TV white space and its applications in future wireless networks and communications : a survey

Abstract

In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission issued a ruling permitting the unlicensed usage of TV white spaces (TVWS), i.e. locally vacant TV channels. Due to its low-frequency range (50-698 MHz), the TV spectrum has much better propagation characteristic and higher-spectral efficiency, resulting in a wide range of potentially important applications. However, unlike typical cellular and industrial scientific medical bands, TVWS are subjected to high-spatial variation, temporal variation, and fragmentation, resulting in new challenges in TVWS identification and in implementing a wireless network in this band. Identification and network design are the two key issues required to be addressed while investigating TVWS. These two problems have been widely discussed in several existing literature. Applications in TVWS are also an important topic, which has not been adequately explored. This study provides an up-to-date survey of TVWS and its applications in future wireless networks and communication. Various problems and challenges associated with each use case as well as the possible enabling methods to address these challenges are also presented.