Christmas shopping is now in full swing and, as expected, digital TV sets are very much in evidence. My own anecdotal evidence says that this will be a favorite gift, since the wives of two friends of mine have each asked me for advice on getting big-screens for their husbands. This would bode well for the suppliers that reportedly have brought a lot of manufacturing capacity online recently, threatening to flood the market with large LCD and plasma panels.

Unlike most people, when I think digital TV I think RF spectrum. The shift to DTV brings along with it the promise of reallocation of some prime spectral real estate. The most interesting model for use of that territory is summed up in the phrase “cognitive radio�, the progress of which was detailed in an article in EE Times by Patrick Mannion. The concept of adaptive, opportunistic use of available spectrum makes so much sense and at the same time is such a departure from the past that it has entrepreneurs and established players excited – although in very different contexts of the word.

As the article states the established spectrum license holders have the right to make sure that their use will not be threatened, but they do not have the right to camp on that prime spectrum and use it as inefficiently as they have in the past. We have the possibility to move from the assumption of limited spectrum to one of wide availability. This opportunity is simply too good for any number of applications to allow it to be blocked by yesterday’s applications.

Larry Mittag