Video: Experts Weigh In On Weightless M2M Potential

Earlier this month, TechWeekEurope editor Peter Judge chaired a roundtable dedicated to ‘Weightless’ – a new communication standard developed specifically for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication networks, often referred to as ‘the Internet of things’.

In his exploration of the topic, he was aided by three experts: professor William Webb, CTO of Neul, Gary Atkinson, director of Emerging Technologies at ARM and Matthew Bailey, VP of marketing and product development at Argon Design. All three also hold various positions in the Weightless SIG (Special Interest Group) – an organisation that coordinates and enables all the activities needed to deliver the new standard.

Below you can watch the first in a four part video series, looking at the development of technology that could revolutionise our daily life.

The gamechanger

White space broadband relies on portions of spectrum designated for television broadcasting but not engaged in a particular location, due to the pattern of TV transmitters.

While Google is running white space trials to connect rural schools to the Internet, Cambridge start-up Neul has developed a different kind of application – one which helps machines talk to each other.

The video below explains how Weightless uses ‘white space’ radio spectrum, looks at the technology from a network operator’s perspective, and discusses costs.

According to Webb, only a quarter of the radio spectrum allocated to TV broadcasting is actually used in any one area, and as we transmit more and more information via radio waves, we need to find new ways to exploit this finite resource efficiently.

Best of all, it costs next to nothing to use white space, and by extension, Weightless. The radio spectrum is free to use (as long as you meet certain conditions) and the Weightless group plans to bring the cost of transmitter technology right down to under $2 for a chip that can work from a single battery for 10 years, covering a range of up to 10 kilometres.

If you want to hear a more thorough introduction to Weightless, watch the previous video produced by the Weightless SIG.

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