White Spaces in U.K. Will Have to Operate as a Managed Network

White spaces networks using former broadcast TV spectrum in the United States and United Kingdom are intended to be used on a non-licensed basis, with a new twist. 

Today's unlicensed spectrum allows devices to register and use the network, but without any admission control, as a private network would do, or frequency coordination, as a mobile network must do. With the Wi-Fi router model, the user can configure some elements of the access. In the U.K. white spaces case, the network will do all of the configuration. 

So in the United Kingdom, it appears mild forms of admission control and frequency coordination will be used, essentially turning the white spaces spectrum into what is effectively a managed network of sorts. A white spaces network therefore will more nearly resemble a cellular network than a local Wi-Fi network. 

U.K. devices operating in white spaces will have to consult with an online database for usable frequencies, and check back regularly to ensure nothing has changed. That makes a white spaces operation more a managed "network" than has been the case in the past for "networks" using unlicensed spectrum. 

The reason is that white spaces networks will have to sense which frequencies are usable in any given location. In some cases, those frequencies could change over time. What isn't so clear yet is whether a data base entity will be able to monitor which frequencies are currently in use by other devices and then adjust device transmission power automatically, a step that would further prevent interference and optimize total network performance. 

Devices which cannot contact a data base administrator immediately on seeking admission to the network can use their "remembered frequencies" list, but have to check back every hour, Ofcom says. 

Device manufacturers will have to pay entities running the data bases, as well. The point is that white spaces networks in the United Kingdom will use non-licensed spectrum, but will operate in ways that are more like a managed network, in a few ways, than a traditional non-licensed Wi-Fi network. 

The networks apparently will operate as "best effort" entities, but the network itself will take some steps, or might be able to take some steps, to manage radio resources in ways that provide better user experience.