James Collier runs Neul, a Cambridge startup that makes the green boxes,
which house a new technology called adaptive radio. Today, anything that
transmits long-range signals over the airwaves -radios, cell phones,
television networks - broadcasts on a single, fixed frequency. Think of
the 106.7 that appears on your radio dial. Both broadcaster and listener
have to be tuned to the same wave. Each cell phone, similarly, has its
own allotted frequency to communicate with nearby towers. Carriers must
spend billions to license chunks of spectrum to make sure their
subscribers can connect wherever they go.
A radio from Neul - or one of several startups working on similar
technology - upends this whole system. An adaptive radio doesn't always
use the same fixed frequency, but checks to see which frequencies around
it aren't in use, then borrows empty air for a short-term connection.
As devices move around, the connection can shift, too. Collier's loop
around Cambridge is a demonstration - part of a trial led by Microsoft
and other tech giants - that the idea works technologically. If it works
commercially, too, it could change the dynamics of the wireless
business.
An adaptive network could help companies in the United States such as
AT&T or Verizon Wireless run their networks far more efficiently by
squeezing more smart phones and other devices onto a given range of
wireless spectrum.
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