Australia's CSIRO ties WiFi to analog TV antenna

The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization (CSIRO) introduced what it calls a breakthrough in WiFi technology that will enable multiple users to upload content concurrently while maintaining a data transfer rate of 12 Mbps over their old analog TV antenna.

Known as Ngara, the technology is designed to allow up to six users the occupy 7 megahertz of spectrum (the space of one television channel) with spectral efficient of 20 bits per second per hertz. Australia's government is in the midst of turning off analog TV signals across the nation. The deadline for this to be completed is 2013. The Australian Communications and Media Authority plans to auction the analog TV spectrum, and the country's mobile operators want to use it to deploy LTE networks. Gartner wireless research director Robin Simpson told ZDNet Australia that Ngara technology is specifically designed for rural areas but could also possibly compete with LTE in metropolitan areas.