TV white-space rules open the door for even more innovation

While the idea of using TV white-space spectrum is novel enough, the enabling technologies allow for "the opportunistic use of spectrum" either through a combination of the database and sensing or just sensing by itself, explained Rick Rotondo, vice president of marketing for xG Technology, a developer of cognitive radio networks primarily for military and government applications. "In TV white space, the database will tell you what channels you can use. Sensing will tell you what channels out of those you should use," said Rotondo, who also co-founded Spectrum Bridge, the first company to win FCC designation as a white-space database administrator.