Editing Open spectrum (section)

'''Open spectrum''' (also known as '''free spectrum''') is a movement to get the [[Federal Communications Commission]] to provide more [[unlicensed spectrum|unlicensed]] [[radio-frequency]] [[electromagnetic spectrum|spectrum]] that is available for use by all. Proponents of the "commons model" of open spectrum advocate a future where all the spectrum is shared, and in which people use [[Internet]] protocols to communicate with each other, and smart devices, which would find the most effective energy level, frequency, and mechanism.<ref>{{cite web|title=Radio_Revolution_The_Coming_Age_of_Unlicensed_Wireless|url=http://werbach.com/docs/RadioRevolution.pdf|publisher=werbach.com|accessdate=2008-02-26}}</ref> Previous government-imposed limits on who can have stations and who cannot would be removed,<ref>{{cite web|title=NEWS LINKS|url=http://www.openspectrum.info/|publisher=openspectrum.info|accessdate=2008-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191120194536/https://www.openspectrum.info/|archive-date=2019-11-20|url-status=usurped}}</ref> and everyone would be given [[equal opportunity]] to use the airwaves for their own radio station, television station, or even broadcast their own website. A notable advocate for Open Spectrum is [[Lawrence Lessig]].

National governments currently allocate bands of spectrum (sometimes based on guidelines from the [[International Telecommunication Union|ITU]]) for use by anyone so long as they respect certain technical limits, most notably, a limit on total transmission power. Unlicensed spectrum is [[Decentralisation|decentralized]]: there are no license payments or central control for users. However, sharing spectrum between unlicensed equipment requires that mitigation techniques (e.g.: power limitation, duty cycle, dynamic frequency selection) are imposed to ensure that these devices operate without interference.

Traditional users of unlicensed spectrum include cordless telephones, and baby monitors. A collection of new technologies are taking advantage of unlicensed spectrum including [[Wi-Fi]], [[Ultra Wideband]], [[spread spectrum]], [[software-defined radio]], [[cognitive radio]], and [[mesh networks]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Open Spectrum: A Path to Ubiquitous Connectivity|url=http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=37|publisher=acmqueue.org|accessdate=2008-02-26|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621000315/http://www.acmqueue.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=37|archivedate=2008-06-21}}</ref>