White Space Devices (WSDs)

ICASA ruleset on the use of television white spaces within the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) TV as published on the 23 MARCH 2018, in the GOVERNMENT GAZETTE No. 41512, titled “Regulations on the use of television white spaces” requires a master White Space Device (WSD) to only obtain Operational Parameters from a Secondary Geo-Location Spectrum Database GLSD (S-GLSDs) authorised by the Authority for the purpose.

This requires master WSDs operating under ICASA Ruleset, i.e. in Republic of South Africa to obtain the list of certified Secondary Geo-Location Spectrum Database GLSD (S-GLSDs) from ICASA’s Reference GLSD, thus this system, before making radio transmissions in the UHF band.

Refresh Rate

The master WSD shall obtain the list again no later than N minutes. The value N will be specified in the list, and is not more than 1440 minutes.

If the list is not accessible after the time specified by N has expired, the WSD shall continue to use the list that it already holds, and try to get list again at least as frequently as possible but with minimal interval of 30 minutes.

Listing Contents

The list will contain the following:

  • lastUpdateTime: Date and time when the list was last updated.
  • maxRefreshMinutes: Period in minutes after which the device must obtain the list again from the the Reference GLSD.
  • sglsds: A list of entries for certified S-GLSDs, each containing the following
    • name: The name of the S-GLSD operator.
    • url: The web address for the S-GLSD through which the WSD communicates, thus the PAWS API.
    • active: Flag that indicates the S-GLSD is rendering services to WSDs.
    • authType: Security mechanism (authentication type) implemented by the S-GLD.

List of Certified S-GLSDs

A list of certified S-GLSD(s) that are active and currently providing GLSD Services to white space devices (WSDs) is discoverable to the master WSDs and is available in two formats: