In late July the IEEE announced it has published the wireless standard officially titled IEEE 802.22-2011 Standard for Wireless Regional Area Networks in TV Whitespaces. Referred to by many as the "Super WiFi" standard, it "takes advantage of the favorable transmission characteristics of the VHF and UHF TV bands to provide broadband wireless access over a large area up to 100 km from the transmitter," the IEEE explained in a release announcing the standard's publication. The release also stated that each wireless regional area network (WRAN) "will deliver up to 22 Mbps per channel without interfering with reception of existing TV broadcast stations, using the so-called white spaces between the occupied TV channels. This technology is especially useful for serving less densely populated areas, such as rural areas, and developing countries where most vacant TV channels can be found."
The project authorization request for 802.22 was submitted in October 2009 and approved in December 2009. The request described the need for the project as follows: "There is a large, untapped market for broadband wireless access in rural and other unserved/underserved areas where wired infrastructure cannot be economically deployed. Products based on this standard will be able to serve those markets and increase the efficiency of spectrum utilization in spectrum currently allocated to, but unused for, the TV broadcast service."
Reports, like this one from Geeky Gadgets, indicate that 802.22-compliant transmitters will have a reach of 62 miles from a single base station.
