Interference Analysis of Coexistence Scenarios in TV White Spaces

Broadband wireless systems in TV White Spaces have gained considerable attention since FCC started the process in 2004 and later 2008 published the first rules for TV band devices. Several companies, mainly in the US, are looking at the new opportunities and are putting efforts to develop standards in industry forums and IEEE. Since white spaces spectrum is accessed in opportunistic way, it can be seen as a step towards the deployment of cognitive networks. In order to evaluate the benefits and challenges for technologies which may operate in the TV white spaces spectrum, the analysis of radio frequency issues has an important role. Out of band emissions and intermodulation products from other channels are examples of RF impairments that should be considered in the interference analysis. When some of the requirements are not fulfilled, cell coverage and spectral efficiency can be reduced. In this paper, an interference analysis, taking in account the RF impairments, was done for several coexistence scenarios in the White Spaces (WS) context. The analysis was done not only considering the FCC rules but also investigating other RF parameters.