UWB Companies Say Time Is Ripe for FCC Review of Overly Conservative Rules
The Ultra Wideband Alliance supported a June filing by engineering company Robert Bosch, which said the FCC should launch an "early” and ”comprehensive” review of Part 15, Subpart F regulations on ultra-wideband devices and systems (see 1907190010). When the commission…
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issued the order establishing the UWB rules in 2002, it “characterized the limits and restrictions of Subpart F as ‘ultra-conservative’ and stated that the Commission intended to reconsider many of the restrictions and conditions at a later date based upon industry experience,” the alliance said in comments that were due Saturday in docket RM-11844: “There is now extensive industry experience which confirms this characterization by the Commission. UWB has been widely used and proven to cause no harmful interference to other radio services. As noted in the petition, the FCC has acknowledged the extremely low risk of harmful interference by issuing multiple waivers to reduce some of the Subpart F restrictions.” Novelda, which makes radar semiconductor devices and modules operating under the UWB rules, agreed the rules should get a fresh look. “Our products are used in a wide variety of applications,” Novelda commented: “Many of these applications will benefit from a review of the UWB rules as proposed by Robert Bosch. … A more globally harmonised set of rules will promote UWB technology worldwide and help Novelda and its customers to bring the benefits of our technology to many more consumers.” Vayyar, which develops and supplies 3D imaging sensors, also supported the petition. “In sensors the transmitter and the receiver are in most cases collocated in the device and whenever the device transmits, it configures the receiver to await the reflected signals, the provisions of 15.519(a)(1) do not make sense in this context, and we believe that part 15.519(a)(1) should be cancelled,” Vayyar said. “ZIGPOS would like to underline the importance for such a review, revision and enhancement of the so far still very conservative UWB rules in the U.S. in order to allow for further growth and increased competitiveness of automated production systems and advanced manufacturing sites,” that company said.