products." The Global Positioning System {GPS} uses spread spectrum. So does the U.S. military's $41 billion MILSATCOM satellite communications network. Wireless local area networks {wLANs} use spread spectrum, as do wireless cash registers, bar-code readers, restaurant menu pads, and home control systems. So does Qualcomm's Omni-TRACS mobile information system for commercial trucking fleets. So do unmanned aerial vehicles {UAVs}, electronic automotive subsystems, aerial and maritime mobile broadband, wireless access points, digital watermarking, and much more. A study done for Microsoft in 2009 estimated the minimum economic value of spread-spectrum Wi-Fi in homes and hospitals and RFID tags in clothing retail outlets in the U.S. as $16–$37 billion per year. These uses, the study notes, "only account for 15% of the total projected market for unlicensed {spectrum} chipsets in 2014, and therefore significantly underestimates the total value being generated in unlicensed usage over this time period." A market of which 15 percent is $25 billion would be a $166 billion market.
( Richard Rhodes )
[ Hedy's Folly: The Life and ]
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