Rivada Networks gets broad patent for dynamic-spectrum-arbitrage technology

Rivada Networks recently announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) approved its patent application for dynamic-spectrum-arbitrage (DSA) technology. DSA technology enables bandwidth to be commoditized and traded among commercial entities in a manner that could drastically alter commercial business models and regulatory policy, according to company officials.

Although Rivada Networks waited to announce the patent approval until it received official paperwork, the company was notified of the approval by e-mail the day before IWCE’s Urgent Communications interviewed Rivada Networks CEO Declan Ganley earlier this month.

“Rivada’s public-safety-specific patent to do dynamic spectrum arbitrage and tiered priority access [TPA] for public safety radio resources was granted a while back,” Ganley said during the interview. “The patent that finally was approved yesterday, the more sweeping patent, was for dynamic spectrum arbitrage for radio resources across all radio spectrum, so it’s not restricted to any particular type of radio spectrum.

“It’s very exciting for us. It’s the culmination of years of hard work, a lot of engineering and many millions of dollars of investment. We are convinced that this is an absolute game changer for the broadband and radio-spectrum sector.”

Ganley said the language in the patent is broad, covering “the management and allocation between service of radio resources where you are managing and controlling the amount of radio resource that is being allocated between different users across multiple networks.” With the USPTO’s approval, Rivada Networks is pursuing similar patents in markets throughout the world, he said.

Rivada Networks developed DSA to address the need for public-safety agencies to generate revenue from unused capacity on broadband networks such as the one scheduled to be built on 700 MHz spectrum in the United States by FirstNet. Making this economic model available to all network operators was the next step, according to Rivada Networks Chief Technical Officer Clint Smith.

“Once this model came into existence, it seemed to us logical to extend it and make it operable for commercial networks, spanning the entire wireless range,” Smith said in a prepared statement.

DSA enables bandwidth to be auctioned to the highest bidder on a recurring and granular basis, down to a specific hour in a particular location, if it makes economic sense, according to Ganley. Eventually, the DSA platform will enable bandwidth to be bought and sold like other commodities, he said.

“There will be buildings in New York City and Chicago with floors and floors and floors of people that just trade this stuff—just like they do with oil, grain and all of the world’s other great commodities,” Ganley said. “Bandwidth is going to be a commodity that the world trades.”