As they say in Vegas, “The show must go on,” and we’re delighted to report that all the exciting Las Vegas shows continued on uninterrupted while RuralConnect shared spectrum bands with dozens of wireless microphones there last week.

Our TV white space demonstration went off without a hitch at the Wispapalooza event last week, giving us an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the ability of the RuralConnect system to operate without interference from--and without interfering with-- other devices in the area.

Las Vegas is known for its round-the-clock entertainment, so the city’s sub-gig frequencies tend to be crowded with wireless microphones.

The good news is microphones operating near RuralConnect last week did not cause interference with the device’s broadband signal. Throughout the three-day event, the TV white-space device maintained a steady broadband connection while dozens of wireless microphones operated in the vicinity without any bouts of static or lost communication.

In a place like Las Vegas, hundreds of unlicensed wireless microphones are using unoccupied parts of television channels at any given time.

Wireless microphone signals are protected within the two channels reserved for them, which together can accommodate an estimated 12-16 wireless microphones separated by 100 meters, according to the FCC. The devices may also use other channels below 700 MHz, but that use subjects them to interference from other devices.

In the early days of TV white-space technology, when the FCC and broadband-device makers like Carlson were just beginning to hammer out the details of spectrum sharing, the entertainment industry expressed concerns about broadband devices interfering with microphones and disrupting performances and important events.

The Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) invested in a detailed analysis into the issue, advocating a “wait and see” stance for the industry: “In short, delaying major expenditures for wireless microphones would be the best course while the regulatory picture comes into better focus, and quite possibly, new or improved technologies become available.”

With the advent of agile, cognitive devices like RuralConnect, as well as the advanced spectrum-sharing technology of database providers like Telcordia and Spectrum Bridge, the entertainment industry can now rest easy knowing that wireless microphones can co-exist well with TV white-space broadband.

Carlson's RuralConnect operating at Wispapalooza 2012, the premier annual event for wireless Internet service providers