Use of the parabolic equation propagation model to predict TV white space availability

TV white space is a general term for the geographical redundancies in the TV broadcast bands. The re-use of TV white space is of current interest due to the change to digital transmission in many parts of the world. This has led to the biggest re-structuring of the TV bands since their creation. The bands represent a prime section of spectrum, which currently has some geographical white space. This paper attempts to quantify the number of bands available in the south-west of the UK where digital switch over is now complete. It is shown that, in high and flat terrain, there is little spectrum free. This suggests that limiting access to this spectrum to large scale protocols, such as IEEE 802.22, would be inefficient in the UK. In areas of more complex terrain the number of bands increases significantly allowing short-range, local links.