Devices that will someday provide wireless Internet service over the DTV white space don’t exist yet, and the FCC hasn’t even released the white space rules it voted on Tuesday.
That didn’t stop Dell Computer from bragging this week that it will install white space chips in future laptops.
"We intend to integrate white-space radios into future Dell products," said Dell’s Neeraj Srivastava, according to a story in TG Daily.
The article said Srivastava did not offer a timeline for the rollout. Nor did the story mention whether Dell would use just spectrum-sensing technology to find and avoid occupied DTV channels, or whether it would also include geolocation database technology. Devices relying on spectrum-sensing will not be authorized until they pass tests at the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology to prove the technology works. So far, spectrum-sensing technology has not proven reliable although the FCC says enough “proof of concept” has been established to move forward.
Broadcasters have called for upcoming OET tests to be “rigorous.��
