IEEE Approves 802.22b-2015 Wireless Broadband - "Wi-FAR"

IEEE announced the approval of 802.22b-2015, a new standard designed to support point-to-multipoint wireless broadband operation in the VHF and UHF TV bands in the frequency range between 54 MHz and 862 MHz.

802.22b point-to-multipoint wireless broadband, which is sometimes referred to as "Wi-FAR", is targeted at traditionally underserved rural areas, where most empty TV channels can be found and where Internet access services are often scarce. It takes advantage of favorable propagation characteristics in the VHF and low UHF TV bands, to provide broadband wireless access under both line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) conditions over large areas (10 to 30 kilometers). This occurs while operating on a strict non-interference basis in "TV white space" (TVWS)—spectrum that is assigned to, but unused by, incumbent licensed services.

“IEEE 802.22b-2015 is designed to double the throughput of devices based on the original IEEE 802.22 standard. The new amendment is intended also to serve more users per base station and enable relay capability for machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) use cases,” said Chang-woo Pyo, chair of the task force that created IEEE 802.22b.

http://standards.ieee.org/develop/project/802.22.1.html