MSTV Says Plenty of Reasons Remain to Revoke UltraVision Waiver
The Association for Maximum Service Television is fighting for the FCC to cancel a waiver that would let device maker UltraVision Security Systems sell an ultra-wideband device to protect nuclear power plants, cell towers, airports, government office buildings and other sensitive sites from intruders. The commission granted the waiver in November. Last month MSTV filed a petition for reconsideration.
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UltraVision’s system uses sensors buried in the ground around a site. The sensors can detect the location, speed and mass of anything that crosses into a protected area and can be programmed to ignore birds, dogs, or vehicles below a specified weight.
UltraVision told the FCC in a filing last week that MSTV should have no objections since the waiver order dealt with a study that the company had presented showing a risk of interference to TV reception. The study, by the Canadian Research Centre, predicted interference with digital TV reception at distances of up to 78 feet and to analog TV signals up to 452 feet.
“UltraVision disputed the relevance of the study, but nonetheless agreed to waiver conditions, later adopted by the Commission, that relied on those same numbers,” the company said. “These conditions give MSTV all of the substantive relief it indicated was necessary.” But, the company said, MSTV now wants even more protection, complaining in its petition that the FCC never ran tests to show whether the separation distances are reasonable. As an alternative to canceling the waiver, MSTV urged the FCC to require more coordination of sites that use the system, so interference concerns can be more readily identified.
MSTV “seeks reconsideration, in part by disputing its own figures for the separation distances,” UltraVision said. “The about-face does not rest on data, or even on modeling, but merely on unsupported speculation.” The company said MSTV doesn’t make clear how this coordination would work. “In any event, having failed to make the request during the pendency of the proceeding, MSTV should be barred from raising it now,” UltraVision said.
MSTV fired back late Monday that its petition for consideration was not an about-face. “MSTV’s consistent position has been that this waiver should not have been granted based on UltraVision’s likelihood of interference to television viewers,” the group said. MSTV also said the test results were limited and showed safe operation only for TV viewed using indoor antennas. “Given the use of an outdoor antenna with higher and more effective gain, it is of course necessary to increase these distances,” the group said.
MSTV said that in calling for coordination it had in mind a publicly accessible database describing UltraVision’s operations under the waiver. “While the Commission adopted a requirement that UltraVision coordinate with the NTIA, there is no ability for broadcasters to determine whether interference to their operations is caused by UltraVision’s unlicensed UWB operations,” the group said.