This talk will be about the IEEE 802.22 Standard on Wireless Regional
Area Networks (WRANs) which was published in July 2011. IEEE 802.22
systems will provide broadband access to wide regional areas around
the world and bring reliable and secure high-speed communications to
under-served and un-served rural communities, which are estimated to
include nearly half of the worlds population. The IEEE 802.22-2011 is
the first IEEE 802 Standard for operation in the Television (TV)
Whitespaces, defined as the available or un-occupied TV channels. It
is also the first IEEE Standard that focuses on broadband connectivity
in rural areas where most vacant TV channels can be found, thus
helping to bridge the digital divide. IEEE 802.22 Working Group is the
recipient of the IEEE SA Emerging Technology Award. This new standard
for Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRANs) takes advantage of the
favorable transmission characteristics of the VHF and UHF TV bands to
provide broadband wireless access over a large area up to 100 km from
the transmitter. Each WRAN could deliver 22 Mbps to 29 Mbps, depending
upon the country of deployment, without interfering with reception of
existing TV broadcast stations. IEEE 802.22 incorporates advanced
cognitive radio capabilities including dynamic spectrum access,
incumbent database access, accurate geo-location techniques, spectrum
sensing, regulatory domain dependent policies, spectrum etiquette, and
-coexistence for optimal use of the available spectrum. The members of
the IEEE 802.22 Working Group have established the Whitespace Regional
Area Networks Alliance (www.wranalliance.org)