Abstract
TV White Space networks are gaining momentum worldwide as an important addition to the suite of wireless protocols available for connecting developing regions. However, there has been no thorough investigation of scenarios where TV White Space performs better or worse than alternative low-cost wireless technology such as WiFi. This paper analyzes the performance of 5 GHz WiFi links and TV White space links using down-converted WiFi, typically used as wireless backhaul for poorly connected regions, in different scenarios including line-of-sight links and links obstructed by trees and structures. The experiments make use of 802.11a/b/g WiFi and TV White Space equipment that downconverts standard 802.11 a/b/g WiFi from the 2.4 GHz band into the UHF band. The paper finds that 5 GHz links outperformed TVWS where clear line-of-sight is available and point-to-point links are required. TVWS however is a clear choice where there are obstructions and where wider coverage is needed. Some interesting observations on the negative effect of TV transmissions in adjacent channels a few channel-hops away from the channel being used for TVWS are also provided.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Internet World Stats: Africa Internet users, Facebook and 2015 population statistics (2015)
Neto, I., Best, M.L., Gillett, S.E.: License-exempt wireless policy: results of an African survey. Inf. Technol. Int. Dev. 2(3), 73–90 (2005)
Thanki, R.: The Economic Significance of Licence-Exempt Spectrum to the Future of the Internet, June 2012
Sanou, B.: ICT facts & figures: the world in 2015. Itu 150 Años (1865 - 2015), p. 6 (2015)
Office for National Statistics: “Census 2013”, General Household Survey, p. 78, May 2013
Kretschmer, M., Niephaus, C., Horstmann, T., Jonas, K.: Providing mobile phone access in rural areas via heterogeneous meshed wireless Back-Haul networks. In: 2011 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC), Kyoto, pp. 1–6 (2011)
Ab-Hamid, K., Tan, C.E., Lau, S.P.: Self-sustainable energy efficient long range WiFi network for rural communities. In: 2011 IEEE GLOBECOM Workshops (GC Wkshps), Houston, TX, pp. 1050–1055 (2011)
Subramanian, L., Surana, S., Sheth, A., Nedevschi, S., Patra, R., Ho, M., Brewer, E.: Re-thinking wireless for the developing world. In: ACM Hotnets (2006)
Lysko, A.A., et al.: First large TV white spaces trial in South Africa: a brief overview. In: 2014 6th International Congress on Ultra Modern Telecommunications and Control Systems and Workshops (ICUMT), St. Petersburg, pp. 407–414 (2014)
Omar, M.H., Hassan, S., Shabli, A.H.M.: Feasibility study of using IEEE 802.22 wireless regional area network (WRAN) in Malaysia. In: Network Applications Proto- cols and Services (NETAPPS) (2010)
Lee, W., et al.: TGaf PHY proposal. In: IEEE P802.11. Accessed 29 Dec 2013
Kretschmer, M., Niephaus, C., Henkel, D., Ghinea, G.: QoS-aware wireless back-haul network for rural areas with support for broadcast services in practice. In: 2011 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Mobile Ad-Hoc and Sensor Systems, Valencia, pp. 758–764 (2011)
Henkel, D., Engländer, S., Kretschmer, M., Niephaus, C.: Connecting the unconnected - economic constraints and technical requirements towards a back-haul network for rural areas. In: 2011 IEEE GLOBECOM Workshops (GC Wkshps), Houston, TX, pp. 1039–1044 (2011)
Patra, R., Nedevschi, S., Surana, S., Sheth, A., Subramanian, L., Brewer, E.: WiLdnet: design and implementation of high performance wifi based long distance networks. In: Proceedings of the 4th USENIX Conference on Networked Systems Design & Implementation (NSDI 2007), p. 7, USENIX Association, Berkeley, CA, USA
Naik, G., Singhal, S., Kumar, A., Karandikar, A.: Quantitative assessment of TV white space in India. In: Twentieth National Conference on Communications (NCC), Kanpur, pp. 1–6 (2014)
Mikeka, C., et al.: Preliminary performance assessment of TV white spaces technology for broadband communication in Malawi. In: Humanitarian Technology: Science, Systems and Global Impact 2014, HumTech2014, vol. 78, pp. 149–154 (2014)
Masonta, Moshe T., Johnson, D., Mzyece, M.: The white space opportunity in Southern Africa: measurements with Meraka cognitive radio platform. In: Popescu-Zeletin, R., Jonas, K., Rai, Idris A., Glitho, R., Villafiorita, A. (eds.) AFRICOMM 2011. LNICSSITE, vol. 92, pp. 64–73. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-29093-0_6
Zennaro, M., Pietrosemoli, E., Sathiaseelan, A.: Architecting a low cost television white space network for developing regions. In: Proceedings of the Fifth ACM Symposium on Computing for Development (ACM DEV-5 2014), pp. 113–114. ACM, New York
Nandi, S., et al.: Computing for rural empowerment: enabled by last-mile telecommunications. IEEE Commun. Mag. 54(6), 102–109 (2016)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering
About this paper
Cite this paper
Johnson, D. et al. (2018). Head to Head Battle of TV White Space and WiFi for Connecting Developing Regions. In: Bissyande, T., Sie, O. (eds) e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries. AFRICOMM 2016. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 208. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66742-3_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66742-3_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-66741-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66742-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)