Spectrum management used to be the preserve of just governments. But not longer, as private companies such as Transfinite change the rules of the game by providing quick and efficient management of the radio spectrum using the latest technology.
Transfinite have been positioning themselves to take advantage of this opportunity since the creation of Ofcom by the Communications Act. Indeed John Pahl, one of Transfinite’s directors, was an advisor to Lord Pilkington during the review of the Communications Bill by the Joint Select Committee as far back as July 2002.
According to John Pahl, “the Comms Act set the framework for Ofcom’s liberalised view of spectrum management. It opened the door to licence trading, splitting and aggregation, with increased private ownership and control of the radio spectrum”.
In parallel Transfinite were developing the technology needed to operate as a Spectrum Management Organisation, or SMO. Transfinite are one of the world’s leading developers and providers of software tools that can be used to predict the performance of radio communications systems – including the key issue of modelling interference.
Over the years Transfinite have built a suite of software tools under the Visualyse brand, including the world-beating Visualyse Professional, a de-facto standard for interference studies at the global body responsible for radio management, the ITU. Recently Transfinite have been working with Ofcom on a Research and Development project into new tools and technologies to manage spectrum licensing in a flexible liberalised environment. The result was the Generic Radio Modelling Tool or GRMT. Transfinite have built on the lessons learnt from GRMT to develop their Visualyse
Spectrum Manager, the next generation licence management solution.
According to John Pahl, Visualyse Spectrum Manager “provides Transfinite with the capability to offer customers low cost low risk flexible spectrum licensing”. The software is designed around a web-based server and includes:
• Easy submission of application for links via a user interface that adapts to each link type
• On-line technical analysis to check for interference and identify suitable parameters to use (such as transmit power and frequency)
• Generic methodology that can apply the same interference engine to all types of links
• Sophisticated technology based on .NET and SQL server to manage the link approval process
About Transfinite Systems Ltd
Transfinite Systems Ltd are a UK based SME that specialises in software and consultancy for management of the radio spectrum.
Transfinite develop and market a range of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) software products including:
• Visualyse Professional – a generic study tool to undertake interference analysis between a wide range of radio services including terrestrial and satellite
• Visualyse GSO – to support the coordination of GSO satellite networks during coordination trigger and detailed coordination stages
• Visualyse Coordinate – to support the coordination of satellite earth stations with terrestrial services such as Fixed Service
• Visualyse Spectrum Manager – to manage blocks of spectrum and undertake planning and interference assessment as part of licensing system
Transfinite provide full support for all products including customisation, training, support, and maintenance to a world-wide customer base.