science

MDS America

MDS America is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand MDS America rather than just read about it. In short: MDS America, Inc (MDSA) is a wireless Internet and wireless cable TV technology provider based in Stuart, Florida, US. MDS America was the primary party responsible for the invalidation of Northpoint Technology Inc's patents having to do with extraterrestrial rebroadcast of satellite signals.

Key takeaways

MDS America belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect MDS America to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of MDS America from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

MDS America, Inc (MDSA) is a wireless Internet and wireless cable TV technology provider based in Stuart, Florida, US. MDS America was the primary party responsible for the invalidation of Northpoint Technology Inc's patents having to do with extraterrestrial rebroadcast of satellite signals. MDS Operations, an affiliated company, participated in recent auctions in 2005 and 2006 held by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the frequency band of 12.2 - 12.7 GHz, which it christened "MVDDS".

Technology The receiver of MDSA's system uses a technology that is patented under US patent number 7,286,795. The MVDDS system uses similar spectrum to a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) system, and is capable of operating at the same frequencies without interference. The MDSA two-way system competes against satellite Internet access; the shorter round trip distance of only a few hundred kilometers reduces the latency compared with a geostationary satellite's 44,000 mile 250ms latency. The MDSA system has the disadvantage of requiring infrastructure closer to the user - a satellite can cover a significant proportion of the country, instead of the maximum 200 km radius of an MDSA base station. However, since the MDSA signal can be sectorized, MDSA's bandwidth, unlike that of satellite, can be multiplied in most geographical areas. For video distribution, this means that local channels and local advertising can be injected into the signal, unlike with DBS satellite systems. MDS America Inc. (MDSA) built the first Terrestrial Digital Television distribution system in Ireland. As well MDS America has built the largest MVDDS systems in the world, including the 700 channel capacity system in the United Arab Emirates. In 2011 MDS America built the first commercial wide-area MVDDS system in the United States, in Albuquerque New Mexico.This system can provide up to 50 Mbit/s service to homes and businesses in the Albuquerque area. This is the first ever business/residential service delivering 50 Mbit/s by wireless to an entire metropolitan area.

US Based MVDDS systems MDS America has built and operates an MVDDS system in Albuquerque New Mexico. The system operates using MVDDS to cover an entire Metro area providing 50 Mbit/s of wireless Internet to the home.

Cibola Wireless Albuquerque, Maine

Legal history

Northpoint Technology Ltd MDSA was sued by Northpoint Technology Ltd., on the grounds of patent infringement (US Patents #5,761,605 and #6,169,878.) MDSA contended that the patents that Northpoint had been granted were invalid since the patents essentially covered attributes of a satellite dish and Northpoint had not invented satellite dishes. In 2004, a jury in Federal Court in Ft. Pierce, Florida invalidated both asserted Northpoint patents on four separate grounds. This court case and subsequent invalidation of Northpoint's patents opened the way for the auctioning of MVDDS spectrum.

Northpoint Appeal The above case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On June 28, 2005, the court AFFIRMED the findings of the lower court permanently invalidating both patents.

MDS international Shortly after this MDSA's subsidiary company MDS International are found to be in contempt of court for violation of a settlement agreement. Although the agreement is sealed, the Contempt of court order is not and is publicly available. This Contempt order reveals that: 1. MDS international is required to state clearly on its website that it does not serve the United States." 2. "the Settlement Agreement that makes MDSA the sole owner of the rights to the HyCanC technology."

Management Kirk Kirkpatrick: Founder, President, and CEO Allen Quinn: Exec. Vice President and COO Grigory Kholodkov: Chief Engineer MDSA Fabrice Ducasse: Vice President, Sales and Marketing Gopiballava Flaherty: CIO

References

External links MDS America Inc Homepage MVDDS Senate Testimony New Wireless Broadband

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with MDS America

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what MDS America claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to MDS America before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about MDS America ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of MDS America

In research: MDS America appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses MDS America in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: MDS America is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Florida, Internet service providers of the United States, Telecommunications companies established in 2001, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for MDS America outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study MDS America in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what MDS America means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain MDS America out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is MDS America in simple terms?

Why does MDS America matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study MDS America?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on MDS America.