INVISIBLE I am here today to talk about something invisible – radiowaves. Radiowaves are a resource that everyone here uses. You use them every day when you make a mobile phone call, use your sat-nav, listen to the radio, use wifi or open your garage door.

3 kHZ 300 GHZ When we speak about radiowaves technically, we often refer to the frequencies at which the different devices and systems operate. The world of radiowaves is organised from a frequency perspective. So there are frequencies set aside for radio, for television, for mobile phones, for satellites, for GPS, for military uses etc. When you think about frequencies you need to realise there is a finite range of radio frequencies THOUGH THOSE frequencies are infinitely renewable. The challenge for the world, however, is that we want to do more and more things that need radiowaves. We as some of the six billion mobile phone subscribers on the planet want to be able to access more and richer data, at higher speeds from anywhere we they happen to be. We want to be able to communicate not just with other humans - we want to increasingly communicate with all of the objects in the world around us. So as more and more objects in the world around us become instrumented with sensors of all sorts, there’s potentials for billions more wireless connections. So the question is - are there enough radiowaves to go around? - is there enough spectrum out there to keep up with the huge growth in data usage and to and to support all the applications that will emerge over the next decades? So as you might guess from the diagram on the screen - When you look at a frequency chart – you will see that there does not appear to be many radiowaves that are not already dedicated or set aside for specific services. And while engineers are advancing technology all of the time to make more out of a given block of frequencies (i.e to what ever allocation a service has go further) - the simple message is that it typically is neither easy and certainly not quick to be able to get more radiowaves/spectrum either for existing services or new services. BUT and this is the big BUT, while there does not appear to be many radiowaves that are not already dedicated or set aside for specific services, on closer inspection it is not always the case that radiowaves are actually being used.

DEC JAN 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 31

3 kHZ 300 GHZ BUT and this is the big BUT, while there does not appear to be many radiowaves that are not already dedicated or set aside for specific services, on closer inspection it is not always the case that radiowaves are actually being used.

frequency range owned and controlled by specific service provider lightly used un-used heavily-used frequency range owned and controlled by specific service provider

frequency range owned and controlled by specific service provider lightly used un-used heavily-used frequency range owned and controlled by specific service provider MANAGED INTO SCARCITY

INTERFERENCE INTERFERENCE is something that is very contexttual It is very relative There is a social dimension Sharing is hard. When you transmit signals / radiowaves – they leak outside the area – interfere with others. But sharing is not so easy – interference. It is much harder to share radiowaves than other resources. Let’s think about this in some sort of analgous manner – so let’s think about where we are now. So I currently have the stage – it would not be possible for someone at the same time to be talking with a microphone without the two of us interfering - But it is possible for people to talk to each other while I am talking –they have to whisper – however too many people start whispering there might be a problem – even though each individual whisper might in itself not cause interference the collective whispers may cause a problem – though in different circumstances – everyone here making noise would not be considered interference – if I were giving a op concert I So the message is sharing is hard – it depends on circumstances which can change and vary. Authorities like certainty. Incumbents like certainty. In this analogy I would be in the incumbent Technology is designed and engineered based on certainties. Your mobile phone is designed to expect certain conditions. We want to change that! But if you look closely this is actually not the case .... not being used all the time. Big gaps when there are no transmissions. Small gaps when there are no transmissions. Whole sections where there are never transmissions. Sections where the default status is do not use – only use when there is an emergency. This is an example of a resource that is managed into scarcity Managed into scarcity .... by being devoted to specific services whether they are used or not ..... NATURAL CONLUSION TO SHARE – USE IT WHEN THE OWNER IS NOT USING IT. USE IT AT THE SAME TIME AS THE OWNER AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT DISTURBING THE OWNER REDEFINE IT AS A COMMON SHARED RESOURCE. Need to perhaps show how sharing helps the scenario .....

not having sure knowledge “uncertain” un – cer – tain not having sure knowledge +

+

FEAR Huge resistance for many reasons don’t want to share – mine and more - ownership and control - political thing Issues around the economics Resistance and lack of trust in the technologies .... But in fact we are increasingly seeing new kinds of models supporting new ways of doing business and we are increasingly use technology to underpin sharing in our lives ...

content applications protocols NETWORK

x x x + = X

  +  ?

NEW what will you notice when all of this is done