a wireless future - making waves

A Wireless Future M a k i n g W a v e s

Peter Cochrane

cochrane.org.ukca-global.org

COCHRANE a s s o c i a t e s

T h e r e i s n o d i g i t a l wireless…only ana logue systems we have bent to our digital bidding….

Suppose for the sake of argument we had derived all our technologies without discovering or the need for wireless technology… !

…but this morning we stumbled across EM waves and the possibility… !

…would we go along the same development path of our forbears and go for bands and channels ???

Impossible

I know but

please,just

humour

me

Would we be thinking: !- 2.5/3.0kHz for voice telephony ? - 9/10kHz or AM Broadcast Radio ? - 200/700kHz for FM Stereo Music ? - 6/8MHz for NTSC/SECAM/PAL TV ? - 20/36MHz for satellite transponders ? !!!!!- LW, MW, SW, VHF, UHF, SHF +++ ? - Channels per each user/application ? - Bands for groups of similar users ? !- OFCOM, FCC, Government ?

Would we be thinking: !- 2.5/3.0kHz for voice telephony ? - 9/10kHz or AM Broadcast Radio ? - 200/700kHz for FM Stereo Music ? - 6/8MHz for NTSC/SECAM/PAL TV ? - 20/36MHz for satellite transponders ? !!!!!- LW, MW, SW, VHF, UHF, SHF +++ ? - Channels per each user/application ? - Bands for groups of similar users ? !- OFCOM, FCC, Government ?

I think not !

Would we delude ourselves with the distorted view presented by band plans like this ?

Or would we give all this deep thought and come up with a succinct set of objectives :

“The maximal exploitation of the EM Spectrum to the advantage of Man and Machine for the purposes of communication, sensing, manipulation, and processing”!!!!!!!“And we should exploit the ‘spectrum space’ to best advantage including performance, sustainability and longevity”

Howdid

wege

t her

e?

With coils, capacitors, resistors, tubes/valves - analogue was the best you could do - digital was all but impossible …you could only exploit the signal selectivity by resonance, high and low pass filters, use amplifiers, oscillators and modulators…

Because of this our wireless history is ‘fork lift’, with radio receivers & transmitters that were

big, very big, consuming vast amounts of energy and raw materials - weighing

tons and eating kW of power to serve/reach vast regions

of countries/ the planet

And a trend that has not improved a

lot at the head end over the decades

!however

distances are now shorter

These created the opportunity for fundamental change….

!11

Without the transistor, integrated circuit, pcb, surface mount components, and the possibility of digital

formats, there was no place to go other than making it smaller, cheaper and prettier,

but that is all we have done since and it really is time to move on

& think anew

Without the transistor, integrated circuit, pcb, surface mount components, and the possibility of digital

formats, there was no place to go other than making it smaller, cheaper and prettier,

but that is all we have done since and it really is time to move

on and think anew

It really is time to move our thinking on beyond this past era

From this…

To this…everyone and every thing on line ~ 9Bn

people + >50Bn things…we need

bandwidth and connectivity

ks

Bns

Sensors RFID

Mobiles 3/4/5G

Tns

Ms

WiFi/Max100ks

ks

Bns

Sensors RFID

Number Tx of devicesMW

mW

Distance & Power

Mobiles 3/4/5G

Tns

Ms

WiFi/Max100ks

ks

Bns

Sensors RFID

Number Tx of devicesMW

mW

Distance & Power

Mobiles 3/4/5G

Tns

Ms

WiFi/Max100ks

100% The need for regulation and control ~ 0%

Personal Space

Bluetooth UWB RFID

LAN MAN WANPAN

City Community

WMAN WiMAX Beam Forming

Cellular/Satellites International

HSDPA WCDMA UMTS

WLAN 802.11X WiFi

Campus, Office, Airport, Home

The dream….…seamless access!

3m 30m 3km Ubiquitous

Personal Space

Bluetooth UWB RFID

LAN MAN WANPAN

City Community

WMAN WiMAX Beam Forming

Cellular/Satellites International

HSDPA WCDMA UMTS

WLAN 802.11X WiFi

Campus, Office, Airport, Home

The dream….…seamless access!

3m 30m 3km Ubiquitous

C Cameras - VOIP - Sensors - Positioning +++

Thin bandwidth over 1 - 10km

You can’t beat the laws of

physics

Big bandwidth over 1 - 10m

The spectrum myth…

…it is in short supply!

The spectrum myth…

…it is in short supply!

Actuall

y it is

mostl

y unu

sed!

The spectrum myth…

…it is in short supply!

Actuall

y it is

mostl

y unu

sed!

City of Chicago study <17% of commercial spectrum used

Not a lot of occupancy here and this is a wifi band in London…and the rest of the planet is the same !

The distorted perception of a logarithmic scale

All human created wireless energy is currently concentrated here

But there is 30x more unused space here

We have devices & processing power to do & access more than ever before…>30GHz…

FM

We have devices & processing power to do & access more than ever before…>30GHz…

FM

TV

We have devices & processing power to do & access more than ever before…>30GHz…

FM

TV

Mobile

We have devices & processing power to do & access more than ever before…>30GHz…

FM

TV Optical

Mobile

We have devices & processing power to do & access more than ever before…>30GHz…

FM

TV Optical

Mobile

WiFi

We have devices & processing power to do & access more than ever before…>30GHz…

FM

TV Optical

Mobile

WiFi

We have devices & processing power to do & access more than ever before…>30GHz…

Opp

ortu

nity

We now have the technology to deliver an infinity of wireless bandwidth to almost any location...all the old limiters have gone!

Sheer computing power (will just about) solve all the old propagation problems…

• Signal processing allows (extreme) spread spectrum modes • Auto power, channel and mode control made it all black boxes • Spatial processing mitigates self/others interference • Smarts negate need for regulation, band structures, frequency allocations

Adaptive Antenna Base Station

S/N dB

BW Hz

Duration

T seconds

Back to Basics: In format ion transmitted over a channel expressed as a volumetric function of S/N, BW and Time - aka Claude Shannon 1945/46

C = B.T log2(1 + k.S/N)

C ~ B.T.K.S/NdB

vv

S/N dB

BW Hz

Duration

T seconds

B a c k t o B a s i c s : T h e s a m e information transmitted over a channel in three different modes using S/N, BW and T as variable factors - aka Claude Shannon 1945/46

Today and The Past: The outmoded and largely dying past of analogue transmission in distinct and defended bands

Today and The Past: The outmoded and largely dying past of analogue transmission in distinct and defended bands

Today’s digital systems look very similar with bands

and channels - QUAM, QPSK et al are wider, suffer the loss of

guard bands, plus interference and intermodulation +++

300Hz 3500Hz

Uncoded Baseband Speech

Parsed and Ordered Baseband

Parsed and Randomised Baseband

A Bit Of History: WWII Speech coding using channel frequency parsing, random sideband inversion and re-arrangement

The Cold War: Frequency hopping spread spectrum - ‘catch me if you can’

S

f Hz

time

Dwell Time

The Even Colder War: Frequency hopping variable dwell and hop time SSBSC spread spectrum

S

f Hz

time

Hop Time

Subversive Communication: Frequency spreading analogue SS

f

f

f

t

t

t

tX

Modulator/ Multiplier

Analogue Input

Analogue Output

Spreading Sequence 2.5kHz of speech spread over

2.5, 25 or 250MHz hidden by the thermal noise - undetected

and unheard

All Digital Future: How a digital future without bands employing Sequence Spreading might look

Get in The Noise: An interfering DSBSC signal creating a minimal interference threat and vice versa

DSBSC Signal well above the noise

Thermal & Cosmic Background Noise

Spread Spectrum Signal well under the noise

Frequency and amplitude axis not to scale

EG: Speech/Music BW = 12kHz BW = 2GHz

Big Challenges: !Antennas spanning

very wide bands are

non-trivial…and any

form of beam steering

forms an even bigger

challenge

Big Challenges: !Devices providing the

necessary performance

might be demanding

but there is a lot on the

market if we think and

innovate…

Big Challenges: !Signalling & Sync at

speed will demand

original thinking and

development as the

p ro toco l s do no t

exist…

Supporters: !Very encouraging and

keen to see the UK

t a k e a l e a d i n g

position in this line of

work…organising a

series of industry

days..and wish to see

universities in the play

Supporters: !A very small % of the

HAM radio fraternity

are interested and

looking to this to

revital ise a dying

hobby

The Next End Game ?

More Data Carried:

Telegraph >> Messenger

Telephone >> Telegraph

Mobile >> Telephone

WiFi >> Mobile

Internet >> All Above

Clouds of Things >> Internet

The Internet will not scale functionally or economically, but Clouds will - and ‘thing-to-thing’ communication will eclipse all before

Thank You

ca-global.orgcochrane.org.uk

COCHRANE a s s o c i a t e s