Television White Space (TVWS)

Fairspectrum TVWS geolocation database implementation has been done according to DSA Model Rules and Regulations for the Use of Television White Spaces v2.0, December 2017. It includes the computation of the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) coverage and maximum transmit powers of White Space Device (WSD) for all WSD class and antenna height combinations. This results similarly formatted files as the TVWS database administrators receive from Ofcom in the UK. The computed pixel maps containing the maximum transmit powers at each channel in each pixel are stored in a cloud service. The geolocation database system includes a user interface, PAWS protocol and interference computation.

The interference computation at the cloud server works so that when a request comes through PAWS protocol (or from UI), the correct pixel map file is selected based on WSD class and antenna height. The maximum transmission power levels in the pixel of the WSD location are returned. If WSD is defined as a portable base station, the mobility area has been defined on the user interface. At the time of area creation, we select the lowest maximum transmit powers from all pixels where the mobile base station can be located. These values are returned to the mobile base station when it is in the defined mobility area. If it reports its location to be outside the mobility area, an error message is returned.

At the cloud server, the regulator has the possibility to define blocked areas. We check the blocked areas and reduce the transmit powers of the WSDs accordingly. The user interface has 3 functionalities: TVWS Finder, Device management, Block and release. The user interface has 3 user classes: operator, regulator and manufacturer. TVWS Finder is available for all user classes. The regulator has view of the devices of all operators, and the manufacturer can see own devices. Device management lists all registered devices and their status for regulators. The operators can manage their own devices. A functionality, which is integrated in device management is the management of the mobility area of a mobile WSD base station. Block and release is available only for regulator. Block and release gives the regulator a possibility to create, manage and release time, area and channels, which are blocked from TVWS use. The PAWS protocol implements the IETF Request for Comments (RFC) 7545. Protocol to Access White-Space (PAWS) Databases. The Server authentication is done with TLS. Client authentication is carried out with a Base64 token. The tokens are managed in the User Interface Devices section. The operator can add own tokens in the User Interface. An operator can have multiple valid tokens simultaneously. If an operator wants to change the token, the new token is added in the User Interface first and the old token is removed in the User Interface.