The Creation of a Wireless Exchange using an Enabling Multiple Access Technology

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

0114629 Nassar Wireless networks are getting clogged in high-use areas like New York and Los Angeles. That congestion will grow almost without end over the next few years, and by 2003, (1) more than one in every 10 individuals worldwide will carry a cell phone; (2) 126 million hand held devices will demand high data rate services; and (3) 600 million of the cell phones in use will cry out for access to the Internet. It's no wonder then that the demand for spectrum far outpaces supply, and FCC chairman William Kennard has been inviting companies to come up with more and more innovative ways to utilize the existing bandwidth. Proposing one powerful solution to the wireless bandwidth problem, William Kennard recently suggested that wireless companies start trading bits and pieces of their unused wireless spectrum, so that these scarce pieces don't go to waste. Such an idea, still far from reality in wireless, is in the testing stages in the fiber-optic market. There, companies are already suggesting that a fiber-optic bandwidth exchange could handle $12 billion worth of orders within a five year period. In a world where wireless spectrum is in short supply, a wireless exchange may be the only way to meet the rapidly growing consumer demands. To capitalize on the idea of a wireless bandwidth exchange between companies, an enabling multiple-access technology must be developed at the physical layer. This technology must be capable of using non-contiguous bands of the frequency spectrum in an optimal fashion. In this research, the PI will develop a novel form of DS-CDMA (direct sequence code division multiple access) offering the following far reaching benefits: o The technology is well suited to support wireless bandwidth exchange between companies; through this wireless exchange o Companies can best meet their consumer demands, generate additional revenues, and best use the limited wireless resource licensed to them. o Groups of companies can agree to work together to allow customers of all companies to experience the benefits of very large bandwidths In a world where spectrum is in short supply, we see a wireless world based on cooperation not competition as the only way to meet consumer demands. This research lays the foundation for such future collaborations.