Wi-Fi spectrum battle pits antiterrorism efforts against commercial growth

Bob Brewin   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Mobile and Wireless Stories  

The Impact of Social Networks on Mobility Strategies The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications Enterprise Mobility: Opportunities and Changes Improving Correspondence Management for Financial Services Firms with Adobe LifeCycle ES Five Ugly Truths about WAFS and Caching Forrester Consulting Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World Mobility @ the Speed of Business The Business Value of Tape Storage Computerworld Technology Briefing: An open-source path to optimal virtualization Sign up to receive Mobile and Wireless Resource Alerts

December 31, 2002 (Computerworld) -- The U.S. Department of Defense has played the antiterrorist and rogue-state card in its attempts to restrict the use of wireless LANs, including those already operating in the lower portion of the 5-GHz band, according to engineers and analysts.
The Pentagon is concerned about the ability of military radar to detect terrorist vehicles as well as stealth aircraft or missiles operated by foreign powers in the face of WLAN interference, the analysts added.
Portions of the 5-GHz band have already been assigned for unlicensed WLAN use in the U.S., Europe and Japan with more than 50 manufacturers making products that operate in these bands.
At a meeting Nov. 11 in Geneva of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the United Nations body that oversees spectrum allocations worldwide, the U.S. said it wants the 5-GHz band protected for the use of radars that can "pick out smaller and less reflective targets out of background clutter" and therefore can't afford any interference from WLANs, according to the official U.S. draft position paper submitted to the ITU and obtained by Computerworld.
John Pike, a defense analyst at GlobalSecurity.org in Washington, said the references to "small targets and background clutter" pertain to small boats or planes that terrorists could use to attack U.S. forces. He added that the Defense Department is also concerned about the ability of its radars to pick up stealth aircraft. Pike said China is capable of developing stealth technology similar to that used by the U.S. B-2 bomber, which allows the aircraft to hide its presence from most conventional radars.
Will Strauss, a former radar engineer and analyst at Forward Concepts Co. in Tempe, Ariz., said it would be a "small task" for a country such as China to develop its own stealth aircraft.
The U.S. wants to protect these radars by sharply restricting the use of Wi-Fi gear in 5.15-5.35-GHZ portions of the 5-GHz band already opened up for use in the U.S., Japan and Europe.
The U.S. position paper, submitted to the ITU at its November meeting in preparation for the ITU's World Radio Conference (WRC) in June, where the spectrum decisions will be made, endorses a global allocation for WLANs in the 5.15-5.35-GHz band as long as radars are protected by a technique known as Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS), which shuts down WLAN transmissions when a radar signal is detected.
Bill Calder, a spokesman for Intel Corp., which plans to incorporate WLAN chips into its next-generation mobile computing technology, said that the industry views the Pentagon's DFS restrictions, which he didn't specify, as too conservative. He added the company is working to reach a compromise with the Pentagon

Continued...
1 | 2 | NEXT  

Print this Story

Send Us Feedback

E-mail this Story

Digg this Story

Slashdot this Story

Mozilla updates Firefox 3.1 with Alpha 2 build Microsoft explains Seinfeld-Windows TV ad: just a 'teaser' Mozilla: Firefox is faster than Chrome More top stories...

iPhone 3G owner sues Apple, AT&T over dropped calls, app crashes At 10, Google reiterates commitment to CIOs Analysts: Google spreading itself too thin

Microsoft warns of IE8 lock-in with XP SP3 Users of Windows XP SP3 who try out IE8 Beta 2 won't be able to uninstall either one under certain circumstances. Opinion: Why Google has lost its mojo -- and why you should care Google has gone from innovative upstart to fat-and-happy industry leader in what seems like record time. Preston Gralla explains. Review: Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 offers some nifty new features Microsoft's latest beta of IE8 includes better tab management, new services such as Web Slices and Accelerators, and the new 'porn mode.' IT Schools to Watch 2008 These leading-edge graduate schools are moving at the pace of the IT workplace, delivering coursework that's relevant to today's IT professionals. Windows Vista A to Z Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS. More Continuing Coverage After 9/11: Homeland Security Apple's iPhone Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader Bill Gates steps down BlackBerry Legal Battle Data Security Breaches Electronic Voting Firefox H-1B Visas HP's Boardroom Scandal Handheld Devices Hurricane Katrina Aftermath Microsoft Legal Issues Microsoft's Vista Open Source RFID Technology SCO's Linux Fight Sarbanes-Oxley Act Spam Voice Over IP Wi-Fi Windows Meta File Vulnerability Windows XP Service Pack 3 IT Careers 2010 Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready? More Special Reports Premier 100 IT Leaders 2007 Best in Class 2006 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006 Salary Survey 2007 Best Places to Work in IT 2007 IT Forecast 2007 Premier 100 IT Leaders 40 Years of Computerworld ASPs, Take Two Best Places to Work in IT 2003 Best Places to Work in IT 2004 Best Places to Work in IT 2005 Best Places to Work in IT 2006 Business Intelligence Home Runs Business Intelligence: Smarter BI Business Intelligence: The Future of BI CRM Goes Vertical CRM: Sober CRM Career Planning Guide 2005 Careers: IT Profession 2010 Computerworld Horizon Awards 2005 Data Management: Mining for Gems Data Management: Taming Data Chaos Development: Hard-Workin' Web Sites Development: New Tools New Choices Development: The New World of Application Development Development: The Web Services Tsunami Development: Web Services Hurdles Disaster Recovery: Preparing for the Worst E-commerce Grows Up E-mail/Groupware: Big Decisions Faces of Mobile IT Forecast 2006 Global Mobile Hardware: Multiple Cores, Multiple Challenges Hardware: On-Demand Un-Hyped Hardware: The Shape of Things to Come Horizon Awards: 10 Cool Cutting Edge Technologies IT Management: Guide to Managing Vendors IT Management: Navigating Global IT IT Management: Recovery Ahead IT Management: The Future of IT IT Management: The Resourceful Project Manager Innovative Technology Awards 2004 Management: Reinventing IT Microsoft in Transition Mobile/Wireless Leaders and Laggards Mobile/Wireless: The Untethered Worker Mobile/Wireless: Tiny Gadgets, Huge Costs Network Management: Taking Control Networking: Turbulence Ahead! Networking: VoIP Goes Mainstream Operating Systems: In the Slow Lane Operating Systems: Linux Goes Global Operating Systems: Should You Nix Unix? Outsourcing: Offshore Buyer's Guide Outsourcing: Outsourcing Dangers Premier 100 IT Leaders 2004 Best in Class Premier 100 IT Leaders 2005 Best in Class ROI: Do the Math! Salary Survey 2003 Salary Survey 2004 Salary Survey 2005 Security Action Plan Security: Compliance Headaches Security: Proactive Security Security: Risk and Reward Security: Tips From Security Pros Souped-up Security Storage: Battling Complexity Storage: Cheap & Secure Data Stores Storage: Stretching Your Storage Dollars Storage: The Lean Storage Machine Storage: The New Rules of Storage Storage: The Ultimate Backup Guide Supply Chain: Missing Links Supply Chain: RFID Reality Check The Business of Security Web 2.0 Security Wireless: Wireless At Work All Zones Application Performance Zone Business Continuity Zone The File Data Management Zone Security Management Zone ITIL Best Practices Zone The SAS Zone Business Intelligence and Analytics Zone Windows Protection Zone Identity & Security Management Zone See your link here

Mobility @ the Speed of Business Download this new tech briefing, free, compliments of HP. (Source: Computerworld) Enterprises have a keen interest in making sure their increasingly mobile workers can get information when they need it, where they need it - not just when there is a Wi-Fi hotspot around. Many are turning to embedded broadband modems as the most cost-effective, easiest to manage solution to connect workers to the right applications. The results speak for themselves in this new tech briefing. Download this executive briefing  Virtualization Everywhere Download this white paper, free, compliments of Citrix. (Source: Citrix) Adoption of virtualization is concentrated among large enterprises, while adoption by mid-sized companies has been much slower. For these companies, the cost and complexity of server virtualization solutions has been a barrier. In this paper, we'll discuss how Citrix XenServer" provides simple, economical server virtualization for any size company. Download now! Download this white paper  The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications Download this webcast, free, compliments of RIM. Go to the webcast  White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. Death to PST: Hidden Cost of Email Mismanagement Extend, Replace, or Convert; which is the best way forward for COBOL Applications? The Trend from Unix to Linux in SAP Data Centers View more whitepapers

• Mozilla updates Firefox 3.1 with Alpha 2 build
• iPhone 3G owner sues Apple, AT&T over dropped calls, app crashes
• Microsoft explains Seinfeld-Windows TV ad: just a 'teaser'
• More top stories 

SQL Anywhere Developer Edition Download SQL Anywhere is the industry-leading mobile and embedded database. Designed for database-powered applications that operate in frontline environments without onsite IT support, SQL Anywhere offers enterprise-caliber features in a database that is easily embedded and widely deployed in server, desktop, remote office and mobile applications. Download the free SQL Anywhere Developer Edition

SQL Anywhere Developer Edition Download SQL Anywhere is the industry-leading mobile and embedded database. Designed for database-powered applications that operate in frontline environments without onsite IT support, SQL Anywhere offers enterprise-caliber features in a database that is easily embedded and widely deployed in server, desktop, remote office and mobile applications. Download the free SQL Anywhere Developer Edition