Apple, Broadcom and other tech companies presented a new study on interference risks in the 6 GHz band, from low-power indoor (LPI) unlicensed devices. They see it as a key band for Wi-Fi (see 1903190050). The companies presented an interference protection analysis of fixed service (FS) links used by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a top U.S. public power company. "Potential interference from unlicensed LPI operations to any LADWP FS link is extremely unlikely even when an unlicensed device is operating within direct line of sight of a licensed FS link,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-183. Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Marvell Technology, Qualcomm and Ruckus also attended.
Tech players told Chief Julius Knapp and others in the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology that the 6 GHz band can safely be used for radio local access networks without threatening fixed-service users of the band. “We discussed the analysis in the record showing that RLAN operations will protect FS links, including the detailed engineering study prepared by RKF Engineering,” the companies said in docket 18-295, posted Tuesday. Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Marvell Technology and Qualcomm were represented on what some see as a key band for Wi-Fi (see 1903190050).
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., repeated his concerns Monday about whether the Commerce Department is actively hindering development of the federal government's 5G strategy. He also filed a resolution that would make it the sense of the Senate that U.S. leadership on 5G is a “national priority” and that federal agencies should work with the FCC to advance U.S. leadership of the technology at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference. Johnson was among the Senate Commerce Committee members who raised the issue during an FCC oversight hearing earlier this month. Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., during that hearing highlighted NOAA's concerns about the potential effects of commercial use of spectrum on the 24 GHz band sold in the recent FCC auction on weather forecasting technology on adjacent bands (see 1906120076). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai disputed NOAA's claims and said they were part of a pattern of Commerce efforts to hinder efforts to free up spectrum for 5G. “It has come to my attention that one of your senior advisers may be placing personal animosity ahead of our country’s 5G goals,” Johnson wrote Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “This threatens the clearly stated goals and priorities of the President and Congress and also undermines the NTIA’s mission to ‘expand the use of spectrum by all users.'” Spectrum “deliberations are best conducted by engineers working collaboratively together to solve challenges, not bureaucrats trying to defend their turf,” Johnson said. NOAA's “last minute objections” are particularly problematic given U.S. preparations for the WRC, “and this dispute weakens our country's leverage and ability to further secure America's leadership at this conference.” Johnson sought by July 10 information on studies and other communications by NOAA, NTIA and other Commerce agencies related to out of band emissions in the 24 GHz band. He wants a staff briefing by July 12, a written explanation of what transpired ahead of NOAA's late disclosure of its concerns. Johnson also wants Ross to make a written commitment “to support the U.S. winning the race to 5G” via expanded spectrum availability and that he's directed all Commerce officials to “support the U.S. position on 24 GHz and all other issues” being addressed in WRC negotiations. House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and ranking member Frank Lucas, R-Okla., wrote Ross and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine Wednesday night requesting by June 26 all NASA and NOAA studies and analyses on the potential impacts of 5G transmissions on the 24 GHz band and the impact on the 23.8 GHz band.
Bosch asked the FCC to launch “at an early date” a” comprehensive” review of the part 15, subpart F regulations on ultra-wideband devices and systems. The auto gear and tech maker proposed modified rules for UWB operations. “These amended rules will facilitate the development and provision of new, innovative UWB products,” said an undocketed filing, posted Wednesday. “Many such products and systems are not permitted by the current UWB rules, due to a conservative initial regulatory environment created for this technology by the Commission sixteen years ago.”
CTA supported proposed updates to FCC rules for over-the-air reception devices, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 19-71. Cities and others continue to counsel restraint (see 1906050014). Other groups are raising RF health concerns. “The availability of broadband is an important factor in the growth of emerging technologies,” CTA said. “Emerging technologies use smaller form factors than previous generation’s macro towers, and these smaller form factors must be closer to end-users. Over the past two years, the Commission took important steps to streamline state and local review of infrastructure siting. … Expanding the OTARD rule to include all fixed wireless equipment is a reasonable next step for the Commission to consider.” Incompas also supported the change. “Fixed wireless is a solution that some of our members use to deliver critical voice and broadband services to their customers,” it commented: “INCOMPAS supports the Commission’s proposal to eliminate the restriction that currently excludes hub and relay antennas from the scope of the Commission’s OTARD provisions.” The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Los Angeles, Boston, Dallas and other local governments said the FCC doesn’t have the authority to act. “The Commission lacks the legal authority, delegated, implied, or ancillary, to take the actions it contemplates,” filing said. “Parties that are supportive of the proceeding fail to demonstrate that there is a predicate for action,” the cities said: “Numerous non-governmental parties offer insights that there is no national movement or scheme to deny OTARD deployments, and the Commission’s proposed actions could retard current plans for wireless developments.” San Francisco also opposed the rules. “The Commission cannot extend the OTARD rule simply because the Commission believes it will be speed-up broadband deployment,” it said: “Where, as here, the Commission is acting under a directive from Congress, the Commission must show that its actions are consistent with that directive, and are not prohibited by other federal laws.” The Wireless ISP Association, which asked for the change, said initial comments broke down into two camps. “Those in the real estate business that seek to maintain the status quo giving zoning and homeowners’ associations unmitigated control over the way their residents’ access video content, and those providers that desire a limited change to the OTARD rule so that consumers have more choices and providers are better able to extend service and offer competitive choice,” WISPA said.
Microsoft got support for its proposal for a Further NPRM on TV white spaces (see 1905030050). NAB earlier said it supports some changes. Comments were posted Monday in docket 14-165 and due that night. The Wireless ISP Association supported a Microsoft proposal to allow use of the 6 MHz of spectrum first-adjacent to TV channels at power levels higher than 40 MW. “With access to spectrum adjacent to TV broadcast channels -- with appropriate interference protection -- WISPs can aggregate more spectrum and more contiguous spectrum to increase capacity,” the group said. WISPA said the FCC should seek comment on a proposal to allow TV white spaces devices to transmit from a height above average terrain (HAAT) up to 500 meters, subject to coordination above 250 meters. Giving white space users “additional deployment flexibility will increase the utility of the band, especially in rural areas where towers may be taller but the number of towers may be limited, or where towers are located on mountains or plateaus that exceed the current HAAT limit,” WISPA said. New America’s Open Technology Institute, Next Century Cities and the Gigabit Libraries Network endorsed the petition, in comments not yet posted. “The Petition proposes ‘pragmatic and long-overdue changes’ to the TV White Space rules in Part 15 that present the Commission with an opportunity to take important steps to bridge the rural-urban digital divide.” The groups “strongly concur that the modest improvements proposed in the Petition can empower providers to extend higher-speed internet access to more unserved areas where wireline or even fixed wireless broadband relying on higher-frequency spectrum has proven to be unavailing.” Sacred Winds, a carrier on Navaho tribal lands, said it’s working with Microsoft here. “Using a mix of telecommunications technologies, Sacred Wind has succeeded since its inception in increasing voice service from 26 percent coverage of total locations within its study area to over 90 percent and broadband service from zero in 2006 to over 90 percent,” the carrier said: “Yet, there remain areas within Sacred Wind’s service territory, and in areas in other surrounding rural communities, where customers that live near dense foliage or not clearly within Line of Sight of Sacred Wind’s communications towers, are unable to receive service.” Evolve Cellular and Skylark Wireless said OK'ing the petition "would substantially improve access to broadband in rural areas and thereby advance the Commission’s goal of extending broadband connectivity to all Americans.” Nominet also supported the petition.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said privacy issues loom large and need to be addressed. O’Rielly also spoke Monday about the importance of spectrum and infrastructure to smart cities. “I see a real issue developing over the combination of data with police and military powers, and a government’s ability to use data for the purpose of controlling or punishing its citizenry,” O’Rielly said at an American Society of Civil Engineers smart city conference. “How governments can create a comfort level with the potential privacy implications of Smart Cities remains to be seen and represents an increasingly problematic area.” Finding spectrum won’t be easy, O’Rielly said. “Fallow spectrum is not just laying around,” he said: “Recently, our attention has been focused on high-band and mid-band spectrum, with high bands providing the capacity needed to connect the plethora of devices and the mid bands offering both good capacity and added coverage.”
The FCC got a mixed response in a handful of comments last week on two proposed updates to rules for authorizing RF devices. In April, the Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment (see 1904020052) on updating rules to reflect changes to ANSI C63.4a-2017 “American National Standard for Methods of Measurement of Radio-Noise Emissions from Low-Voltage Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the Range of 9 kHz to 40 GHz, Amendment 1: Test Site Validation” and ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.” Teradata, which makes testing equipment, was onboard with the ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) revision. “Teradata does not see significant technical justification for adopting ANSI C63.4a-2017,” the company said in docket 19-48: “It does not address any apparent failures in the current Normalized Site Attenuation method.” ElectroMagnetic Investigations saw no need to update the ANSI standard. The test lab said OET should ask “’what are the possible cost impacts” on manufacturers, labs and consumers and “is there really a need to deviate from widely recognized international standards and test procedures.” Sony Electronics supported the ANSI change but said the FCC should allow at least two years for labs to make the change: “A mere 15 months of lead time might not be sufficient here in the U.S. Test sites will need ample time to understand the various changes made in the amendment, and to alter their test setups accordingly.” Updating the rules “to incorporate ISO/IEC 17025:2017 will ensure conformity assessment bodies working in the industry … may continue to offer services and support FCC work,” said the International Federation of Inspection Agencies.
Looking for information on alternatives to GPS-provided positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) capabilities, the Department of Transportation received input on a variety of systems that supposedly could fit that bill. Comments were due Monday at Regulations.gov. Globalstar and Echo Ridge said they're ready to do a field demonstration of PNT capability that could back up or complement GPS, operate independently of other global navigation satellite systems and require no new infrastructure. They said its augmented positioning system uses 24 low earth orbit Globalstar satellites and a series of its earth stations. Skyhook said its Wi-Fi-based system could provide hybrid location in populated areas that also use crowdsourcing to monitor GPS performance trends. Locata said its terrestrially based non-GPS system could cover all the traditional GPS functions needed for PNT services. Seven Solutions said its timing-only solution, using disparately located global navigation satellite system receiver sites, "would render local jamming and spoofing activities moot." Multiple filings weren't made public because of confidential business information. GPS is the best technology for precision navigation and timing requirements, and the industry supports looking at complementary technologies as long as they offer equivalent capabilities and performance, the GPS Innovation Alliance said. GPSIA said given the costs to develop those alternatives and potential limitations, federal resources should still be principally be directed at maintaining and improving the existing GPS system. Some possible alternatives came under fire. GPSIA said one possible complementary technology, eLoran, isn't accurate enough in navigation opposition data for many PNT functions like high-precision agriculture, surveying and intelligent transportation. Qualcomm said eLoran has problems -- its 10-inch square antennas are tough to house in mobile handsets and mobile devices generate high levels of low frequency noise in the 100 KHz rate in which eLoran operates. It said another possible approach, metropolitan beacon systems, would be limited to urban areas and need extensive network buildout and ongoing maintenance. DOT should keep in mind the wireless industry's network rerouting, device-based navigation and timing and cloud-based application capabilities to continue voice and data transmissions in the case of GPS outages when deciding the scope of need for GPS backup when it comes to wireless communications, CTIA said. It said any terrestrial backup will require substantial antenna deployments on U.S. wireless infrastructure, and DOT should be talking with tower company owners and operators about tower space availability and operational issues.
Sennheiser officials asked the FCC to press at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference for an agenda item on harmonizing spectrum for wireless mics. The agenda for that meeting is to be set at this year’s conference. Sennheiser met with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, and staff for the International Bureau, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 16-185.