Английский язык: Аннотирование и реферирование текста

208 signals, the ones that have transmission capability have yet to demon- strate reliable function. A recent blow came in late March, when Mi- crosoft acknowledged that its device for sensing white spaces "unex- pectedly shut down" during testing; a spokesperson for the company adds, without providing additional detail, that "because of the shut- down, the FCC could not move forward with testing and made a deci- sion to stop testing on this device." This was the second time in two months that a Microsoft device failed to endure FCC scrutiny. Tech firms believe they will ultimately succeed in devising a technology that can find white spaces on its own and temporarily tap into them without interfering with licensed users. Philips, for instance, plans to send a more advanced version of its spectrum-sensing technol- ogy to the FCC soon that can detect signals as well as transmit them without interference, says Kiran Challapali, a project leader in Philips Research North America's wireless communications and networking department. If such systems pass muster, Whitt said, Google would try to put a new crop of wireless devices that could make use of white spaces in consumers' hands by the holiday season of late 2009 – with- out fear of blanking out your pricey big-screen HDTV set. Gigabucks for Megahertz This past March the Federal Communications Commission com- pleted its initial auction of licenses to use airwave space that will be freed up once television broadcasters give up their analog channels next year. The FCC raised more than $19 billion in the auction of the 700-mega-hertz band (which actually ranges from 698 to 806 mega- hertz). The agency called this auction its largest ever, far exceeding the $10 billion that Congress had estimated. The winning bidders so far include the major cell phone carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon Wire- less, which can use the spectrum, for instance, to transmit cell phone signals farther with less power. Vocabulary Sluggish – пассивный , медленный , неторопливый Broadcasters – телерадиовещательные компании