Wi-Fi Advocates Counter NextNav Interference Study
Wi-Fi advocates on Monday filed at the FCC a study by Plum Consulting countering a recent NextNav engineering study that found no interference concerns with the company’s proposal for the FCC to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2503030023).
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Among problems with the NextNav study, “the assumed geographic density of 5G base stations … appears significantly too low,” the Plum report said. “5G uplink activity calculations fail to account for signaling overheads,” and “the impact on outdoor Part 15 devices is likely to be severe, but this scenario is not considered independently.” The Plum study suggested that the NextNav analysis of building entry loss is “simplistic” and underestimates “the degree of interference to indoor Part 15 devices.” The study was submitted by the RAIN Alliance, LoRa Alliance, Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-SUN Alliance and Z-Wave Alliance. Initial comments were due Monday on an FCC notice of inquiry on GPS issues in docket 25-110 (see 2503270042).
Among other comments filed Monday, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation opposed the NextNav proposal for the 900 MHz spectrum. “Incumbent use of a band is not necessarily a reason not to reform its allocation, but it should give pause to the Commission as it considers what NextNav is asking it to undertake,” the group said: “This is not a simple case of repackaging a few incumbents and filling up formerly fallow spectrum with contiguous, flexible-use licenses. … A diverse universe of devices occupies the band, many of which are Part 15 devices that are not under the control of any Commission licensee.”
USTelecom advised the FCC to take a cautious, “whole of government” approach on alternatives to GPS. Reliance on GPS “introduces concerns about a single point of failure,” it said: “A disruption -- whether due to natural causes such as solar flares, accidental interference, or malicious interference such as spoofing or jamming -- could have cascading consequences.”