Neul Unveils Iceni

In order to support the explosive growth of wireless data, including the expected billions of M2M and IoT connections, wireless network technology developer Neul launched Iceni, the so- called world’s first TV White Space transceiver chip.

“The Iceni chip allows us to connect to devices that were previously unreachable. This opens up entirely new options for connectivity in healthcare, transport, education, heavy industry and more. We are pleased to have reached this milestone in the charge to make white space networks and services available to those game-changing applications,” James Collier, founder and chief executive officer of Neul, said in a statement.

Neul is pioneering the next wave of wireless growth and innovation in white space spectrum availability. Its technology combines state of the art wireless, silicon and software design, optimized for the challenges presented by white space. Iceni is its latest innovation which is capable of tuning across the entire UHF TV white space spectrum (470 – 790MHz).

The single chip solution draws very little power while delivering reliable, secure, long range wireless, non-line-of-sight connectivity to previously unreachable applications and locations for both machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT), as well as for applications in wireless broadband.

Iceni communicates using white space radio to access the high quality UHF spectrum that has become available due to the transition of television from analog to more efficient digital broadcasting. Utilizing this license-exempt spectrum, Neul’s disruptive wireless network technology, enabled by the Iceni ASIC, is noted to dramatically reduce the costs associated with running a communications network.

A key advantage of Iceni is that it operates over the entire TV white space frequency range, from 470MHz to 790MHz, and supporting both 6 MHz and 8 MHz channel bandwidths while conforming to the strict white space regulatory requirements. Moreover, its adaptive digital modulation schemes and error correction methods can be selected according to the trade-off between data rate and range required for a given application.

Also, its encryption mechanisms ensure secure data transfer over the air. Memory-mapped parallel bus interface and discrete interrupt lines can also be used for waking the external application processor, such as an ARM (News - Alert) M3, upon receipt of a relevant frame. Additionally, programmable IOs are made available for controlling the external RF front-end, such as a Transmit Power Amplifier.

Neul has white space networks on four continents and continues to deploy specific white space infrastructure around the world. Devices integrating the Iceni chip can access these networks at a fraction of the cost of wired or cellular wireless connections.