Washington - Sep 14, 2011 - The Federal Communications Commission issued a public notice announcing that its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) will commence a 45-day public trial of Spectrum Bridge's TV band white spaces database system, beginning Sept. 19, 2011.

According to the FCC’s own news release: "Unused spectrum between TV stations - called white spaces - represents a valuable opportunity for our changing wireless mobile landscape. This block of spectrum is powerful platform for innovation and experimental use, holding rich potential for research and commercial purposes. The result of white spaces innovation has already led to a wave of new consumer technologies, including Wi-fi and other innovations like baby monitors and cordless phones that have generated billions in economic growth."

Commission rules require that unlicensed TV-band devices contact an authorized database system to obtain a list of channels that are available for their operation (i.e., channels not occupied by authorized TV and radio services) at their individual locations and must operate only on those channels. The Spectrum Bridge database system trial is scheduled to last 45 days and will end on Nov. 2, 2011. During this trial, participants are encouraged to test the channel availability calculator, the cable headend and broadcast auxiliary temporary receive site registration utilities, and the wireless microphone registration utility to ensure that each of these elements of the database system is working properly and providing the interference protection required under the commission's rules.

The limited trial is intended to allow the public to access and test Spectrum Bridge's database system to ensure it correctly identifies channels that are available for unlicensed TV band devices, properly registers those facilities entitled to protection, and provides protection to authorized services and registered facilities as specified in the rules. Access the Spectrum Bridge database at whitespaces.spectrumbridge.com/Trial.aspx.