The U.K. communications regulator Ofcom is collaborating with Queen Mary University of London in studying the need for additional regulations due to the use of reflective surfaces to enhance the coverage capabilities of future wireless under non-line of sight conditions.
“Reflective surfaces are primarily seen as non-amplifying devices and are limited to adding advantageous signal paths, referred to as multipath diversity,” Ofcom writes in a white paper. “The driving attraction behind reflective surfaces is to provide a potentially low-cost and low-complexity solution to extend the coverage of wireless networks.”
The potential technical challenges of adopting reflective surfaces, however, may affect wireless regulations. For example, large-scale deployments may cause interference with networks in neighboring frequencies.
“In addition, mobile terminals behind reflective surfaces may suffer from shadowing losses due to high reflectivity, preventing them from accessing critical wireless services,” according to the white paper. Additionally, if multiple terminals are reflected on a given surface, it may result in “mutual electromagnetic coupling, edge scattering, spurious sidelobes and a lack of spatial isolation between independent beams.”
Ofcom is not offering a regulatory remedy at this time to the potential interference caused by reflective surfaces. But it did suggest that network terminals may need design changes. The agency also suggests that reflective surfaces may require additional security and interfaces to allow them to integrate with the network over the air to operate efficiently.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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