Wi-Fi continues to grow, with 9 billion such devices worldwide, the Wireless Broadband Alliance reported Wednesday. WBA said the next generation of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 6, won’t be affected by 5G. “Rather, it will be embraced by operators to establish stronger convergence that will increase the efficiency of wireless networks,” WBA said. Survey respondents said the most important features of Wi-Fi 6 are orthogonal frequency-division multiple access uplink and downlink; self-optimizing capability; peak speed; and flexible channel sizes. The biggest gap is end-to-end security, 29 percent said.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel wants the FCC to take a fresh look at the 5.9 GHz band, she responded Monday to test data (see 1810290063). “These results are long overdue,” Rosenworcel said. “We need to do more than just make our work public. We need to start a rulemaking.” NCTA also wants what it, too, called a fresh look at the band and "how 5.9 GHz spectrum can be an important element in delivering gigabit Wi-Fi."
The Office of Engineering and Technology Monday released the first phase of testing results on sharing in the 5.9 GHz band between Wi-Fi and dedicated short-range communications systems, as promised last week by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1810230038). “We found the prototype devices reliably detected DSRC signals,” OET said. “The prototype U-NII-4 devices were able to detect a co-channel DSRC signal and implement post detection steps as claimed by the submitters. This Phase I test report was peer reviewed and the information is included in the record.” The report was coordinated with the NTIA and the Department of Transportation, OET said. OET is next seeking comment by Nov. 28, replies Dec. 13, in docket 13-49. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said the results weren’t “all that surprising given the simple questions posed." The "entire debate has gravitated away from the type of sharing regime envisioned in the testing,” he said. “Instead, the Commission should move past this and initiate a rulemaking to reallocate at least 45 megahertz of the band, which is completely unused today for automobile safety.”
With growing focus on the 5.9 GHz band (see 1810230038), ITS America said the FCC should remember vehicle to everything (V2X) technology will save lives but relies on an allocation in the band. "Act decisively to protect the investment in dedicated V2X short-range communications at 5.9 GHz as the technology is being deployed en-masse," it said Wednesday in docket 13-49. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 90 people are killed each day in crashes, the group said.
NAB asked the FCC to reconsider September approval of Nominet UK, which otherwise administers the .uk domain name registry, as a TV white spaces database administrator (see 1809190015). NAB found "hundreds of errors, including incorrect channel information for at least 200 television stations,” said Friday's filing in docket 04-186: “Nominet’s continued noncompliance with FCC rules also raises concerns about the Commission’s overall mechanism to reliably evaluate database administrator efficacy.” Nominet UK didn’t comment. The NAB said FCC procedures were apparently “insufficient to catch fundamental errors that would cause the database to return faulty information."
The Wi-Fi Alliance urged the FCC to propose low-power, indoor use of the 6 GHz band without automatic frequency coordination (AFC). “There are many reasons that low power unlicensed devices restricted to indoor-only use are unlikely to cause harmful interference to fixed service stations,” the coalition said. “Those unlicensed devices are most likely to be operated at or near ground level -- removed from the main beam of microwave transmissions, or in high-rise structures where structural steel, concrete and treated windows absorb most of radiofrequency energy outside.” The alliance said Friday in docket 18-295 it met with aides to the four commissioners and Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. Commissioners will consider proposed rules at their meeting on allowing Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band (see 1810010027). Add additional questions to the NPRM “and provide more specific guidance about the types of evidence that would be most useful to the Commission in assessing the feasibility of these operations in each 6 GHz sub-band,” tech players said in FCC meetings with Mike O’Rielly and aides to the other commissioners. “Consider additional questions about the use of portable access points in the 6 GHz band, which have proven to be a key use case in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz unlicensed bands." They sought a comment request "on how technical rules governing transmitters can promote rural broadband deployment in the 6 GHz band.” The filing was signed by Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Marvell Technology Group, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Ruckus Networks.
The annual global economic value of Wi-Fi is $1.96 trillion, with projections it will pass $3.47 trillion by 2023, a report commissioned by the Wi-Fi Alliance found, the group said Tuesday. In the U.S., Wi-Fi contributes $499 billion, to climb to $993 billion by 2023, it said.
"The race is on to see who will make 6 GHz available first for Wi-Fi,” with the U.S. and the EU looking at different approaches, blogged Chris Szymanski, Broadcom director-product marketing and government affairs. The FCC will consider a 6 GHz NPRM at the Oct. 23 commissioners' meeting (see 1810020050). The proposed U.S. rules are on “the right path, but a few improvements are required,” he said Tuesday. Most important is “enabling low power indoor use throughout the 6 GHz band, which is likely to be a common sharing approach throughout various regulatory regimes and enable global equipment harmonization,” Szymanski wrote. “Harmonization leads to scale, which in turn leads to higher value at lower costs.” NAB, meanwhile, raised 6 GHz concerns in a filing in docket 18-295. The band is used for electronic news gathering, including the use of portable transmitters on cameras and temporary fixed links to transmit program material back to studios, it noted. NAB is pleased the FCC plans to restrict operations to indoor use, but said that doesn’t resolve all its concerns. “Confining unlicensed operations in these bands to indoor operations does not address the potential for interference to broadcast operations that may take place indoors” at events, the group said. “Broadcast use for newsgathering operations tends to have high 'RF visibility’ because these links travel over long distances. Such links can easily travel through residential areas where unlicensed operations near windows could cause interference.”
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology extended through March 31 waiver of the push notification requirement for fixed and mode II personal/portable white space devices. The waiver was set to expire Sunday. The original waiver was approved in an August 2015 order on Part 15 rules. “This action will ensure that manufacturers may continue to market previously approved white space devices, and that users may continue to operate them,” said the order in docket 14-165. “The ability of all approved white space devices to satisfy the at-least-once-daily database re-check requirement will ensure that wireless microphones will continue to receive interference protection from white space devices.”
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved Nominet UK as a database system operator in the TV white spaces. Nominet’s system was subject to a 45-day public trial, OET said in a Wednesday order in docket 04-186. “It has satisfactorily addressed concerns received after this trial regarding the ability of its database system to exchange certain data with other database administrators, register information on fixed devices, and provide accurate channel availability information,” OET said.