Boston Startup EdgeBeam Uses TV Airwaves for Data and Precision Location Services

EdgeBeam Wireless, a startup based in Boston's Seaport district, is building a national data network and location tracking service that uses television broadcast signals. The company, backed by four of the largest national TV station owners, plans to provide precision location information that could be more accurate than GPS for applications in engineering, construction and other fields requiring exact positioning.

The service takes advantage of antenna towers that have broadcast television signals since the 1950s in places such as Needham and Newton. EdgeBeam's technology rides alongside TV programming transmitted under the ATSC 3.0 standard, avoiding the need to build a new network of transmitters.

One set of towers can cover an entire metropolitan area such as Boston. "One set of towers covers all of Boston and that gives us something that's different from everybody else," chief executive Conrad Clemson said in an interview from the company's Seaport office.

" The services require users to install compatible receivers. As a result, EdgeBeam is initially targeting large business customers rather than individual consumers. Early applications include car manufacturers sending software updates wirelessly to fleets of vehicles and advertising agencies distributing video to digital billboards along highways.

EdgeBeam transmits a precise timing signal known as the Broadcast Positioning System, or BPS, using the same signals that carry TV programming. The system can locate a position with an accuracy of inches even if GPS signals are unavailable, Clemson said.

Television tower signals are much stronger than satellite signals, making them less prone to interference or jamming. Thejesh Bandi, a professor of physics at the University of Alabama who has conducted BPS tests, said the signals offer advantages over GPS in certain conditions.

, a BPS system showed promising performance as a credible supplemental source for positioning, navigation and timing, he said.

The company plans to charge customers set fees for transmitting data rather than billing per gigabyte, citing its simpler network setup. In the longer term, EdgeBeam could use broadcast spectrum to deliver popular streamed programming, such as major sporting events, to phones and computers.

Four TV station owners — Nexstar Media Group, Gray Media, The E.W. Scripps Company and Sinclair — are backing EdgeBeam with an undisclosed amount of funding. The partners own hundreds of stations that reach about three-quarters of the U.S. population.

EdgeBeam is forming additional partnerships with stations in Boston and other markets to expand coverage to nearly the entire country, Clemson said. The company will not need to raise external funding for about two more years, Clemson said. EdgeBeam currently employs about 25 people and plans to double in size by the end of the year.

Clemson, 61, previously ran Boston-area technology companies including BNI Video, which was acquired by Cisco Systems, and EditShare. He joined EdgeBeam last fall, shortly after the company was formed, and chose to locate it in Boston because of the local talent pool in telecom, networking and switching.