Communication System Design for White-Fi
(802.11af)
Asif Ahmad A S, Bharath Keshavamurthy, Abhay Narasimha K S, Mahesh N, Suma M N
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
BMS College of Engineering
Bengaluru, India
{asif949, bharathkeshavamurthy.811, abhaynarasimha1, mahilion01}@gmail.com, suma.ece@bmsce.ac.in
Abstract— “Four and half billion people around the world
still aren’t connected to the Internet!” The gap between India’s
rural and urban areas, both economically and technologically, is
enormous. It is quite obvious that the economic imbalance
between India’s metros and her villages is the most significant
reason for miserable Internet adoption statistics currently found
in the country’s rural areas. People in the metropolitan cities
enjoy the utilities offered by the Internet as a routine privilege
while their rural counterparts are yet to come to terms with the
convenience and efficiency of the Internet. Many government
projects such as the NOFN (National Optical Fiber Network) and
the APSFL (AP State Fiber Network Limited) meant to solve this
divide are awfully slow and would undoubtedly encounter
numerous cost overruns. A solution to this problem would be to
tap into the potential of the unused TV spectrum and use it to
provide Wi-Fi based broadband connectivity to geographically
remote regions of the country. A key factor in deploying such a
solution would be to design the related hardware effectively, as
described in this paper. The hardware discussed consists of a
UHF translator to up/down convert the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals to
the appropriate unused TV band in the UHF spectrum. We
operate in the UHF Band-IV which extends from 470-582 MHz
and comprises 14 channels of 8MHz each. The first section of this
article provides a brief overview of the motivation behind our
work and the potential applications of the proposed hardware
prototype. In the second section, we present a brief description of
the project and associated novelty when compared to existing
state-of-the-art in the field of White Space communication. In the
third section, the UHF translator design is outlined. The third
section of this paper also talks about the Raised Cosine Filter and
its roll-off factor, which is a primary constraint to ensure design
compliance with the IEEE 802.11af standard. In the fourth
section, the metrics of the FPGA-based UHF translator
employing a Programmable Wideband Mixer with Integrated
VCOs (Analog Devices ADRF6655), is described.
Keywords— TVWS, UHF translator, Raised Cosine Filter,
dynamic frequency switching & allocation, ADRF 6655 and PLL.
I. INTRODUCTION
White Spaces are portions of licensed spectrum which
licensees (primary/incumbent users) do not use all the time or
in all geographic locations. The UHF TV spectrum in India
(Our Band of Interest: 470-582MHz) has incredible scope for
cheap, long-range connectivity because of its lower frequency
and hence better propagation characteristics compared to the
other unlicensed services operating in the ISM (2.4GHz band)
and the UNII bands (5GHz band). Reference [3] throws some
light on the potential of TV White Spaces in India. The results
presented in [3] (Centre for Applied Research in Electronics,
IIT Delhi) state that 85% of the TV bands in the 470-698MHz
range are unused in urban Delhi while almost 95% of them are
not used in the surrounding rural areas. The survey results
outlined in [3] validate our claims about the enormous potential
the under-utilized terrestrial TV spectrum has to offer,
especially considering the nation’s current socio-economic and
political landscape. The three major beneficial aspects of our
proposal are described below.
Affordability: Connectivity to India‘s 1.2 billion population
is a herculean task. By bringing down the affordability of data
considerably, the Internet will be more accessible to the
common man than ever before.
Reach: The second most powerful argument in favor of
TVWS deployment in India is the reach. Wireless broadband
provided over the TV White Space spectrum (UHF band) has
better propagation characteristics and hence will travel long
distances, through solid objects and foliage. The proposed
TVWS systems can be employed in these
scenarios/environments aimed at providing cost-effective
Internet access to the nation’s ‘off-the-grid villages’ through
remote deployment.
E-Governance: From a governance and civic perspective,
the deployment of TVWS systems opens up an ocean of
opportunities for the governments to connect to the rural
population of the country. Problem Redressal forums, Civic
amenities, Government services, Citizen Connect (all through
a digital platform) are just a few of the numerous ways in
which the lives and livelihood of the citizens can be improved.
From deploying, creating and enabling interactions with
Digital identities to intelligent traffic management systems,
the possibilities are endless.
Considering these opportunities coupled with the
Government of India’s increased enthusiasm (through
campaigns such as BharatNet, NOFN and APSFL) to connect
the nation’s villages, we propose a faster, cost-effective,
feasible and efficient alternative: Deploying TVWS-based
connectivity points around the radius of a village/group of
villages to provide Internet access over the under-utilized
terrestrial TV bands in the VHF-I, VHF-III and UHF-IV
regions due to the advantageous propagation characteristics
signals in these bands enjoy over signals in the ISM/UNII
bands.
 II. BLOCK DIAGRAM: COMPONENT-BASED DESCRIPTION
Fig. 1. Block Diagram of the Hardware Setup
A. UHF Scanner
As seen in Figure 1, to scan the TV bands in the 470-
582MHz range, we employ a commercially available spectrum
analyzer and its related software. The spectrum analyzer would
be set to scan the spectrum in the 470-582MHz range with our
primary focus being on the power-levels in each band. The
spectrum is repeatedly scanned for a certain period within our
campus (BMSCE, Bangalore) to establish a Geolocation Data
Base (GDB). The spectrum analyzer will be equipped with
automation algorithms to scan the desired range of 470-
582MHz consisting of 14 channels of 8MHz each. After
scanning, Channel Power Analysis graphs are brought up
denoting the frequency band and its associated power levels to
analyze the under-utilized or free bands in the frequency range
which is of interest to our project, as seen in Fig.2. In addition
to Power Distribution analyses performed on the individual
channels in the UHF Band-IV, .log files and/or .csv files
containing channel powers over various durations on a certain
day are automatically generated. These log files serve as the
dataset for the development of the Geolocation Data Base
(GDB) which is a crucial feature ensuring compliance with the
IEEE 802.11af standard [1].
Fig. 2. Spectrum scanning results – UHF Band IV
(As seen in XSA on EXA N9010A)
B. Wi-Fi Device
According to [2], research specifies that the peak signal
across +/- 11 MHz of the Wi-Fi signal to be attenuated by 30
dB from the centre frequency. If this signal is transmitted
without modifications on the TV band, where the channel
width is 6 MHz in the US and 8MHz in India, the transmission
will interfere with TV signals in the neighboring bands. The
design presented in this article has several advantages. Firstly,
we do not require any changes to the Wi-Fi radio. Secondly,
our system is sensitive to changes in the TV bands. When
there is an unpredicted transmission in the TV band by a
licensed operator, our scanner routines detect this transmission
and shift the signals from the existing TV band to a different
available and GDB-approved TV band. Through this system
we show that it is possible to perform opportunistic data
communication in the TV white spaces without interfering
with the incumbent licensed terrestrial TV services.
TABLE I. WI-FI MODULE SPECIFICATIONS
Specifications of the Wi-Fi Module
Sl. no
Parameter Value
1 TX Power 18 dBm at 1DSSS
2 RX Sensitivity -95.7dBm at 1DSSS
3 ARM Cortex M4 4 DMAs, 80 MHz.
4 Ambient Temperature Range –40°C to 85°C
C. UHF Translator
The UHF Translator converts the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals to
the appropriate TV band and vice-versa. In other words, the
UHF translator converts the S-band 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals
from the Wi-Fi radio to the UHF TVWS band (470-582MHz)
and the UHF TVWS band back to the 2.4GHz ISM Wi-Fi
signal band. The Wi-Fi signal received by the antenna is
amplified and filtered. Then the signal is passed to a mixer
which consists of a multiplier, an oscillator and a specific
filter. Then the signal is sent for bandwidth compression.
D. Novelty Analysis
Although there seems to be a lot of research in the White
Space communications paradigm, especially with respect to
the Quantitative analyses of the potential of TV White Spaces
(as outlined in [4] and [9]), few discuss a complete PHY
(physical layer) hardware prototype using commercial off-the-
shelf equipment. Furthermore, this article presents the
observations and results of a comprehensive end-to-end
TVWS-capable system complete with a Geolocation Data
Base, a real-time UHF scanning setup facilitating Dynamic
Frequency Switching & Allocation and a UHF Translator
employing FPGA-based intelligence coupled with
commercially available Programmable Wideband Mixers with
integrated VCOs. The FPGA-based processing and translation
subsystem is a low-cost alternative to industry-grade SDRs
(NI USRP, Mango Communications Warpv3, et cetra) –
reiterating our claim for nation-wide rural deployment.
The TVWS-enabled trials conducted in the UK (discussed
in [6]) serve as the experimental framework for similar
research endeavors in India. Moreover, novel frameworks
including Dynamic White Space allocation [8], Device
authentication [10] and GDB-development [7] are
instrumental in ensuring complete end-to-end intelligence of
the system.
The prototype presented in this article emphasizes on a
Wi-Fi backhaul network (S-band to UHF-band up-down
conversion). The employment of a Wi-Fi backhaul is a Proof
of Concept approach taken by us in order to develop a cheaper
and more convenient PHY and MAC layer system. Direct
operations in the TV bands are possible, but it compounds the
cost and complexity of the system. Application specific
systems such as ASICs or highly-customized systems built
from the ground up such as SoCs are the possible alternatives
Fig. 4. p-persistent CSMA
to ensure direct operations in the TV bands as opposed to
using Wi-Fi based backhaul. The next phase of our project The UHF Translator, based on commands from the UHF
deals with a highly pipelined SoC (System-on-Chip) Scanner and the Network Processor, waits for a predefined
architecture operating directly in the TV bands. However, the timeslot even if the channel is free before transmitting. This
SoC-based implementation is beyond the scope of this article. helps in establishing a collision-free environment with the
primary terrestrial TV service signals in the same spectrum.
III. UHF TRANSLATOR Thus, this avoids violation of the FCC (Federal
Communications Commission – USA) guidelines governing
non-interference requirements for TVWS-enabled devices.
A
 (1)
 ω − ω1
H ( ω ) =  A (1 + c o s ( π )) β
rc 2 rω c

0


sin(π (1 − r ) ) + 4r cos (π (1 + r ) ) (2)

H Tc ( ) = ≠0
Fig. 3. Internals of UHF Translator
i
(
π 1 − 4r 2
( ) )
The Wi-Fi signal is received by the antenna as shown in According to (2) and Figure 5, the impulse response of the
Figure 3. The mixer has a signal multiplier, an oscillator and a Raised Cosine Filter (RCF) consists of unity gain at low
filter. The frequency of oscillator is set to 2885 MHz (2885- frequencies, a raised cosine at zero frequencies and is
2412MHz = 473MHz). The filter will have ‘fc’ = 473 MHz attenuated at high frequencies.
The signal at 473 MHz will have a bandwidth of 20 MHz.
This signal has to be converted to a signal of 6 MHz The β (roll-off factor) chosen in our case is 0.2. The roll-
bandwidth. Therefore a Bandwidth Compressor is used. It off factor determines the factor necessary to reduce Inter
contains Raised-Cosine filters. The resulting signal is at 473 Symbol Interference (ISI). A pulse of duration τ requires twice
MHz with bandwidth of 5 MHz. When unpredicted its bandwidth, 2 τ for reliable transmission. For a bandlimited
transmission of signals from licensed users occurs in this system, the data rate can be increased if there is an increase in
channel (473 MHz), the carrier frequency is changed to 481 the number of pulses transmitted per second. The symbol
MHz. This is achieved by changing the frequency of the duration of the signal τ has to be decreased, indicates an
oscillator to 2893 MHz, provided the GDB approves the 1
availability of this channel subject to geographic and temporal increase in the frequency, i.e. ( ). This means an increase in
data statistics. τ
bandwidth, overlapping with the neighboring channels leading
Thus, Dynamic Frequency Switching & Allocation to a condition called as Inter Symbol Interference (ISI).
(DFS&A) is employed to change the frequency of operations
and its associated parameters to the next available channel, in Therefore, to reduce ISI, the minimum bandwidth (BW)
order to ensure non-interference with the primary users of the needed to transmit S B symbols per second is,
TV spectrum. The DFS&A is facilitated by both GDB-based
operations and a p-persistent Carrier Sense Multiple Access S B Hz.
(CSMA) mechanism, as shown in Fig. 4. BW >= (3)
2
For zero ISI,
p ( t ) = 1, t = 0 (4)

p ( t ) = 0, t = ± Tb , ± 2Tb , ± 3Tb ..... ± nTb (5)

1. The pulse p(t) should be one at sampling instant zero (4) TABLE II. WI-FI SIGNAL PROPERTIES
2. The pulse should be zero for all other integral multiples for Centre Frequency 2412 MHz
bit period Tb (5) Bandwidth 20 MHz
From (4) and (5), filter impulse response is designed to Power -50 dBm
have a roll off factor ( β ) of 0.2 for BW=6 MHz. An RCF No of carriers 13
satisfies both these conditions for providing zero ISI. This
ensures undisturbed transmission of pulses in the channel. Carrier Offset 5 MHz

TABLE III. FILTER PROPERTIES

Insertion Loss 2.2 dB
Order (N) 7
F low 2402 MHz
F high 2422 MHz
Apass 0.01 dB
Amax 100 dB
Type 1

The IEEE 802.11n Wi-Fi signal is filtered using a

Chebyshev filter whose properties are given in Table III, in
order to center it to 2412MHz. The filtered signal is amplified
Fig. 5. Raised Cosine Filter Impulse Response [11] using an RF amplifier to boost the amplitude of the received
signal. This amplified and filtered Wi-Fi signal is sent to the
Mixer block which consists of a Programmable Oscillator,
Multiplier and a Filter. The oscillator frequency is set and/or
adjusted by the data from the GDB and the Network Processor
(Master Controller). The output of the Mixer block is a signal
down-converted to the UHF Band-IV (470-582MHz) with a
bandwidth of 20MHz, which is passed into the Raised Cosine
Filter to limit the bandwidth to 6MHz, in order to ensure that
there is no interference with incumbent users in the adjacent
channels.

IV. ADRF 6655 AND ITS OPERATION

Fig. 6. Output of the UHF translator module

(S-band to UHF-band downconverted signals at 473MHz)

Fig. 8. ADRF 6655 Functional Block Diagram (Internal)

The Analog Devices ADRF6655 as shown in Figure 8 is a

highly dynamic wideband active mixer with integrated PLL
and VCO. The synthesizer makes use of a programmable
integer-N or fractional-N PLL to generate an LO input to the
mixer. The PLL reference input, generally 20 MHz is divided
or multiplied by and then given to the PLL phase detector. The
PLL supports input reference frequency from 10 MHz to 160
Fig. 7. Raised Cosine Filter frequency response MHz. The phase detector output controls a charge pump
output of which is integrated in an off-chip loop filter. The
loop filter output is then transmitted to an integrated VCO.
The output ‘2 × fLO’ of the VCO is then given to a local
oscillator (LO) divider as well as to a programmable PLL
divider. The active mixer uses a bias adjustment to allow for
better IP3 performance with a corresponding trade-off of high
supply current. The mixer gives an input IP3 exceeding 25
dBm with 12 dB single sideband Noise Figure under practical
conditions. The IP3 could be boosted to 29 dBm with roughly
20 mA of additional current. The mixer provides a conversion
gain of 6 dB with a 200 Ω IF output impedance. The IF output
can be externally matched to support up conversion over a
limited frequency range.
The device is programmed by a 3-wire SPI. Data has to be
written onto the registers when the Load Enable (LE) pin is set
low (i.e. Active Low) and at the negative edge of the SPI
CLK. Furthermore, minimum delays have to be provided
while writing to the registers in order to account for the time
needed for VCO band calibration. ADRF6655 constitutes
eight 24-bit programmable registers used to control the
operation of the device. To ensure optimum power-up of the
device, it is imperative that we reset the PLL circuitry after the
supply rail (VCC1, VCCLO, VCC2, VCCV2I and VCCMIX)
has settled 5 V ± 0.26V.
Resetting the PLL ensures the internal bias cells to be
properly configured even under poor start-up conditions. To
ensure that PLL is reset after power-up, the PLEN bit (DB6)
in Register 5 should be programmed to disable the PLL
(PLEN = 0). After a delay of >100 ms, REG 5 should be
programmed to enable the PLL (PLEN = 1). Once this start-up
procedure is completed appropriately (in order to facilitate
proper power up of the device) the registers should be
programmed as shown in Figures 9 and 10.
The integer divide ratio is used to set the integer value in
(6); the INT, FRAC and MOD parameters make it possible to
output frequencies that are spaced by fractions of the PFD
frequency. The VCO frequency (fVCO) is calculated by (6),
FRAC (6)
f vco = 2 × f PFD × ( INT + ( ))
M OD
f vco : Output frequency of the internal Voltage Controlled
Oscillator (VCO)
f PFD : The frequency of operation of the phase-frequency
detector. INT is integer divide ratio value (24 to 119 in FRAC
mode). MOD is the preset fractional modulus (1 to 2047).
FRAC is the fractional divider ratio value (0 to MOD − 1).
Fig. 9. Register R0 for Integer Divide Control [12]
Divide mode determines the switch between fractional
mode and integer mode. In integer mode, the RF VCO output
frequency (fVCO) is calculated by (7),
f vco = 2 × f PFD × ( IN T ) (7)
As mentioned earlier, Register 5 is to be programmed
(PLL Reset by toggling the PLEN bit in Register 5
appropriately). The structure of Register 5 is shown in Figure
10. In order to vary the output frequency of the ADRF6655,
Register 2, 1 and 0 are programmed. Register 2 corresponds to
the Fractional Divide Control Register, Register 1 corresponds
to the Modulus Divide Control Register and Register 0
corresponds to the Integer Divide Control Register.
Fig. 10. Register R5 for LO Path and Mixer Control Register [12]
V. INTERRUPT DRIVEN APPROACH
Real time designs require an interrupt driven approach
simply because many systems will have a number of inputs
that will require better processing. Inputs from these devices
are generally asynchronous to the process and the task
currently executing, so you cannot always predict when the
event will occur. These interrupts enable us to continue
processing until an event admits, during which the processor
can address the event. The interrupt driven approach enables a
faster response to events than a polled one, in which a
program actively samples the status of an external device in a
synchronous manner.
As processors get more advanced, there is a large number
of sources interrupts can come from. The Zedboard (Xilinx
Zynq 7000 AP SoC) FPGA architectures a Generic Interrupt
Controller (GIC), as shown in Fig. 11, to process interrupts.
The GIC handles interrupts from the following:
Software-generated interrupt – There are 16 interrupts for
each processor. They can interrupt one or both of the Zynq
SoC’s ARM Corte-A9 processor cores.
Shared peripheral interrupts – 60 in total, these interrupts
come from the I/O peripherals, and from the programmable
logic (PL) side of the device. They are shared between the two
CPUs of Zynq SoC.
Private peripheral interrupts – The five interrupts in this
category are private to each CPU and these include CPU
timer, watchdog timer and dedicated PL-to-CPU interrupt.
The shared peripheral interrupts are very interesting and
flexible. They can be routed to CPU from the I/O peripherals
 (44 interrupts in total) and from the FPGA PL (16 interrupts).
However, it is possible to route interrupts from the I/O
peripherals to the programmable logic of the device.
Fig. 12.
Fig. 11. The Generic Interrupt Controller (circled in Red) of the Zynq 7000
SoC relevant our design
The Zynq 7000 SoC serves as the Network Processor
embedded with an interrupt-driven programming construct.
When frequencies and operational parameters change (either
predictable/unpredictable variations), the Network Processor
‘programs’ the registers of the Analog Devices ADRF6655
module, thereby causing it to switch to the next available
channel. The register parameters of the ADRF6655 module
are described in Section IV and the intricacies of programming
these registers both from a Data-oriented perspective and
Timing perspective is paramount for efficient working of the
design.
VI. CONCLUSION
The primary motivation for the research outlined in this
article is our desire to Bridge the Digital Divide in India and to
facilitate the Government of India’s ambitious Digital India
scheme. The availability of White Spaces in the terrestrial TV
spectrum in India is verified by our surveys at the BMSCE
campus in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The survey resulted in the
development of probabilistic models based on Power
Distribution Analyses which in turn led to the establishment of
a comprehensive Geo-Location Data Base.
Based on data from the GDB, the Network Processor
(similar to the GDD-Enabling station) grants authorization to
the UHF Translator system to start/continue transmissions in
the authorized channels for seamless Internet access to the
requesting WSDs (similar to GDD-Dependent stations). The
Fig. 12 shows the output signal in the TVWS band obtained at
473 MHz.
Thus, a Dynamic Frequency Switching and Allocation
(DSA) procedure takes place in the UHF band. If the allocated
channel is free the transmission is continued, else if the channel
senses ‘busy’ it then waits for a certain period of time before
starting/resuming transmissions (p-persistent CSMA).
A hardware platform was thus developed to effectively utilize
the TV White Spaces.
Output signal in the TV band
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