Spare wireless spectrum leftover from the digital TV switchover will be used to improve broadband access on the Scottish island of Arran.
The rollout, the first of its kind in Europe, will be used to improve broadband speeds for the island’s 5,000 residents. It’s hoped the use of TV white space can help bridge the urban-rural broadband divide and better connect the UK’s more remote communities.
The technology is being rolled-out through a partnership between internet firm Nominet and broadband campaign group Broadway Partners. TV white space has been trialled and teased as a potentially useful technology ever since vast swathes became available when the UK completed its move to digital TV in October 2012.
As TV white space is near-ubiquitous, and easy to access, it doesn’t require expensive additional infrastructure to launch new services on it. The commercial roll-out on Arran will, according to Nominet, bring relatively high data-rates across the island.
Nominet has been trialling TV white space technology since October 2014. In Oxford it created a wireless flood detection network to monitor local river levels using TV white space to connect where wired internet or Wi-Fi couldn't reach. Sensors were placed on a number of small rivers, with ultrasonic range finders used to detect water levels. This data was then broadcast on TV white space over short distances to a base station before being sent over the internet.
The company used its trial in Oxford to develop the backend to handle the use of TV white space through a process known as dynamic spectrum allocation. The technology uses a database to instantly tell devices what frequencies they can use, at what power and for how long.
While Arran will get the UK’s first commercial TV white space project, it isn’t the only time the technology has been used to beam internet to remote locations. In August 2014, Microsoft used spare TV spectrum to beam high-speed, long-distance broadband to boats in the Solent.
The roll-out of broadband using TV white space on Arran could be a milestone moment for rural internet access. Remote areas of Scotland, especially islands, suffer from some of the slowest broadband speeds in the country. In January 2016 around 2,000 homes and business in Arran and neighbouring Cumbrae were hooked up to high-speed fibre broadband. The roll-out is part of a £146 million investment, funded by the Scottish government, to improve internet access.
But some areas remain prohibitively expensive and challenging to reach. Arran’s isolated west coast will be the first area to benefit from TV white space broadband before it's rolled out across the island in 2017.
“TV white space has proved its mettle, cutting through hard to reach rural forested areas on Arran which, in fixed wireless terms, is pretty much unheard of,” said Michael Armitage, founding director of Broadband Partners. “This technology will be a powerful tool in the drive to deliver affordable broadband access for all communities throughout Scotland and abroad.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
