Mobile & Wireless Forum representatives met staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology to share recent research on the health implications of RF exposure, the topic of a 2019 NPRM. The FCC’s current approach to time averaging for exposure “is extremely conservative” and it should reconsider, members of the group said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-226.
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a conditional waiver allowing the NFL to continue to operate its coach-to-coach communications system in the citizens broadband radio service band in the “limited circumstance” of an internet outage at stadiums during games. The league must have a “valid and active authorization” from a spectrum access system operator, said Friday's order. The league must use "at least two independent, unaffiliated” ISPs “with separate physical connections at each NFL stadium throughout the season,” it said.
Automakers urged the FCC to require reimbursement for relocating dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) out of the 5.9 GHz band, in replies posted Tuesday in docket 19-138. Disagreements continue on the 5-0 November order reallocating the spectrum for Wi-Fi and cellular-vehicle-to-everything technology (see 2011180043). The Alliance for Automotive Innovation wants a program in which unlicensed users in the lower 45-MHz would have to pay to move DSRC. The alliance cited costs incurred by states and cities. “The request for reasonable compensation is a bipartisan concern,” the group said: “It would be extraordinary for the Commission to transfer spectrum worth billions of dollars from traffic safety use by the auto industry to commercial use by the cable and unlicensed communities without at least requiring the new entrants to pay relocation costs.” The alliance wants more spectrum for auto safety. The Intelligent Transportation Society of America urged reimbursement “consistent with almost thirty years of precedent” that “any licensees displaced by the Commission’s action be provided with reasonable compensation of their expenses incurred in complying with an otherwise unfunded mandate.” Paying relocation costs would be “unworkable and unprecedented,” NCTA countered. Information from DSRC users “demonstrates that all or the vast majority of the asserted costs to those licensees are attributable to the transition from DSRC equipment and operations to C-V2X equipment and operations,” NCTA said: “None of the parties seeking to require consumers, schools, and businesses who purchase Wi-Fi devices to compensate them explain why the costs of shifting from DSRC to C-V2X should fall on broadband consumers.” There's “no obligation to reimburse incumbents for their investments in a failed technology … that never deployed and left virtually the entire … band vacant nationwide,” said Public Knowledge and New America. The auto industry is “shifting to C-V2X whether or not the Commission moved to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band,” the groups said. The Wi-Fi Alliance said a reimbursement program would require congressional action: When the FCC has required that moving costs be paid, it's “in the context of the reallocated spectrum being licensed through competitive bidding, to new entrants, with the new entrants paying relocation costs.” The 5G Automotive Association urged the FCC to act quickly on rules for C-V2X in the band. The group said there's broad agreement the proposed emission limit for the unlicensed use of the band outdoors won’t protect auto safety. T-Mobile sought “flexible technical rules that will allow C-V2X operators to innovate” and protections for safety from Wi-Fi interference.
The Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network defended its standing to seek a stay of the FCC’s order reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), in a filing posted Wednesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC and others “claim that AREDN lacks standing because it is not strictly a membership organization,” the group said in docket 21-1141. AREDN cited the court’s test in Flyers Rights Education Fund v. FAA, a case from last year. “AREDN keeps track of its users” and its “expenses are paid from user donations.”
Shure representatives warned the FCC that wireless mics soon won’t have enough spectrum to meet the needs of users. The assertion came in a call with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. More efficient use of spectrum by mics “will not be able to compensate for the reductions in accessible UHF spectrum,” Shure warned in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-146. “Act on the FCC’s long-standing proposal to expand Part 74 eligibility to accommodate all qualified operators with a demonstrable need for professional-grade audio and work with Shure and other interested stakeholders to reexamine technical restrictions specific to each band,” the company urged: Reopen the TV vacant channels proceeding “to update the record, and designate one vacant UHF channel for wireless microphones in every designated market area.” Shure has been making the rounds and reported similar calls last week with Commissioner Nathan Simington and an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr (see here and here).
The Wi-Fi Alliance, NCTA and others opposed a 5G Automotive Association request to stay the FCC order reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), in filings posted Thursday in docket 19-138. “5GAA fails to demonstrate that cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) operators face any actual harm,” the alliance said. 5GAA bases its request on arguments the FCC “considered and ruled on,” with many “simulation parameters” that 5GAA member Ford “submitted over a year ago,” NCTA said. “5GAA claims that the Commission must give proper weight to a technical study it did not submit during proceeding, the Order’s [out of band emissions] limits for indoor unlicensed use are not stringent enough, and that a root mean square (RMS) measurement is an inappropriate means to calculate OOBE level,” said Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute: “A stay would significantly harm the public interest by preventing the dissemination of new technology that furthers connectivity and increases wireless capacity.” Altice USA also opposed the stay. 5GAA didn't comment.
Aviation industry representatives answered FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau staff about a report from last year by RTCA, formerly the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, on interference risks to low-range radar altimeters posed by mobile C-band use (see 2010280048). Participants also discussed a stakeholder group report and two preliminary studies by the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute (AVSI). “Staff’s questions and resulting discussion were wide ranging including the details and parameters used in aviation safety analyses in general and the radar altimeter testing,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-122. Aviation Spectrum Resources, AVSI, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Garmin, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin were among attendees.
Google supported 60 GHz “updated rules” that "promote reasonable coexistence across technologies,” in a filing posted Tuesday in FCC docket 14-177. “Characteristics of the 60 GHz band are extremely favorable for radar applications,” it said: Recent waivers of power-level rules for deployment “of potentially life-saving 60 GHz radars” and “pending waiver requests illustrate that industry interest in the band is large" and growing. Facebook, Intel and Qualcomm recently also sought updated rules (see 2105110062). Both letters mention the work on coordination by the 60 GHz Coexistence Study Group. “While Google products including Soli chipsets have been available in markets around the globe since October 2019, Google has received no reports of interference from those devices’ operations,” Google said.
Aviation interests urged the FCC to take mitigation steps to protect low range radar altimeter operations. They countered arguments by CTIA and major wireless carriers that rules protect those operations. The groups previously raised concerns and asked that the record-setting auction be delayed (see 2012080040). Without mitigation, “the FCC will expose aviation and the traveling public to significant safety risk from interference to radar altimeters,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-122. The letter was signed by the Aerospace Industries Association, Air Line Pilots Association International, Airbus, Aviation Spectrum Resources, Collins Aerospace, Garmin, Honeywell, the International Air Transport Association, the National Air Carrier Association and others.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, NCTA and others opposed an Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network petition (see 2105030042) for stay of the FCC's 5-0 November order opening 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi, while allocating 30 MHz for cellular vehicle-to-everything (see 2011180043). Most of the order takes effect July 2. “AREDN fails to demonstrate that it will likely prevail on the merits,” the alliance said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138. “Contrary to AREDN’s assertions, the Commission has broad, exclusive authority to manage spectrum designated for non-federal operations under the Communications Act and therefore was well within its ability to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band,” the group said: AREDN hasn’t demonstrated it would suffer any harm, while other groups would if a stay were granted. “The 5.9 GHz Order is a key component of the Commission’s efforts to deliver immediate and long-term improvements to in-home broadband delivered over Wi-Fi,” said NCTA: “The COVID-19 public health crisis has only intensified reliance on Wi-Fi networks and further underscores the importance of making new unlicensed spectrum available.” AREDN “has it backwards,” said Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute. “The authority of the Secretary of Transportation to mandate safety equipment for vehicles does not extend into the subject matter jurisdiction of a sister agency.” Wireless ISPs use the band under special temporary authority, the WISP Association said. “As many STA holders have indicated in their initial STA requests and renewal applications, demand for bandwidth capacity is not expected to subside post-pandemic because more people will continue to work from home and use telehealth, especially in rural areas where medical facilities are not often nearby.” A lawyer for AREDN emailed that the FCC isn’t allowing replies to the oppositions, and declined further comment.