The FCC Office of Engineering Technology just finished its tests on “white space devices”, which operate in the space between television channels, and they have determined that they work without interfering with licensed TV channels in the spectrum.

Basically, these devices are supposed to detect which channels are in use by broadcast TV, and avoid those specific frequencies, which will open massive amounts of spectrum to small relatively low power devices.

It should be noted that there are strong forces opposed to such an application:

Opponents to the Google’s white spaces plan have included not just T-Mobile, but also the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the wireless microphone industry. These two groups contend that interference will be caused to HDTV and other digital TV signals if mobile devices start operating in currently unused white spaces next to spectrum allocated by the FCC for TV broadcasting.

And this opposition occurs without regard to whether there is interference, they object to the possibility of interference from infringing devices.

The fact is that the broadcasters and T-Mobile want to find a way to make money off of unused spectrum, and the wireless microphone industry has been a laboratory for interference problem, since they have been operating illegally in this spectrum for well over a decade, despite complaints from the public safety community (see here and here for some of Harold Feld’s marvelous takes on the hypocrisy of the Wireless mike industry).

I’m not sure where this is all going to go, though the fact that FCC chairman Martin is optimistic on open use of the spectrum is encouraging.

Note though that he is a short timer, and we don’t know who his successor will be after Bush and His Evil Minions^™ leave office.