An informal coalition of technology companies including Dell, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, and Philips Electronics have asked the FCC to make unused portions of the TV broadcast spectrum available for unlicensed use by wireless devices [1]
Microsoft is preparing to submit its prototype "cognitive radio" soon. A company spokesperson said Microsoft and its partners aim to demonstrate to the FCC that consumer devices can utilize the spectrum "white space" without causing interference with TV or other signals.[1]
Cognitive radio is becoming the hot new trend in telecom industry, with the ever growing demand for wireless services, and with the decrease in the available spectrum, the need for a new way to manage and allocate spectrum is required, and that's where the cognitive radio comes in handy!
Cognitive radio (CR) technology builds upon software defined radio (SDR) technology and allows individual radios or groups of radios to make choices about their frequency use based upon their location and the radio use environment. It will sense the frequency use in the bands and will try to occupy a frequency channel to operate on, once the device "feels" that someone else is trying to use this channel, it will evacuate and start searching for other vacant channels [2] this feature can be very useful in licensed band "i.e. cellular bands" where the primary user " the cellular service provider" has the priority to use the spectrum.
There are many possibilities for the cognitive radio applications, whether its consumer markets, public safety and emergency services or military. They can also be applied in a wide range of frequencies "licensed or unlicensed"
However, the whole idea of a radio being able to choose an operating frequency "in licensed or unlicensed bands" from a wide range of frequencies is intimidating for wireless carriers and TV broadcasters, they paid a lot for the use of that spectrum and the idea of someone sharing the spectrum is not very welcome, in addition sharing the frequency will probably cause an unwanted interference, thus it will degrade their service.[1]
This is evident in Microsoft's coalition case, TV broadcaster showed their concern about the whole idea , the reason they mentioned was unwanted interference, that might not be the only reason, they probably don't want to open their spectrum for their competitors to provide voice and data services,
However, a new approach to spectrum management can solve this problem, by opening a "spectrum market" as Professor Dale Hatflield calls it, where spectrum can be bought, sold and leased like any other commodity! This can be a great way "maybe the only way" to persuade spectrum license holders to open their frequency bands for sharing,
And with creating more efficient and frequency agile devices, the cognitive radio can really be the solution to the ever growing problem of spectrum use and management. CR technology will not, of its own bring quantum jumps in intensity, but it will enable new spectrum management regimes that will. [2]
References:
[1] "Microsoft preps cognitive radio prototype for use with TV spectrum"
By Staff writers, www.ITnews.com.au 13 February 2007
[2] "Cognitive Radio: Brain-Empowered Wireless Communications"
Simon Haykin, IEEE journal on selected areas in communications, Vol. 23, No. 2, February 2005
Monday, February 19, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
Privatization in the Iraqi telecom industry
The liberalization of the telecommunication sector in Iraq is a good example of how privatization can actually help in economic growth.
While other crucial sectors "take electric power, for example " that are still under the government's control and under heavy bureaucracy have been struggling to get back to the pre-war status "although it's facilities weren't as much affected by the military action and coalition forces did their best to avoid damaging electric infrastructure ",
that wasn't the case in the telecom sector! within less than 3 years, wireless and wire-line subscribers have increased 4.6 Million , five times as much as it was pre-war! Internet subscribes have increased even more steeply , from 4500 to 150000! [1]. of course the numbers are increasing.
Prior to the war, the telecom sector was totally under government's control, with less than 3 phones for every 100 people!, almost no wireless services and a highly restricted internet access.[2]
After the war, there was alot to be done to restore the telecommunication sector, and with the insufficient and somehow outdated wire-line infrastructure the best choice was to go wireless , and to privatize the wireless sector,
obviously, a country with a population of more than 25 Million and no cellular services was a good opportunity for all foreign and domestic investors!!
The CPA "Coalition provisional authority" issued Order #11 in 2003 that gave the iraqi Ministry of transportation and communications to be the licensing and regulatory body for telecommunication services in iraq, after less than one year three GSM cellular licenses were awarded to three different companies, with each license covering only a part of iraq's geography " one license for north , one for the middle , and one for the south"
Shortly afterwards the INCMC the Iraqi National Communications and Media Commission was formed, the NCMC "website www.ncmc-iraq.org" is a non-governmental organization responsible for regulating and licensing all telecommunications , radio and tv broadcast activities, with a structure and activity and independence very similar to the FCC Federal Communications Commission. [1]
the temporary license was only for one year, so the INCMC had to start working on a new license for all of iraq, at the same time it started to research for solutions to replace the wireline service. for reason mentioned earlier, the wireline infrastructure was unable to cope with the growing demand for communications in the country, the WLL "wireless local loop : a technology that mixes wireless and wireline systems in a fixed wireless network" seemed to be the best solution for that problem!
last year the INCMC issued six licenses for WLL, three national licenses and 3 provincial licenses, with one of the national licenses awarded to the ITPC "the iraqi telecommunications and postal commission: a governmental telecommunications body" the other 5 licenses were awarded to local and foreign investors, along with the WLL license , a WiMax license was awarded " as a gift!!!!! " for all the winners !
The WLL story is indeed a very interesting one, first it's very rare for a government to enter the market as a direct competitor along with other companies , with no preference or special treatment!!!
second this is the first time that a WiMax "IEEE's wireless data transmission standard that carries the designation 802.16-2004 [1] " is deployed national, a brave step despite the uncertainties and challenges of the new WiMax technology.
However , as iraqi officials are becoming more and more committed towards privatization and wirelss technology, some are warning that the country is moving too far too fast, after all , the population is only 25 Million and there are more than 4 licensed cellular companies " some regional cellular licenses are awarded in some areas in north iraq" some fear that the demand would not require the existence of too many independent companies [1]
in addition to that , theres's still much more for the INCMC to work on , with the idea of a free market and a regulatory entity still new in iraq, there are many challenges to be faced, many cunning foreign and regional companies with relatively more experience and funding that of the INCMC trying to twist the fresh new laws "if not break them!!" to their own benefit, the decentralized regional governments don't make it easier too! " in some parts of north iraq , the INCMC doesn't have much control over the regulation of telecom, leaving that to the regional telecom ministries!".
After all, despite all the obstacles, the privatization of the iraqi telecom sector helped in it's growth, it can be called a success story! yet there's still much more to do out there, if done right, it can help as a guideline for other industries to recover faster and help bring this troubled country and it's economy back on it's feet again.
Late is better than never!!!
References :
[1] Iraq Goes Wireless
By: Glenn Zorpette , IEEE spectrum
[2] IIRTF
Overview of key industry sectors in iraq
www.export.gov
June 4, 2004
While other crucial sectors "take electric power, for example " that are still under the government's control and under heavy bureaucracy have been struggling to get back to the pre-war status "although it's facilities weren't as much affected by the military action and coalition forces did their best to avoid damaging electric infrastructure ",
that wasn't the case in the telecom sector! within less than 3 years, wireless and wire-line subscribers have increased 4.6 Million , five times as much as it was pre-war! Internet subscribes have increased even more steeply , from 4500 to 150000! [1]. of course the numbers are increasing.
Prior to the war, the telecom sector was totally under government's control, with less than 3 phones for every 100 people!, almost no wireless services and a highly restricted internet access.[2]
After the war, there was alot to be done to restore the telecommunication sector, and with the insufficient and somehow outdated wire-line infrastructure the best choice was to go wireless , and to privatize the wireless sector,
obviously, a country with a population of more than 25 Million and no cellular services was a good opportunity for all foreign and domestic investors!!
The CPA "Coalition provisional authority" issued Order #11 in 2003 that gave the iraqi Ministry of transportation and communications to be the licensing and regulatory body for telecommunication services in iraq, after less than one year three GSM cellular licenses were awarded to three different companies, with each license covering only a part of iraq's geography " one license for north , one for the middle , and one for the south"
Shortly afterwards the INCMC the Iraqi National Communications and Media Commission was formed, the NCMC "website www.ncmc-iraq.org" is a non-governmental organization responsible for regulating and licensing all telecommunications , radio and tv broadcast activities, with a structure and activity and independence very similar to the FCC Federal Communications Commission. [1]
the temporary license was only for one year, so the INCMC had to start working on a new license for all of iraq, at the same time it started to research for solutions to replace the wireline service. for reason mentioned earlier, the wireline infrastructure was unable to cope with the growing demand for communications in the country, the WLL "wireless local loop : a technology that mixes wireless and wireline systems in a fixed wireless network" seemed to be the best solution for that problem!
last year the INCMC issued six licenses for WLL, three national licenses and 3 provincial licenses, with one of the national licenses awarded to the ITPC "the iraqi telecommunications and postal commission: a governmental telecommunications body" the other 5 licenses were awarded to local and foreign investors, along with the WLL license , a WiMax license was awarded " as a gift!!!!! " for all the winners !
The WLL story is indeed a very interesting one, first it's very rare for a government to enter the market as a direct competitor along with other companies , with no preference or special treatment!!!
second this is the first time that a WiMax "IEEE's wireless data transmission standard that carries the designation 802.16-2004 [1] " is deployed national, a brave step despite the uncertainties and challenges of the new WiMax technology.
However , as iraqi officials are becoming more and more committed towards privatization and wirelss technology, some are warning that the country is moving too far too fast, after all , the population is only 25 Million and there are more than 4 licensed cellular companies " some regional cellular licenses are awarded in some areas in north iraq" some fear that the demand would not require the existence of too many independent companies [1]
in addition to that , theres's still much more for the INCMC to work on , with the idea of a free market and a regulatory entity still new in iraq, there are many challenges to be faced, many cunning foreign and regional companies with relatively more experience and funding that of the INCMC trying to twist the fresh new laws "if not break them!!" to their own benefit, the decentralized regional governments don't make it easier too! " in some parts of north iraq , the INCMC doesn't have much control over the regulation of telecom, leaving that to the regional telecom ministries!".
After all, despite all the obstacles, the privatization of the iraqi telecom sector helped in it's growth, it can be called a success story! yet there's still much more to do out there, if done right, it can help as a guideline for other industries to recover faster and help bring this troubled country and it's economy back on it's feet again.
Late is better than never!!!
References :
[1] Iraq Goes Wireless
By: Glenn Zorpette , IEEE spectrum
[2] IIRTF
Overview of key industry sectors in iraq
www.export.gov
June 4, 2004
Monday, February 5, 2007
Memo 3 HD-DVD vs. blu-ray
History repeats itself …
War again … the same 'ol Betamax / VHS rivalry is back in a new form, almost 20 years later.????
The HD-DVD and blu-ray formats are the new hype , with equipment manufacturers, entertainment studios already taking sides in this conflict, and with the physical and technical features of both formats very similar "but not compatible!", it's very hard if not impossible to decide who will win it all!!
The range of the new rivalry is indeed wider therefore more critical, with the scope expanding to gaming consoles, computer storage, home theatres as well as entertainment studios, as opposed to VHS/Betamax war that focused only on home video.
Putting all these facts in consideration; we might end up with two separate worlds just like the PC / Macintosh worlds "by the way Macintosh supports blu-ray while PC supports the HD-DVD"
As mentioned earlier, both formats are very similar yet incompatible:
- Both products focus is to replace the old DVD format, obviously! [1]
- Both use blue-violet laser as opposed to red laser used in the old DVD and CD formats [1]
- Both discs look just the same!!
- The maximum resolution in HD-DVD is 720p and 1080i HDTV , while the Blu-ray supports 720p , 1080i and 1080p in HDTV [1] , so both have good image quality [2]
- Both have backward compatibility with old DVD formats
Now the differences:
- Blu-ray discs have higher capacity than HD-DVD " single side Blu-ray disc has 25GB capacity while HD-DVD has 15 GB , 50 GB versus 30 GB for dual layers, " [2] this is an obvious advantage for Blu-ray, the extra capacity can be very attractive for gaming industry [1]
- Due to technical differences , manufacturing HD-DVD disk is much cheaper than blu-ray,[1] , in addition ; HD-DVD format utilizes manufacturing techniques very similar to those used for the current generation of DVDs, in other words there's no need for disk manufacturers to retool their factories [2] this fact is not applicable to blu-ray, that also means that HD-DVD will make it first in the market since no serious upgrading is required [2]
- In addition to disc prices, the HD-DVD consoles are much cheaper than those of blu-ray " HD-DVD can start from 500$ while blu-ray start from 1000$" [2] , anyway because Playstation 3 supports blu-ray, it is possible to save 500$ when compared to blu-ray players and use the console to view blu-ray disks! [1]
Of course, each side tries to portraying itself to be superior to the other, it can be seen in the marketing strategy of HD-DVD " you want it, and we are here now " and blu-ray "We wont be first but we'll be better " [1]
Both formats have same image quality and both look the same so it's hard for consumers to differentiate between them, that brings the whole competition down to the price of equipment and availability of content [2]
While HD-DVD format is much cheaper; blu-ray advocates claim that , within a short span of time the price difference between the two formats will decrease to a great extent[2], added to that , people will prefer to have more disc space by spending a few more pennies [2] , only time can show weather this will turn out to be true!
All these features created some "customer confusion" towards the new standards [1] [2] , this is a result of industry giants "Sony backing the blu-ray and Toshiba supporting the HD-DVD" ignoring customers to some extent , as stated earlier both formats have the same image quality that makes it a little bit harder for consumers to differentiate between the two products , in fact some manufacturers of the gaming industries stated that they would prefer not to launch any of the new formats to avoid price war and any unwanted price competition [1],
Now there's a standoff, with neither side trying to compromise, making things even worse [2]. Besides, making disc players that support both formats is cost-prohibitive.
As a personal opinion, it's incorrect to project the result of the VHS/betamax standoff on the current situation; VHS/betamax had different characteristics and specifications, and were focused on home video only.
And the fact that VHS ultimately won because of wise marketing and cheap pricing although it came out after the betamax and had less image quality than it [3] cannot be applied in this case because if we look deeper into the history of the conflict we find out that the two cases were different although taking place in the same marketplace!
However, in this early stage of competition, it's hard to decide who's winning it I personally support what is stated in the conclusion of [1] and would sit back and decide who'll win, in the meantime, using the old DVD formats! They're still efficient and take good care of their job!
References:
[1] "The high-def wars have begun: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray , a look at the new generation of optical burning. A report from BurnWorld.com "
[2] " Michael Grebb : The Showdown: Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD , ecoustics.com , March 27, 2005 "
[3] " The Betamax vs VHS Format War ; mediacollege.com ; unknown author "
Other references:
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia www.wikipedia.org
War again … the same 'ol Betamax / VHS rivalry is back in a new form, almost 20 years later.????
The HD-DVD and blu-ray formats are the new hype , with equipment manufacturers, entertainment studios already taking sides in this conflict, and with the physical and technical features of both formats very similar "but not compatible!", it's very hard if not impossible to decide who will win it all!!
The range of the new rivalry is indeed wider therefore more critical, with the scope expanding to gaming consoles, computer storage, home theatres as well as entertainment studios, as opposed to VHS/Betamax war that focused only on home video.
Putting all these facts in consideration; we might end up with two separate worlds just like the PC / Macintosh worlds "by the way Macintosh supports blu-ray while PC supports the HD-DVD"
As mentioned earlier, both formats are very similar yet incompatible:
- Both products focus is to replace the old DVD format, obviously! [1]
- Both use blue-violet laser as opposed to red laser used in the old DVD and CD formats [1]
- Both discs look just the same!!
- The maximum resolution in HD-DVD is 720p and 1080i HDTV , while the Blu-ray supports 720p , 1080i and 1080p in HDTV [1] , so both have good image quality [2]
- Both have backward compatibility with old DVD formats
Now the differences:
- Blu-ray discs have higher capacity than HD-DVD " single side Blu-ray disc has 25GB capacity while HD-DVD has 15 GB , 50 GB versus 30 GB for dual layers, " [2] this is an obvious advantage for Blu-ray, the extra capacity can be very attractive for gaming industry [1]
- Due to technical differences , manufacturing HD-DVD disk is much cheaper than blu-ray,[1] , in addition ; HD-DVD format utilizes manufacturing techniques very similar to those used for the current generation of DVDs, in other words there's no need for disk manufacturers to retool their factories [2] this fact is not applicable to blu-ray, that also means that HD-DVD will make it first in the market since no serious upgrading is required [2]
- In addition to disc prices, the HD-DVD consoles are much cheaper than those of blu-ray " HD-DVD can start from 500$ while blu-ray start from 1000$" [2] , anyway because Playstation 3 supports blu-ray, it is possible to save 500$ when compared to blu-ray players and use the console to view blu-ray disks! [1]
Of course, each side tries to portraying itself to be superior to the other, it can be seen in the marketing strategy of HD-DVD " you want it, and we are here now " and blu-ray "We wont be first but we'll be better " [1]
Both formats have same image quality and both look the same so it's hard for consumers to differentiate between them, that brings the whole competition down to the price of equipment and availability of content [2]
While HD-DVD format is much cheaper; blu-ray advocates claim that , within a short span of time the price difference between the two formats will decrease to a great extent[2], added to that , people will prefer to have more disc space by spending a few more pennies [2] , only time can show weather this will turn out to be true!
All these features created some "customer confusion" towards the new standards [1] [2] , this is a result of industry giants "Sony backing the blu-ray and Toshiba supporting the HD-DVD" ignoring customers to some extent , as stated earlier both formats have the same image quality that makes it a little bit harder for consumers to differentiate between the two products , in fact some manufacturers of the gaming industries stated that they would prefer not to launch any of the new formats to avoid price war and any unwanted price competition [1],
Now there's a standoff, with neither side trying to compromise, making things even worse [2]. Besides, making disc players that support both formats is cost-prohibitive.
As a personal opinion, it's incorrect to project the result of the VHS/betamax standoff on the current situation; VHS/betamax had different characteristics and specifications, and were focused on home video only.
And the fact that VHS ultimately won because of wise marketing and cheap pricing although it came out after the betamax and had less image quality than it [3] cannot be applied in this case because if we look deeper into the history of the conflict we find out that the two cases were different although taking place in the same marketplace!
However, in this early stage of competition, it's hard to decide who's winning it I personally support what is stated in the conclusion of [1] and would sit back and decide who'll win, in the meantime, using the old DVD formats! They're still efficient and take good care of their job!
References:
[1] "The high-def wars have begun: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray , a look at the new generation of optical burning. A report from BurnWorld.com "
[2] " Michael Grebb : The Showdown: Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD , ecoustics.com , March 27, 2005 "
[3] " The Betamax vs VHS Format War ; mediacollege.com ; unknown author "
Other references:
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia www.wikipedia.org
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