Availability of adjacent TV channels inside buildings of dense urban scenarios for use of short-range devices with OSA capabilities

In recent years, the deployment of wireless short-range devices has increased dramatically, especially in urban settings with high density buildings. This is causing high levels of interference at the ISM bands, thus deteriorating performance. However, there is spectrum being unused and if the devices could make opportunistic use of available channels in other bands (OSA) it will improve their performance. In this context, this paper quantifies the amount of contiguous TV band channels that are available inside buildings. The paper demonstrates through mathematical models that there is sufficient bandwidth available for ISM band technologies. This allows short range devices with OSA capabilities to access other bands with variable channel masks or dynamically adjust their subcarriers based on their need for data transmission. To confirm this scenario, spectrum measurements were analyzed using probabilistic techniques. Different availability analysis were performed, obtaining results that open up great potential for future devices with OSA capabilities.