On Spectrum Access Approaches for Connectivity in Remote Areas in Brazil and Finland

This paper presents an overview of approaches for remote and rural area (RRA) connectivity, including Brazilian regulations for the use of television white spaces (TVWSs) and approaches taken in Finland. This effort represents the first step for developing a future mobile network that can address the Brazilian and Finnish challenges. It also presents one radio solution for connectivity in RRAs: a GNU Radio-based transceiver that explores different technologies to provide reliable and high capacity links aiming to fulfill the RRA demands. Besides, a brief review of spectrum sensing reveals opportunities to further improve the transceiver by implementing alternative sensing approaches. The set of techniques implemented with the associated low cost and flexibility to address several requirements, as well as the good performance observed in laboratory and field experiments, show that this transceiver can be a reliable solution for exploring TVWSs in RRAs and, more specifically, a promising solution for connectivity in remote areas.