Hi David, Thanks for sharing this information. I find it interesting. Bob On Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 6:14 PM David P. Reed wrote: > A small correction/enhancement to the note from Teresa Meng. Maybe it is > because I'm much older than her. > > The U-NII band opening up in 1997 was NOT the first move by the USG to > create open communications. The first move was the creation of enhancements > to Part 15, and the allowance of spread-spectrum modes (FHSS and DSSS) on > 2.4 GHz ISM band under Part 15. > > The core person involved in that Part 15 expansion was Dr. Michael Marcus > (a good friend of mine) who at the time worked for the FCC in its Office of > Engineering and Technology. (his website is here > http://www.marcus-spectrum.com/). > > Dr. Meng was not around at the time, so I'm not surprised she isn't aware > of the history before she became involved in her work. FHSS and DSSS modes > didn't require the advanced digital modulation mechanisms she refers to, > which enabled OFDM (OFDM requires the fourier transform, which can only > practically be done algorithmically). > > The U-NII band (5 GHz) was the result of major efforts, led mostly on the > political side by Apple Computer Inc. and in particular Jim Lovette, an > engineer in Apple's advanced engineering, many years earlier, in 1990. Jim, > along with others at Apple, and even with some support from Lotus, where I > was VP and Chief Scientist, made the case that we needed much more open and > freely usable spectrum than the 2.4 GHz and 900 Mhz spectrum that was > already in use. ( > https://books.google.com/books?id=GTwEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PT5&ots=CAM_c7p1qh&dq=Jim%20Lovette%20Apple%20radio&pg=PT5#v=onepage&q=Jim%20Lovette%20Apple%20radio&f=false > ) > > I knew many of the folks who built 802.11b (prior to U-NII band) and prior > to the creation of the WiFi "cartel" who created the brand name WiFi. This > is why I'm annoyed at the attempt to make 1999 its "birth". That's just > false. It was NOT created by an industry cartel. > > > > On Thursday, September 26, 2019 6:32pm, "Dave Taht" > said: > > > Great article, bob, thx! > > > > People *wanted* wireless freedom. Everybody had a laptop and a modem, > > and a pcmcia slot. One business model that lasted only briefly was > > coffee shops renting pcmcia cards..... > > > > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 12:10 PM Bob McMahon > wrote: > >> > >> For what it's worth, Teresa Meng (founder of Atheros) said in 2004 > >> > >> https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=984469 > >> > >> "TM: There are three basic ingredients in the technology. The first is > definitely > >> signal processing. In the past two decades a lot of research and > industry > >> achievements have made it possible for us to understand how to transmit > signals > >> through a wireless medium, based on sophisticated signal processing > algorithms. > >> > >> Second, in the late ’90s, it became possible to implement gigahertz RF > >> circuits using digital CMOS technology—the predominant technology that > >> people have been using for implementing microprocessors and memory. > >> > >> The third ingredient is the opening up of the unlicensed band. Before > 1997, for > >> example, a carrier would have to pay a lot of money—in the > billion-dollar > >> range—to the government to have the right to use a bandwidth of several > >> megahertz for their cellphone service. In 1997, the U.S. government > opened up the > >> 5GHz UNII band that allows unlicensed users—everybody in the United > >> States—to use up to 550 megahertz of bandwidth, as long as they follow > the > >> rules. > >> > >> With the availability of wide bandwidth and CMOS technology being > advanced enough > >> to process the bandwidth at this frequency, and with the signal > processing > >> know-how—all this created what I call the “wireless revolution” > >> that freed us from the previous notion that wireless communication is > expensive, > >> inherently constrained by a low data-rate, and is scarce. Bandwidth > used to be a > >> very scarce commodity, which is not true anymore with the opening up of > >> unlicensed bands. This is the path Atheros would like to lead: to change > >> people’s view of wireless service from tele-communication to more of a > >> data-communication notion where equipment can be updated very quickly > and > >> inexpensively, and basically provide a level field for competition." > >> > >> Bob > >> > >> On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 1:33 PM David Lang wrote: > >>> > >>> I had some homerf devices, they were signficantly slower than 802.11b > but they > >>> were also far cheaper (they were ~$150 for a card where 802.11b were > ~$800 each) > >>> > >>> a few years later the 'junk' vendors started producing 802.11b > devices, the > >>> prices dropped, and they caught on. > >>> > >>> David Lang > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> On Mon, 16 Sep 2019, Dave Taht wrote: > >>> > >>> > Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2019 23:46:38 +0100 > >>> > From: Dave Taht > >>> > To: Make-Wifi-fast > >>> > Subject: [Make-wifi-fast] 20 year anniversary of wifi > >>> > > >>> > I remember experimenting with "homeRF". I cannot remember for the > life > >>> > of me what it was like. > >>> > > >>> > and to me, why wifi took off was that it had a strong investment by > >>> > apple AND heavy interest from the geek community, with a couple > >>> > drivers that actually worked, and because of the coffee shop > >>> > phenomenon.... > >>> > > >>> > Shure, everything else here was important, too: > >>> > > >>> > https://www.wired.com/story/how-wi-fi-almost-didnt-happen/ > >>> > -- > >>> > > >>> > Dave Täht > >>> > CTO, TekLibre, LLC > >>> > http://www.teklibre.com > >>> > Tel: 1-831-205-9740 > >>> > _______________________________________________ > >>> > Make-wifi-fast mailing list > >>> > Make-wifi-fast@lists.bufferbloat.net > >>> > > https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/make-wifi-fast_______________________________________________ > >>> Make-wifi-fast mailing list > >>> Make-wifi-fast@lists.bufferbloat.net > >>> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/make-wifi-fast > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Dave Täht > > CTO, TekLibre, LLC > > http://www.teklibre.com > > Tel: 1-831-205-9740 > > _______________________________________________ > > Make-wifi-fast mailing list > > Make-wifi-fast@lists.bufferbloat.net > > https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/make-wifi-fast > > >