Scientists at Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have urged governments to stop auctioning old television frequencies for mobile communications, instead suggesting the use of bandwidth for free super-frequency WiFi.
The scientists also claim that the new ‘super WiFi’ would have a much wider range compared to existing WiFi networks, which are currently limited to high frequency ranges at 2GHz and above.
KIT ITAS analyst Arnd Weber said: "Implementation of our approach would have far-reaching consequences."
"Individuals, institutions, and companies would be far less dependent on expensive mobile communications networks in conducting their digital communication. This would also be of great economic benefit."
"Even the opening of existing WLAN frequencies in the last century demonstrated that users and companies utilized the new opportunities innovatively to develop new products."
Researchers have proposed to extend frequencies for free communication and add lower ranges, in addition to increasing transmission power. By automatically adapting transmission power to prevent interference, the frequency range can be boosted to several kilometres.
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In addition to offering direct, measurable cost savings, the proposed technology would also lead to the development of a host of new technologies.
‘Super WiFi’ could also deliver direct assistance in case of disasters, by offering updates and enabling communication.
Image: Free super Wifi would mainly benefit wireless communication and consumption of digital media. Photo: courtesy of KIT.
