The FCC on Wednesday authorized Federated Wireless, Google, Key Bridge, Red Technologies and Sony to change the aggregate interference model that protects federal operations in the citizens broadband radio service band. In June, the agency approved the changes (see 2406120027). "Each of these five [spectrum access system] administrators has demonstrated the ability to successfully implement the modified aggregate interference model, including system testing in a non-operational environment,” a Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology notice said. Meanwhile, Nokia filed a spectrum controller certification test report at the FCC as it seeks permission to make those changes. In addition, Nokia asked for confidential treatment of the report. The report “provides details of the self-certification testing Nokia conducted to demonstrate the capability of Nokia’s Spectrum Access System to support new methodologies for protecting federal operations in the 3.5 GHz band,” a filing this week in docket 15-319 said. Nokia asked for prompt FCC action.
In light of Hurricane Beryl, Federated Wireless asked the FCC for a waiver of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference. The waiver is for markets in Puerto Rico. Beryl is expected to pass about 200 miles south of Puerto Rico “bringing with it intense winds and rainfall that could cause widespread power outages,” Federated said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-319. “If such outages occur, the Impacted Systems will lose commercial power and be unable to operate normally,” the company said: “Backhaul at the impacted sites will also likely be unreliable while carriers attempt to stabilize their operations.”
Smart city applications are joining the list of factors driving the need for more licensed and unlicensed spectrum, spectrum and smart city experts said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast panel discussion. Beyond more spectrum, smart cities will require a lot of spectrum sharing and maximized use of existing allocations, they said. There isn't one route to smart cities, and the spectrum isn't needed for a single purpose, said Richard Bernhardt, Wireless ISP Association vice president-spectrum and industry. Cities rely particularly heavily on unlicensed spectrum for smart city applications, said Ryan Johnston, Next Century Cities senior policy counsel. He said municipal governments are often left out of spectrum strategy and policy discussions, even though they are becoming big consumers of spectrum. He said they should be at the table for spectrum sharing and allocation discussions.
Expanding the reach of the citizens broadband radio service band via reworking the aggregate interference model (see 2406120027) opens the door to further significant CBRS operational changes, wireless and spectrum experts said Tuesday. They spoke during a CBRS seminar that the New America's Open Technology Institute sponsored. Preston Marshall, chairman of the OnGo Alliance, which promotes spectrum sharing, said that while the "CBRS 2.0" operational changes announced this month were uniformly beneficial to users, future "CBRS 3.0" discussions could start edging into areas, such as power levels, where there would be winners and losers. He said industry needs to come to a coherent, cohesive position to present to regulators rather than the government having to "arbitrate a food fight."
NCTA and its members urged the FCC to make more spectrum, including 7/8 GHz, available for unlicensed use and discussed the importance of sharing in the citizens broadband radio service band during a meeting with Office of Economics and Analytics staff. NCTA warned against an overreliance on high-power, exclusive use licenses covering large geographic areas. “NCTA highlighted the need for additional unlicensed spectrum to keep pace with burgeoning demand for Wi-Fi,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295 said: “By the end of 2024, there will be 21.1 billion Wi-Fi devices in use globally, ranging from smart locks and thermostats in homes to devices enabling cloud computing and rich telepresence in enterprise settings, to factory monitoring devices in industrial settings.” Among those represented at the meeting were Comcast, Cox Enterprises, Charter Communications and CableLabs.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday that she circulated for a commissioner vote an NPRM seeking comment on further changes to rules for the citizens broadband radio service band. An FCC and NTIA agreement unveiled Wednesday on broader use of CBRS (see 2406120027) shows what's possible when you push the boundaries of how spectrum is shared, experts said Thursday during a discussion at the International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) conference in Denver.
The FCC Wednesday notified certified spectrum access system administrators in the citizens broadband service band that they are now permitted to implement changes to the existing aggregate interference model used to protect federal operations in the band. Among the changes, SAS administrators may now assume an 80% time division duplex activity factor and 20% network loading factor for each CBRS device in the aggregate interference calculation, said a notice from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. Administrators may use median irregular terrain model terrain dependent propagation loss “using reliability and confidence factors of 0.5 -- to calculate the aggregate received power levels” within a protection area. The FCC urged administrators to submit a demonstration of their ability to implement the new testing parameters in docket 15-319. NTIA approved the changes in a letter to the FCC posted Wednesday. “The changes outlined … will expand Internet access to more people across the country,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson: “They could not have been implemented without the collaboration of the Navy and our ongoing coordination with the FCC.” The change will expand use of the band to tens of millions of Americans, said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The CBRS dynamic spectrum sharing framework is already fertile ground for wireless innovation, and through collaboration with [DOD], NTIA, and stakeholders, we are expanding opportunities for reliable spectrum access while also ensuring that federal incumbents remain protected,” she said. The changes authorize service to approximately 72 million more POPs and expand the total unencumbered CBRS area to roughly 240 million POPs nationwide, the agencies said. CBRS is a prime example of how industry and government can coordinate on spectrum, Ira Keltz, deputy chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology said Wednesday at the International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) conference in Denver. When CBRS started, the initial exclusion zones were “huge” and would have excluded 75% of POPs, he said. NTIA, working with engineers, was able to reduce the size of the zones so that CBRS made more sense, industry was willing to invest, and the Navy felt comfortable that its radars would be protected, Keltz said. “It just really comes down to people being open-minded,” he said. Derek Khlopin, NTIA deputy associate administrator, noted the work to make CBRS work better. “These improvements we’ve made have been phenomenal,” he said, also at the ISART conference. He credited the Navy for its willingness to work with the NTIA and the FCC. “With little ‘greenfield’ spectrum available yet ever-increasing demand for spectrum-driven utilizations, sharing allows more efficient use of limited spectrum resources,” emailed Richard Bernhardt, vice president-spectrum and industry at the Wireless ISP Association: The development “will provide more predictability and allow for approximately 72 million additional people to be covered by CBRS without having to move or change power due to Federal operations.”
The FCC and NTIA are working together as well as Ira Keltz has seen in his 30 years of government service, but the deputy chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology said finding consensus on spectrum issues remains difficult. Keltz spoke Wednesday at the International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) conference in Denver. Echoing Keltz was Derek Khlopin, NTIA deputy associate administrator in the Office of Spectrum Management.
The work that industry and government are doing addressing “clutter analysis” and dynamic sharing is critical to the future of wireless, Shiva Goel, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, said at an International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) conference on Tuesday. Goel said the government, working with industry, is making progress. The Denver conference's main focus this week is on propagation models that account for the impact of clutter, including foliage and buildings, on wireless signals.
EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen and other officials from the company reported on a series of meetings with FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Joel Taubenblatt and staff about 5G and spectrum items. “EchoStar reiterated its support for modernizing and improving the Commission’s spectrum aggregation policies,” a filing posted Monday in docket 23-319 said. The company urged that the FCC address proposed rule changes for the citizens broadband radio service band “including increasing authorized power levels and synchronizing downlink and uplink operations.”