re: Mobile Wireless Pioneer Martin Cooper of ArrayComm
<< Is it true that this terminal is too big and heavy that the van running out of gas and got a flat tire on its way to Cannes? >>
You've got to remember that in '83, one of these phones cost $3,500 and weighed one and a half pounds. The one that we demonstrated in New York City in '73 was two and half pounds; it hurt to hold it to your ear for any length of time – you had to be muscular to use it.
Anssi had big pockets in Hannover.
<< Scratching my head<ggg> >>
Ya got a solar-power hat on that head?
Actually the next long-term challenge is the power thing. How to power all these devices. Here in San Diego, we can probably wear a solar-power hat.
>> Martin Cooper - The Spectrum Avenger
Dan Jones
Unstrung
06.03.02
Introduction
Any way you cut it, Martin Cooper is a seminal figure in the wireless business. He conceived the portable cellular phone while at Motorola Inc. in the early seventies and stayed with the project for ten years, eventually bringing the phones to market in 1983.
Not to put too fine a point on it, Martin Cooper is one of the people who have helped change the way we communicate. If they had Oscars for achievements in wireless technology, Cooper would surely have a few golden base-stations stuck on his mantle by now.
However, Cooper says he has always been interested in the most efficient use of spectrum, which has often led him to take a very different path from his peers in the industry.
These days, Cooper is the chairman and CEO of ArrayComm Inc. and a major advocate of time-division duplex (TDD) transmission techniques and the use of unpaired spectrum – which is very spectrally efficient, compared to current and future cellular systems, such as GSM, CDMA, or UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system).
TDD allows one channel to be used for both up- and down-stream traffic and is well suited for data packet delivery and Internet connectivity. Frequency-division duplex (FDD) transmission, the kind used by the major third-generation systems, uses two separate channels for sending traffic back and forth. This makes it somewhat of a bandwidth hog compared to TDD.
ArrayComm's iBurst high-speed wireless data system uses "adaptive array antenna" technology to create a "cell within a cell" for individual users in range of its base stations. Conventional cellular systems transmit signals in all directions to all the users in the range of a particular cell. In other words, along with the right signals hitting the user, the system is also pumping lots of noise or "electro-smog" into the radio frequency environment.
The ArrayComm system uses software and an array of antennas to continually map the RF environment, allowing it to create a "personal cell" link with each user. ArrayComm already sells this technology, which it calls "IntelliCell," for use in conventional cellular networks.
Roots & Expectations
Unstrung: You're often called the father of the cellphone. What exactly was your role in the creation of the mobile phone?
Cooper: I conceived of the first portable phone because I refused to accept the fact that cellular, which AT&T created, was restricted to in-car communications. The only way we could sell that idea to the FCC was to actually build one.
[Ed note: When Cooper made the first call on a mobile phone, in April 1973, he cheekily called a rival who was also trying to develop a mobile phone – Joel Engel, head of research at Bell Labs.]
Unstrung: Did you ever expect this... Wireless Revolution to happen?
Cooper: Did we ever dream that someday all personal communications would be over this system? Yes, we did. But did we ever think that one day you could walk into a store and get a phone for free, or virtually nothing? No. You've got to remember that in '83, one of these phones cost $3,500 and weighed one and a half pounds. The one that we demonstrated in New York City in '73 was two and half pounds; it hurt to hold it to your ear for any length of time – you had to be muscular to use it.
Unstrung: So, what is the most surprising aspect of this revolution to you?
Cooper: SMS [text messaging]: When I went to Europe and watched these kids using the most awkward interface imaginable to send messages... It just shows you the lengths that people will go to, in order to communicate.
Spectrum, Spectrum, Spectrum
Unstrung: Do you think that ArrayComm's technology could supplant 3G?
Cooper: I certainly would not propose that existing systems be abandoned. On the other hand, why would you use a technology that is thirty or forty years old when you're building a new system?
Unstrung: Because the TDD spectrum has not been allocated for the new technology?
Cooper: As it turns out, in the GSM world it's not a problem – for every 3G [UMTS] allocation of FDD spectrum, there's a small slice of TDD spectrum. That tiny slither of spectrum could turn out to be the salvation of European carriers.
Unstrung: And the United States?
Cooper: As you know, the U.S. doesn't have a 3G policy. However, there is going to be an auction – 27 MHz of spectrum on September 18th – and some of that is going to be TDD spectrum.
Unstrung: So the couple of years that ArrayComm has spent lobbying Washington has paid off
Cooper: Well, we don't like to publicize our lobbying activities, but it's actually been going on for five years. Spectrum is a public resource: We haven't treated it that way, but it's in the public interest to use it efficiently.
But, in fact, the FCC has been very helpful in getting us experimental licenses… We're now trialing our iBurst [high-speed wireless data] system in San Jose. We should have a commercial service by mid-next year.
Unstrung: Assuming you can afford the license.
Cooper: Yes, we will know in September if the world is becoming rational or we're still living in dreamland. Still, even if we don't win a license, that’s by no means our only market.
[Ed note: ArrayComm has trials in South Korea and spectrum in Australia.]
Unstrung: Doesn't the home-grown Chinese 3G use some TDD techniques?
Cooper: The Chinese are very strongly supportive of TDD. We are finding a lot of resonance there.
A Matter Of Range
Unstrung: What is the range of the iBurst technology?
Cooper: We run in the 2GHz band. Our coverage is about the same as the PCS system... We can cover two thirds of the population of the U.S with only 7,000 base stations.
There's really been a lot of hype, but I think people are realizing that 3G is not multimedia and not high-speed data and it is not low-cost either – so they're looking at alternatives.
Unstrung: So, what do you think of the suggestions some people make that wireless LANs could supplant 3G data services?
Cooper: Wireless LANs are great for covering small areas. They are the most expensive way for covering large areas. If you think about what a wireless LAN is, an access point doesn't cost much, but it doesn't have much range either. To cover the U.S. with 802.11b, you'd need millions of access points... And remember the backhaul [passing the wireless data to the network backbone]: You'd spend so much managing these systems.
Unstrung: So why do you think that people keep pushing the concept?
Cooper: We're jumping off one wave of hype and onto another. The telecom industry keeps looking for a magic bullet or a panacea but there really isn't one – just different technology for different applications.
And Next...
Unstrung: So what's the future?
Cooper: The future is lots of different applications. We have now given people just a taste of what it's like to have access to wireless data… People never having to wrestle with a wire again, that's always been my aim.
Unstrung: And what are the major challenges?
Cooper: Actually the next long-term challenge is the power thing. How to power all these devices. Here in San Diego, we can probably wear a solar-power hat. <<
- Eric - |
