DTV switchover in the United States occurs next February, broadcasters will relinquish the analog channels some have held for more than half a century. Considering the prices mobile operators paid for beachfront spectrum above 700MHz earlier this year, these unlicensed VHF/UHF channels—known as white spaces and scattered throughout the 54MHz to 698MHz region of the RF spectrum—would easily have pulled in billions had they been auctioned. But they werent—and a range war is raging over how they should be used. The first squatters in the newly unlicensed channels will likely be a handful of tech giants, including Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Motorola, which have joined with public-interest groups and media companies to create the Wireless Innovation Alliance (WIA). Several RF companies with links to WIA members are testing prototype products known as white-spaces devices (WSDs) with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Superior UHF propagation Transmissions from these WSDs would enjoy UHF propagation characteristics far superior to those of the now overcrowded 2.4GHz band. Applications range from a data network that Googles Larry Page has described as Wi-Fi on steroids to all sorts of video, to networks of humble household objects like washing machines, toasters and light bulbs, all communicating with one another. The brave new wireless world envisioned by the WIA could possibly disrupt the airwaves with interference—and undoubtedly will upset the broadcasters VHF/UHF monopoly. The broadcasters are livid, describing the plan as unworkable. And although neither side is saying so, it is not difficult to translate broadband into video and unlicensed into dollars. The FCC has just concluded its field testing of WSD submitted by Motorola, Philips, Adaptrum, Shared Spectrum, and Singapores Institute for Infocomm Research. The test results will almost certainl