| Since the FCCs approval of unlicensed use of TV white spaces, the issue of how to use these white spaces has led to innovative technologies such as cognitive radios as well as a variety of spectrum policy proposals. There have been proposals to devise alternate rules for spectrum usage citing the overly conservative restrictions on secondary transmissions to protect incumbents. In this thesis, instead, we propose to utilize white spaces for a backhaul network for internet traffic based on existing restrictions. Using the available white spaces and backhaul traffic demands in New Jersey as a case study, we evaluate the feasibility of such backhauling and present a methodology that can be used for other areas as well. Using a basic design involving fixed towers and directional antennas, our results show that the TV white spaces can be an effective medium for radio backhaul as an alternative to the costly laying of optical fiber. Although the most recent FCC ruling does not mandate protection of wireless microphones, we show that meeting the more stringent earlier FCC requirements on sensing and avoiding harm to wireless microphones would have only a minor impact on capacity. Finally, we study the aggregating of multiple data traffic flows at the nodes and show that, with proper engineering, multiple flows have but a slight effect on the need for optical fiber. |
