Preventing Interference to DTV Broadcasting in Every Market From Unlicensed or Uncontrolled Clusters of Broadband Devices on Unoccupied DTV Channels

The threat of interference to licensed DTV by clusters of unlicensed and uncontrolled broadband devices (BDs) transmitting simultaneously on unoccupied DTV channels remains. DTV channels in major U.S. cities could be victimized by interference from unlicensed or uncontrollable clusters. This paper shows how and why interference by clusters of broadband devices would be significantly higher than interference by individual broadband devices or by interference from clusters of single-tone devices. This paper also provides a real-world assessment of the maximum interference that consumer-grade receivers can accept from clusters of broadband devices operating on unoccupied DTV channels. To prevent interference to DTV and to maximize spectral efficiency individual base stations would have to be licensed as part of a network, and portable unlicensed devices would have to be equipped with dual DTV tuners with GPS chips.