• Amateur Radio operator Juan Granados filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to test CW, LSB, RTTY, and digital modes such as BPSK on 130-140 kHz and 495-505 kHz. The testing will take place in Miami, Florida and involve communication with amateurs in other parts of the world.

• Cognitive Data Dispatch (CDD) filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to “explore the possibility of a cognitive type of radio architecture in transmitting very brief time duration data transmissions over a HF radio channel.” “CDD is seeking authority to transmit data in a point-to-point mode using a minimal spectral footprint (utilizing a channel for less than 10 milliseconds at a time, not to exceed 250 milliseconds of total occupation during any 24 hour period) on pre-coordinated HF frequencies using fixed transmit and receive locations. These extremely brief time duty duration transmissions will ensure no harmful interference will occur to any licensed users of these channels. As part of the channel selection process, CDD transmissions will employ cognitive radio features to ensure the optimum transmission channel and minimal opportunity for interference.” Operation will be from sites in Aurora, Illinois; Washington, DC; and East Rutherford, New Jersey on various frequencies from 2.2890 MHz to 7.6971 MHz.

• RIIMIC LLC, d.b.a. Sunair Electronics filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to conduct testing of single-sideband communications equipment in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on 5.888-23.1465 MHz.

• Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibit for experimental license for control operation of the AN/WLD-1(V) Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) in support of the US Navy’s Remote Minehunting System (RMS) and Multi-Vehicle Communication System (MVCS) programs. This experiment is said to be necessary for development and integration of the radio communication link between the control and remote stations. Operation will be in West Palm Beach, Florida on various frequencies between 30-40 MHz and 1708-2297 MHz.

• Signal Systems Corporation filed an application with exhibits (several confidential) for special temporary authority to test the utility of short duration messaging in the VHF band using meteor burst communications). Data rates will be up to 9600 bps. Operation will be in Ridgley, Maryland and Blacksburg, South Carolina on 40.75 and 49.8 MHz.

• Live2Media filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test “media broadcast” at an auto race event. The broadcast will consist of messages from the pit crew to the race car, along with announcements. Operation will take place in Laguna Seca, California on several frequencies between 64.0 MHz and 68.2 MHz.

• Garmin filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test the interoperability of its avionic data link system and data link radio (GDR 66) with an ARINC ground station. The link is characterized by 8-DPSK modulation, 25 kHz channel spacing, a raw data rate of 31.5 kbps, and a carrier-sense multiple-access technique for operation on a shared channel. Operation will be in Olathe, Kansas on 136.975 MHz.

• Adaptrum filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to experiment with prototype TV white-space equipment. The equipment is to be fully compliant with the new white space rules except for equipment authorization. Operation will be in San Jose and Mountain View, California on 174-216 MHz, 470-608 MHz, and 614-698 MHz.

• The Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to test the usefulness of TV white-space frequencies in, as the applicant states, “supporting smart grid fixed and mobile data connectivity. Fixed applications include long range point to multipoint backhaul of internal utility traffic including supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) traffic and automatic metering infrastructure (AMI) traffic, both located at REC’s electric utility substations. The AMI system also enables real-time load management thereby improving system reliability and reducing peak demand, all of which further the nation’s goal for greater energy independence and reduced carbon emissions. In terms of mobile data connectivity, REC plans to leverage this technology to test the efficacy of these frequencies for mobile workforce management applications in the utility service vehicles including processing work orders – new connects, disconnects, reconnects, and outage orders. REC also has a need to test automatic vehicle location (AVL) to optimize routing of service vehicles in real time.” Operation will be in several Virginia communities on 174-216 MHz.

• The Avionics Engineering Center at Ohio University filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate in support of research on the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS). The system is intended to provide fixed and mobile precision approach and landing systems that will support a 200 feet decision height and 0.5 statute mile visibility while operating in military or civil modes. The system will also support auto-land capability for suitably equipped aircraft (to include Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force aircraft) and operate in a GPS-jamming-threat environment. Operation will be in Albany, Ohio on 240.650 MHz and 280.975 MHz.

• Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to “perform testing on a Low Frequency Sensor (LFS) radar that will be used for long range detection. The testing will evaluate the sensor detection performance and antenna characterization of the radar.” The test antenna will be log periodic with a gain of 6 dBi and beamwidth of 103 degrees. ERP will be variable up to 10 watts. Operation will be in Syracuse, New York on 420-450 MHz.

• KTS Wireless filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to test a TV white-space system in an orange grove located southwest of Clewiston, Florida. The intent is to apply TV white spaces to the problem of enabling automation for sustainable specialty crop farming. “The current implementation requires a multi-radio solution in several bands with multiple repeaters which is problematic in an industrial environment.” The white-space method is intended to allow a single base-station solution. Operation will be on 470-608 MHz and 614-698 MHz.

• Google filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to operate in support of experiments in TV white spaces in the bands 512-602 MHz and 620-698 MHz. “Google will conduct research and experiments of fixed and personal/portable devices within the white spaces to determine the potential utility and feasibility of such operations and technology. Google requests authorization within the geographic coordinates of its Mountain View, California campus. Google plans to operate up to three fixed base stations at 4 W per 6 MHz channel available, with a radius of operation of 5 miles (8.05 km), and up to 50 mobile stations at 100 mW per 6 MHz channel available.”

• Quantum5x Systems filed an application for special temporary authority to test a “new type of wireless microphone with a rubberized housing and internal antenna, as well as addressing de-sense and intermodulation correction technology.” Operation will in New York, New York on 600-608 MHz and 614-689 MHz.

• Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to test its “MONAX Cellular solution along the southwest border of Texas. This operation will be supporting evaluation by local and state authorities of the MONAX solution for utilization in securing the border with Mexico.” “MONAX is a powerful, new communications system that combines the convenience of smartphone technology with the power and flexibility of a secure, highly portable infrastructure.” “The 4G wireless system, consists of a unique portable MONAX Lynx sleeve that connects touch-screen COTS [commercial off-the-shelf] smartphones [which look similar to iPhones] to the MONAX XG Base Station infrastructure on the ground or in airborne platforms, offering uninterrupted service to warfighters in the field.” “MONAX offers a rich set of applications and governance, leveraging commercial smartphone application development and application store model. Applications can be easily written or re-hosted on a smartphone, reviewed/approved for mission effectiveness, hosted in a 24×7 app store and made available to the warfighter.” Operation will be near Finlay, Texas on 758-763 MHz and 788-793 MHz.

• Vodafone filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to “test and demonstrate advanced Internet services in . . . GSM, HSPA and LTE environments, such as GPRS (general packet radio system), location-based services, transcoding between email, SMS, and WAP, and secure position/mobile-commerce services.” Operation will be in Redwood City, California on 842-850 MHz, 890-893 MHz, 935-938 MHz, 1920-1936 MHz, 2110-2126 MHz, 2500-2520 MHz, and 2620-2640 MHz.

• Western DataCom filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to test UMTS wireless devices used by the Intelligence & Information Warfare Directorate of the US Army Communications Electronics Research, Development, and Engineering Center. The system is to be used for transmission and reception of voice and data within a single network; it does not connect to any other provider’s network. Operation will at Fort Dix and Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 900-915 MHz, 945-960 MHz, 1755 MHz, 1850 MHz, 1972.4-1977.4 MHz, and 2162.4-2167.4 MHz.

• General Dynamics filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct testing in support of its Labrador program, which is intended to develop methods for locating and identifying radio frequency signals using a variety of devices. The project requires communication between collaborating software-defined radios. Operation will be in Ypsilanti, Michigan; Bloomington, Minnesota; Tucson, Arizona; and Austin, Texas on 902-928 MHz, 1350-1390 MHz, and 1755-1850 MHz.

• Wal-Mart Stores filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct RFID research at its lab in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This research relates, in part, to optimal placement of RFID tags on cases, pallets and assets. “The experimentation will include RFID tagged cases going through a simulated supply chain. This will include testing in a dense reader mode environment. Additional testing will be conducted using RFID enabled handhelds for inventory collection, product locating and product receiving in a simulated store environment. RFID readers fixed to mobile assets (forklifts, carts, wearable devices) will be tested using this site license to ensure that solutions developed using RFID readers in the United States will meet the given performance criteria across all other regions worldwide within which Wal-Mart operates.” Operation will be on 902-928 MHz.

• General Electric Global Research filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to test a microwave imaging system for non-destructive testing of in-service wind turbine blades. Operation will take place in Schenectady, New York. The signal will be a broadband linear chirp swept from 1 GHz to 18 GHz up to 10 times per second.

• Rockwell Collins filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to develop and test equipment used in the Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service. Four Inmarsat geostationary satellites will be used. Operation will be nationwide on 1626.5-1660.5 MHz.

• BAE Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to conduct proof-of-concept tests for the next generation of communication-intelligence unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Operation will take place in Hudson, New Hampshire on 1760-1840 MHz, 2365-2445 MHz, and 10.25 GHz.

• Ericsson filed an application and exhibit for experimental license to conduct tests related to 3G and LTE application performance. “This investigation will examine a new aspect of network performance and will contribute to expansion of the mobile ecosystem. Historically, the wireless industry has relied solely on bandwidth or transmission rates to assess performance. However, the expanding variety of applications that will run over networks indicates that network performance should also be investigated through the lens of application performance. The uniqueness of the planned experiment is to understand the performance of new, varied applications and services on mobile networks.” Operation will take place in San Jose, California on 1920-1930 MHz, 2110-2120 MHz, 2500-2520 MHz, and 2620-2640 MHz.

• Space Exploration Technologies filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate in support of R&D for a Vertical Takeoff, Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle on its test site in McGregor, Texas. The vehicle is to take off, ascend vertically to a low altitude, and then descend back to its original landing spot. “The tests themselves are divided into low?altitude and higher?altitude tests. The low?altitude tests stay below 215 meters in altitude and last approximately 45 seconds. These tests will be run approximately three times per week during the initial portion of the program. The higher?altitude tests can go as high as 3.5 km and will occur approximately once per week. These tests last approximately 3 minutes.” A downlink is used so operating parameters can be viewed in real time. An uplink is used in case of an anomaly, so the vehicle can be commanded into a safe state. Operation will be on 2040.5675 MHz, 2221.5 MHz, and 2273.5 MHz.

• Space Exploration Technologies filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority for “telemetry and video transmissions during launch (and pre-launch checks) for an orbital test flight of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, pursuant to the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Demonstrations agreement with NASA. The launch date is currently scheduled for November 30, 2011.” “The purpose of the operation (the Demo C2/3 mission) is to demonstrate the capability to launch a capsule that can dock with the International Space Station.” “[S]pectrum support for the capsule is already being handled by NTIA (via NASA). Accordingly, STA will only cover the launch vehicle stages (first stage and second stage), during launch, as well as pre-launch checks.” Operation will be on 2213.5 MHz, 2221.5 MHz, 2251.5 MHz, 2273.5 MHz, and 5765 MHz at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

• Panasonic Avionics Corporation filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to conduct ground testing of potential interference from portable electronic devices (PEDs) in aircraft. This is in support of Panasonic’s Global Communications Suite (“GCS”) featuring the “eXConnect” Ku-band aeronautical mobile-satellite service system providing broadband connectivity on the aircraft during flight. Testing will be in Everett, Washington on 2386-2505 MHz, 5150-5350 MHz, and 5715-5835 MHz.

• Gibbons Systems Inc. (GSI) filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test a new air-to-air ranging system as part of a contract with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The applicant is developing the system to “fundamentally improve radio ranging among the C-130 fleet deployed by the United States Air Force. Currently, the C-130 fleet utilizes high powered radio transmissions, similar to radar, for maintaining formation, which nonetheless render the formation highly detectable and, thus, vulnerable to enemy monitoring. The GSI RF technology employs several techniques (including low duty cycle, low total signal energy, and high bandwidth) to render the signals difficult to detect, i.e. ‘low probability of detection’ (‘LPD’). “Operation will be in Redwood City, California on 2500 MHz.

• Aurora Flight Sciences filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to operate in support of the development of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The applicant says existing data-link systems don’t provide the necessary data rate of 10 Mbps. An auto-tracking antenna, designed for use with this system, combines a high gain directional dish, a low-gain omni-directional antenna, and associated auto-tracking hardware. The omni-directional antenna is for close-in operation of the aircraft, such as during takeoff and landing, where the angular velocity of the aircraft relative to the antenna is too great to track. The high-gain antenna is for long-range operation. “The auto-tracking antenna is provided with the GPS position of the aircraft. Tracking is accomplished using a combination of GPS and signal strength. Signal strength is used to find the aircraft when the tracking is not locked, and GPS is used to follow it thereafter.” Operation will be in Warrenton, Virginia on 4.4-4.8 GHz.

• Motorola Solutions filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test the outdoor link performance of its RDB350 point-to-multipoint data transceiver. The intent is to test fixed and mobile outdoor data transmission for federal users. The system is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard. Operation will be in Schaumberg, Illinois on 4600-4800 MHz.

• Raytheon Network Centric Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test a mobile surveillance system based on commercial off-the-shelf radar, electro-optical/ Infrared cameras, and microwave communications (i.e., the Motorola PTP 48600 wireless Ethernet bridge). The system is intended to “monitor international borders.” Operation will be near Las Cruces, New Mexico on 4720-4990 MHz. A similar application was filed for operation near McKinney, Texas.

• Miltec Corporation filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to conduct tests, as part of a U.S. Army contract, in support of the Innovative Waterside Wide-Area Tactical Coverage and Homing Sensors (IWWS) program intended to detect, track, and classify people and vessels in a maritime environment above and below the surface of the water. Operation will be in Kingsport, Tennessee and Guntersville, Alabama on 9.38-9.44 GHz.

• SAIC filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test“low-power land radar” on 10.25-10.50 GHz. The system uses the ELTA model EL/M 2112 radar, and might be used by the Department of Homeland Security. Testing will take place around the perimeter of Lake Moultrie in South Carolina.

• L-3 Communications filed an application and exhibit for special temporary authority to test a prototype high-capacity airborne networking system. The data links will be between a ground station and an aircraft, and between two aircraft. Operation will be in the vicinity of Monterey, California on 14.50-14.83 GHz and 15.15-15.35 GHz. “The RF transmissions will utilize root raised-cosine (RRC) shaped offset QPSK modulation, at various symbol rates, with shaping factor (alpha) of 0.33. All transmitted data will be encoded with a rate-7/8 turbo product code prior to transmission.” “All transmissions will use identical 9.5” parabolic dish antennas.”

• Raytheon Network Centric Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to “develop and demonstrate a mobile surveillance system based on commercial-off-the-shelf radar (SR Hawk Radar SRC-2362) and electro-optical/infrared cameras to monitor international borders.” Operation will be near McKinney, Texas on 16.21-16.50 GHz.

• Raytheon Network Centric Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to “develop and demonstrate a mobile surveillance system based on commercial-off-the-shelf radar (DRS Manportable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar (MSTAR)) and electro-optical/infrared cameras to monitor international borders.” Operation will be near Las Cruces, New Mexico on 16.75-17.25 GHz.

• Samsung filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to “[f]ully characterize the radio channel at mmWave frequencies for mobile, outdoor environments to understand path loss, angular spread, delay spread, NLOS beamforming and blocking issues.” “This will help design mmWave communication systems, providing multi-Gbps data rates for wireless mobile services within new spectrum bandwidth and therefore meeting the challenges raised by the on-going mobile data explosion.” Operation will be on 27.925 GHz in Richardson, Texas.

• L-3 Communications Datron filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct testing of Iridium satellite system feeder-link-terminals (FLTs) related to retrofit work.” The applicant “will retrofit the current 27 FLTs to address obsolescence and maintenance issues as well as modernizing hardware and software interfaces. As many as 12 new FLTs will also be built in the future to support the latest generation of Iridium NEXT satellites currently being planned and designed.” Operation will be in Simi Valley, California on 29.1-29.3 GHz.

• Google filed an application for special temporary authority to conduct “experiments using test vehicles equipped with automatic cruise control radars in a manner that extends the sensing range of the radars when a vehicle is not in motion.” “Each Google test vehicle contains several off-the-shelf automatic cruise control (ACC) radars certified for use in the 76.0-77.0 GHz band.” “Several ACC radars will be mounted on test vehicles and the vehicles will be driven through a variety of traffic situations, including along freeways and urban surface streets and through complex intersections. The radars will operate at a radiated power of 60 uW/cm² at 3 m (i.e., the current in-motion criterion) both while the vehicles are in motion and stationary. Because the power will not exceed the current in-motion criterion, Google believes the experiments will not increase the likelihood of harmful interference to any user.” Operation will be in the San Francisco Bay area. (The FCC has separate in-motion and not-in-motion emission limits for these vehicle radars to prevent prolonged human exposure to RF energy while the vehicle is stopped. I thus find it odd that Google links the in-motion criterion to “interference.”)

• Sierra Nevada Corporation filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to conduct ground testing of an Autonomous Landing Guidance (ALG) radar system. This is intended to allow “a fixed wing aircraft pilot to safely execute takeoff, approach, and landing maneuvers in low visibility conditions such as that caused by thick fog or blowing sand and dust.” “The ALG system is a derivative of other Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) products currently in evaluation programs that provide similar landing situational awareness for rotor wing aircraft pilots. ALG is a millimeter wave (MMW) frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar with a narrow 1.0 beamwidth that is scanned over a 25° by 10° field of regard twice per second. During the scan the radar return data is processed by computer to extract the amplitude and the range to the ground. The computer accumulates all of the range and amplitude data over the field of regard and displays a three-dimensional representation of the ground to the pilot on a flight deck display.” This ground testing is a prelude to flight testing, at which time Sierra Nevada will apply to modify its experimental license. Operation will be at several California and Nevada locations on 94 GHz.

For the TV broadcasting spectrum, voluntary incentive auctions have long been on the horizon. Many broadcasters aren’t opposed to the idea in principle, but want assurances that existing or equivalent coverage is maintained during any channel repacking. For all they know now, it could be cut in half. This anxiety is heighted because the FCC refuses to make available for inspection pre-release versions of the software used to calculate a repacked channel plan.

This refusal follows the FCC dismissing a noteworthy study prepared by the NAB on the wireless capacity crunch, and rejecting an attempt by broadcaster to try to innovate and experiment with new broadband technologies. Add to that the FCC Chairman being associated with a policy of marginalizing the broadcast industry, some broadcasters may rather take their chances on the next FCC.

I think there may be another way forward. The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is starting a process to develop a next-generation TV standard, ATSC 3.0. That new standard doesn’t have to be backward-compatible with current TVs. I suggest that as part of this standardization process the ATSC look at cellularization as a new architecture. Others have done this before, and the main objection has been it’s too expensive compared to the current single-transmitter model. It’s time to look at cellularization again, in light of less expensive cell site equipment and published work suggesting such a system for all broadcasters could occupy less than 100 MHz of spectrum, perhaps freeing up more than the planned 120 MHz. TV broadcasting could enter, and perhaps influence, the global LTE standards ecosystem with its economies of scale, its interoperability, and, crucially, its evolution. There’s also the potential for a return path. Looking at cellularization now might help avoid repacking the TV channels twice in a short time frame:  following a spectrum auction and then again for ATSC 3.0. If such a cellularization scheme is seen as becoming practical, it could simultaneously result in a more durable strategic advantage for broadcasters, and more than 120 MHz for mobile broadband. There’s also the potential for a return path. Looking at cellularization now might help avoid repacking the TV channels twice in a short time frame:  following a spectrum auction and then again for ATSC 3.0. If such a cellularization scheme is seen as becoming practical, it could result in a more durable strategic advantage for broadcasters, and more than 120 MHz for mobile broadband.

Continuing our spectrum survey, the LightSquared proceeding will likely result in at least some of 59 MHz of spectrum around 1500 MHz becoming available, with the rest available once issues with potential interference to precision applications of GPS are resolved.

The FCC has an open proceeding looking at maximizing the mobile broadband potential of a total 75 MHz of spectrum around 2 GHz. Some 40 MHz of that belongs to Dish Network, which recently asked the FCC for permission to deploy a hybrid satellite and terrestrial mobile and fixed broadband network.  Qualcomm, Dish, and others have various smaller pieces of the 700 MHz band, some of which are in play now.

An accurate and current inventory of frequency assignments and usage (based on measurements) would help identify new mobile spectrum, but the preliminary steps the FCC has taken so far are so laden with disclaimers they can’t be relied upon.

Then we have the Federal spectrum. NTIA has issued a plan and timetable identifying over 2200 MHz of Federal and non-Federal spectrum that might provide opportunities for wireless broadband use.  I wouldn’t call any of that “pipeline” at this point. NTIA is, however, finishing a detailed review of the 1755-1850 MHz band to determine to what extent it can be made available for commercial broadband use. This review should be completed by September 30. Since this band might be considered a best-case for repurposing Federal spectrum, the results of this review may give us a sense on how we’ll fare with other Federal bands.

Anecdotal evidence suggests there is more Federal spectrum available. Below is a figure from a report prepared by Shared Spectrum Company, which conducted spectrum occupancy measurements at its suburban Washington, D.C. office.

Shared Spectrum notes that, because of its methodology, some of these bands may be utilized but hard to measure, such as GPS satellite signals in the 1575 MHz region. Other fallow spectrum may be in a pipeline, but for services other than mobile broadband. One field test is not the basis for spectrum planning. These general results, however, have been replicated by Shared Spectrum elsewhere, and by NTIA at various locations.

In addition to measuring what’s out there, one might think to examine the NTIA’s database of Federal frequency use to see what’s open. Unfortunately, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reported that “NTIA’s data management system lacks transparency and data validation processes, making it transparency and data validation processes, making it uncertain if spectrum management decisions are based on accurate and complete data.” A new, improved database system is in the works but isn’t scheduled to be online until 2018 (not a typo).

Other problems with the current Federal spectrum management process, as found by the GAO, include heavy reliance on agencies to self-evaluate and report their current and future spectrum needs, lack of specific spectrum management requirements for federal agencies, and limited assurance that federal agencies are recording accurate data. In a recent review of a sample of Federal spectrum assignments for one agency in the Detroit area, approximately half of that agency’s assignment records were inaccurate. There’s also a spectrum warehousing issue: some federal agencies are concerned that if they say they are no longer using an assignment, it will be deleted and they will not be able to get it back if needed later.

The NTIA database problems point to another reason why a spectrum inventory, of Federal and non-Federal bands, should be informed by measurements. Repurposing existing databases known to contain errors, under layers of disclaimers, is not a spectrum inventory.

Though not one of the usual spectrum candidates, it might be time to look again at the 1435-1525 MHz flight test telemetry band. This have been tried at least a couple of times before, by satellite radio and by land-mobile proponents. Both attempts didn’t get anywhere. This time I’d suggest looking at it with more of a goal toward sharing. I can’t help but notice that, today, the band is routinely shared under special temporary authority by video production entities looking for bandwidth to relay video during special events. One application was recently approved for an event in the middle of Washington, DC. If a hole is there why not use it for mobile broadband as well? I’d think . . . hope . . . that most flight testing is not done over major cities where the capacity crunch is the greatest. Flight test links are usually air-to-air or between air and ground, not ground-to-ground, so I’d expect considerable antenna discrimination that would reduce the potential for interference with other services.

By the time we reach the National Broadband Plan’s 10 year deadline for 500 MHz of new broadband spectrum (for fixed and mobile), many promising technologies and techniques found in the record of the FCC’s proceeding on dynamic spectrum access will become a reality, increasing the capacity of existing spectrum. These will make it easier to implement shared spectrum use using cognitive radio techniques.

Moreover, moves toward a property-rights regime for spectrum use and creation of markets for licenses, recognizing that government can improve market outcomes, would remove some of the headaches inherent in sorting out the above. We wouldn’t have to worry as much about filling the pipeline. It would fill itself.

Gerald Whitney filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test a prototype AM broadcast transmitter system covering 2-16 MHz at a carrier power of 1 kW. The system, part of a U.S. Department of Defense project, includes a frequency-agile transmitter, antenna tuning unit, and antenna. Testing will be done in Victor, New York.

Curtis-Wright Controls filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to demonstrate its 3d-Radar brand of ultra-wideband ground penetrating radar (GPR) for prospective non-federal customers as it awaits expected FCC grant of its Part 15 waiver request for the device. Operation will take place at various locations in the U.S. on 140-3000 MHz, with frequency notching to preclude transmissions in the bands 608-614 MHz, 1400-1427 MHz, 1660.5-1668.4 MHz, and 2690-2700 MHz, in accordance with an NTIA authorization. The company filed its Part 15 waiver request with the FCC in June 2010 seeking authorization to operate the device for non-federal use (ET Doc. No. 10-167). The company understands the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology is working on an order that would permit non-federal use of the device. The company notes that NTIA, with FCC coordination, has already approved the use of the device for federal use on a nationwide basis.

Carlson Wireless Technologies filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test voice and data connections among multiple Chevron Oil oil-field facilities using TV white space frequencies. Test results will be compared to the performance of a current 900 MHz system. Operation will be at several California locations in the 174-216 MHz and 470-698 MHz bands.

Southern Methodist University filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate a cognitive radio testbed. The testbed is backed by a National Science Foundation grant.  Operation will be on several frequency bands between 400 MHz and 6100 MHz in the Dallas area. The testbed will be used to study wireless performance in mobile and stationary environments. Featured in the testbed is real-time multi-band operation, which can be used to aid design of context-aware and cognitive algorithms that use multiple frequency bands to adapt to dynamic environmental conditions. One goal of the research is to develop an open-access database of wireless performance in multiple scenarios.

L3 Nova Engineering filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to demonstrate a seismic activity sensor network. Testing will take place in Great Falls, Virginia on 420-440 MHz.

Sierra Nevada Corp. filed an application for special temporary authority to test equipment that will facilitate formation flight between two aircraft. This supports DARPA’s Global Hawk autonomous aerial refueling demonstration program that is intended to accomplish the first-ever fully autonomous rendezvous, refueling, and formation flying of two unmanned aircraft. Each node of the system consists of a GPS receiver, processor, and other equipment including the UHF data link that is the subject of this application; one node would transmit data to the other such that the receiving node would be able to calculate its position and orientation relative to the transmitting node. The testing will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah on 420.25-426.60 MHz.

Raytheon BBN Technologies filed an application for special temporary authority test distributed-transmit beamforming using RF modules developed under DARPA’s Precision Electronic Warfare (PREW) program. “Specifically, BBN Technologies seeks to demonstrate the capability to synchronize clocks from up to 10 RF modules remotely using UHF band frequencies, and project RF energy at specified frequencies that results in the coherent combining of focused power within a small geographic area of interest using the these radios to enable high data rate transmissions and longer ranges.” According to DARPA, “the goal of the Precision Electronic Warfare (PREW) program is to demonstrate technologies and a prototype system that will enable the fielding of an ad hoc sparse array consisting of multiple airborne and/or ground nodes that can perform surgical jamming. The PREW system should be able to project RF energy that results in the coherent combining of focused power within a small geographic area of interest (AOI). When operating outside the AOI, the system must minimize the coherency of the RF energy to limit the impact to collateral systems.” Testing will occur at Sky Meadow State Park, Delaplane, Virginia on 437-493 MHz, 877-953 MHz, and 2400-2480 MHz.

Airvana filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to develop and test prototype LTE infrastructure equipment on 698-716 MHz, 728-757 MHz, 776-787 MHz, 806-824, MHz, 851-869 MHz, 1910-1915 MHz, and 1990-1995 MHz. Airvana says it will evaluate handoff performance among sectors, network capacity, quality of service, multi-path performance, average data rates, and interference performance. The testing is to take place nationwide.

Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct testing in support of the Extended Area Protection System (EAPS) missile test program under sponsorship of the U.S. Army. The EAPS interceptor is a small ground-launched missile system under development as a performance demonstration program of hit-to-kill technology. The hardware requiring licensing consists of two systems. The first is the telemetry system providing downlink of flight telemetry data from the interceptor to a launch control trailer. The second is the unmanned ground system that provides uplink of flight control data from the launcher control trailer to the interceptor. Testing will take place in Texas on 2270.5, 2280.5, 2281.5, 4401.5, 4410.5, and 4411.5 MHz.

Bell Helicopter Textron filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct testing and development in support of eventual unmanned helicopter flights. Testing will take place in the vicinity of Arlington, Texas on 2282.50 MHz.

Teletronics Technology Corp. filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to test a new transceiver with both OFDM and burst-mode shaped-offset QPSK (SOQPSK). The transceivers are said to provide “maximum transmission and reception distance under harsh environmental conditions.” Operation will be in the vicinity of Newtown, Pennsylvania on 2360-2390 MHz.

North American Eagle, a project testing the capability of a land-based vehicle to safely transition through supersonic speed, filed an application and exhibits for experimental license to operate a Wi-Fi network consisting of five Tropos model 7320 mesh routers mounted on eight-meter towers and one Tropos model 4310 mobile-mesh router mounted in the vehicle’s nose cone. Video and vehicle operational data will be sent to the base stations. Operation is to take place on dry lake beds near Black Rock, Nevada and Diamond Valley, Nevada on 2400-2483MHz (for data) and 5725-5850 MHz (for video). Transmitter output power will be 30 watts. (Wi-Fi at 800 MPH will be a challenge.)

Raytheon filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test a critical-infrastructure-protection radars system. The system uses a 90-degree-quadrant staring radar with moving target indication designed for perimeter intrusion detection applications around secure facilities such as airports, seaports, utilities and other critical infrastructure. The system is based on Raytheon’s SR1500 Short-Range radar, which is under development. The plan is to deploy a network of low-power, short range (1.5 km) radars at fixed locations around critical infrastructure sites of the Port Authority for New York and New Jersey to provide perimeter security. An Ethernet-based network provides communication between multiple radar and electro-optic sensors. Testing will take place at various locations around New York City on 3100-3500 MHz.

L3 Communications filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to test a SONAR telemetry transmission system for military use. The system would send SONAR data from a small boat at a rate of 10 Mbps. The link will also carry video from cameras on the boat to allow operators to confirm normal operation of the hardware. The SONAR data and video will be transmitted to a larger manned ship at a range of a few miles. Testing will take place on the Pacific Ocean, between San Pedro and Catalina Island, in the bands 5200-5679 MHz and 5689-5800 MHz.

Laufer Wind Group filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct tests in connection with the development of a radar-activated FAA obstruction lighting system for wind farms. Testing will take place in New York and New Hampshire on 9380-9440 MHz.

Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to evaluate Ku-band satellite technology for high-data-rate communication to helicopters. It intends to test ViaSat’s proprietary technology said to maintain the flow of data transmission in the presence of momentary path blockage from rotor blades. Test antennas will be mounted on stands underneath the rotor blades. Testing will be in Owego, New York on 14.0-14.5 GHz.

Raytheon filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test a radar system for mobile surveillance system based on the DRS MSTAR commercial-off-the-shelf radar. The radar, in conjunction with electro-optical/infrared cameras, is intended for use in monitoring international borders. Testing will take place near McKinney, Texas on 16.75-17.25 GHz.

General Dynamics filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to operate an airborne radar system in support of ground imaging research using synthetic aperture radar techniques. Separate transmit and receive antennas would be mounted to a rotational pedestal on the underside of an aircraft. The gain of the antennas is 40 dB at 94 GHz, and they have a 1.5 degree half-power beamwidth in both the azimuth and elevation planes. The radar will use a pulsed linear-FM chirp waveform, centered at 94 GHz with a bandwidth of 600 MHz. The width of the waveform pulse will be approximately 20 microseconds and operate at a pulse repetition frequency of approximately 10 kHz. Peak ERP will be 5,000 Watts. Operation will be in the vicinity of Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Ducommun LaBarge Technologies filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test its model SG-DDR50 security system, a directed-energy weapon that uses millimeter-wavelength energy to “stop, deter, turn back, and otherwise discourage a trespasser, thief, or belligerent and threatening person at relatively long distances.” “The system consists of an electrical power source, a device producing millimeter wavelength electromagnetic energy, an energy director projecting a narrow energy beam towards a target, and mounting and connecting equipment.” “The SG-DDR50 uses the susceptibility of skin nerve endings to millimeter-wavelength electromagnetic energy to report a sensation of intense undesirable heat on the skin of the person in the energy beam, all while doing no harm.” “The purpose of the experimental license is to align the system to operational specifications using infrared imaging of patterns on a sensitive carbon impregnated teflon [sic] target . . ..” Testing will occur in Huntsville, Arkansas on 94.5-95.0 GHz. Transmitter power and ERP are both specified as 800 Watts on the FCC application form. According to the applicant, “[t]he nature of this test configuration does not lend itself to be characterized by traditional measures, such as ERP, ERIP, Peak Power, and the like.”

The due date for comments was July 25; reply comments are due August 24. (You can look at the comments and submit a reply through the first link above.) Comments and reply comments were originally due 30 days earlier; the FCC granted a request for deadline extension filed jointly by Verizon Wireless and Wilson Electronics (a booster vendor), who cited progress toward a solution that could benefit both manufacturers and carriers. They’ve submitted a joint proposal and I’ll spend most of this article looking at that.

As to the other comments, there are booster vendors naturally arguing for flexibility in design and operation. The in-building distributed antenna system folks are fine with boosters but don’t want any new rules to harm them. Public interest groups don’t want boosters tied to any one carrier, and want simple designs to keep the cost down. A company called Smart Booster brings concepts from dynamic spectrum access to boosters – intelligent units that know when and where to amplify or not. As noted above, the rulemaking proceeding also deals with Part 90 and Part 95 services; APCO addresses concerns about interference and unauthorized use in Part 90, and WCAI discusses various issues related to Part 90 and Part 95.

Most noteworthy, in my view, is the joint agreement among Verizon Wireless, its wireless engineering consultant V-COMM, and Wilson Electronics, that specifies requirements for the design, operation, and installation of boosters to help avoid harmful interference. This is a significant achievement for parties who are traditionally adversaries. The agreement provides for three categories of signal boosters: Carrier Installed Boosters, Certified Engineered and Operated Boosters, and Consumer Boosters. I’ll briefly discuss the first two, and spend some more time on the third.

The Carrier Installed Boosters would be installed by FCC licensees to operate exclusively on the licensees’ frequencies. The agreement doesn’t say much else about this, but there’s not much to say. Carriers have long been free to do pretty much what they want within the broad parameters of their license, and the agreement would not change this. They’re motivated to implement hardware that won’t interfere with themselves.

The Certified Engineered and Operated Boosters would be for large areas, such as campuses or large offices (CEO – get it?), and would require professional installation and close carrier coordination. The joint proposal provides a framework for these boosters, with technical standards yet to be developed.  They would be operated under the wireless licensee’s authority.

Then we have the Consumer Boosters. Under the joint proposal, these could be purchased only by wireless service customers. They would basically be bi-directional RF amplifiers with antenna systems that transmit and receive signals using an outdoor antenna for transmission and reception to a CMRS base station, and an indoor (or in-vehicle) antenna (or direct connection to the mobile device). V-COMM provides a set of specifications for these. They’re technology neutral and intended to provide protection to all CMRS network technologies on all relevant bands. Among other things, the specifications include requirements for automatic gain control to protect against out-of-tolerance operation in instances of overload, anti-oscillation protection to limit power when the inside and outdoor antenna are too close, and limits on uplink and downlink EIRP of 1 Watt and 0.05 Watt, respectively. The uplink transmitter has to turn off if no signal is received from the mobile device in 15 minutes. Noise limits are specified.

Also part of the specifications, Consumer Boosters must be registered with the licensed carrier, either manually or through a Bluetooth connection. In the Bluetooth registration method, the booster operates as an extension to the mobile device and is controlled by it. The manual registration process provides for the customer to give their address, phone number, and other information to the carrier so  it will know whom to contact if it suspects a particular booster is a source of interference; the customer would then be expected to turn it off.

An issue with the manual method is that it requires good faith on the part of the customer.  Others commenting, including T-Mobile and CTIA, prefer that the booster be under some form of direct control by the licensee, so it can be turned off in the event of interference. Without direct control, the manual process is rather open ended. There isn’t much of an incentive for the customer to complete the registration process, registration information that is given will fall out of date, and boosters will be sold second-hand and no longer be linked to the original phone of record. WCAI goes into some of these issues in depth.

I’m surprised to see this manual approach in light of V-COMM’s position in the FCC’s experimental license proceeding (ET Docket No. 10-236), in which it opposed any experimentation by third parties in the CMRS bands due to interference concerns. As a carrier concerned about interference, I’d be less worried by Part 5 experiments than by many more boosters that are out of my direct control. But I’d also realize that many applications for boosters are now inside buildings, and deployments of Wi-Fi and femtocells will gradually displace boosters to some extent, while providing better performance. In addition, the operator may be able to tell which wireless device the malfunctioning booster is associated with and disable the device, thus disabling the booster indirectly once it times out.Still, I’m used to CMRS operators being able to control dozens of parameters on a cellphone, including those related to power control. It’s hard for me to not want control of one parameter on a booster – whether it’s on or off.

Elite Electronic Engineering filed an application for special temporary authority to conduct radiated radio-frequency susceptibility testing on a cotton harvesting machine. The testing is intended to determine the ability of the vehicle to operate safely in its electromagnetic environment without any change in state, function, or performance. Testing is to take place near Kimballton, Iowa on various frequencies in the 20 MHz – 2.5 GHz range. The tests are to be done outdoors because a sufficiently-large indoor shielded test chamber could not be found. Sirius XM Radio objects to the proposed tests out of concern for potential harmful interference to its operations.

Alcatel-Lucent filed an application and exhibits for experimental license to study white-space communications implemented using existing air interfaces such as LTE along with cognitive radio sensing and dynamic spectrum management overlays. The fixed and mobile equipment will utilize a software-defined wideband digital radio (WDR) from Rutgers WINLAB. Operation will be on various TV channels in the 174-698 MHz band around Murray Hill, New Jersey.

Carlson Wireless filed several applications for temporary TV white space operation, including in Cordova, Alaska to test the use of TV white space in supporting remote telephony connections. Operation will be in TV bands 174-216 MHz and 470-680 MHz.

Niitek, Inc. filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to test ground penetrating radar (GPR) in Dulles and Charlottesville, Virginia on 200-7,000 MHz. The radar uses ultra-wideband (UWB) technology. The GPR is for use in a landmine detection system that has been procured by the U.S. Army for use in the Middle East. A variety of shielding and power control measures will be used to reduce the potential for interference to other radio services.

Lilee Systems filed an application and exhibits for experimental license to test a positive train control system consisting of three components: locomotive radio, wayside radio, and base-station radio. The company is developing a product family supporting the positive train control effort mandated by the Federal Railroad Administration. Operation will be in New York, New York on 217-222 MHz.

Chevron USA filed an application and exhibit for special temporary authority to test an experimental fixed-link communications system connecting offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2008, Chevron participated in FCC Auction No. 73 and was the high bidder for the 700 MHz band A (698-704/728-734MHz), B (704-710/734-740MHz), and E (722-728MHz) blocks covering the Gulf of Mexico.  The tests will be on 703.55-704.45 MHz and 733.55-734.45 MHz. The equipment that Chevron proposes to test has been certified internationally, but not for the lower 700 MHz band in the United States. If the tests are successful, the equipment manufacturer will seek certification from the FCC.  Chevron plans to use this equipment to enhance the capabilities of its point-to-multipoint WiMAX network and provide high-speed network connections to existing and future production platforms.

The Aerospace Corporation filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to operate a satellite link in support of research into the space application of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) components and related microelectronics technologies. The test includes a demonstration of principles of the physics of the low-earth-orbit space environment and its effects on MEMS microelectronics. The satellite weighs 11 pounds and its dimensions are 5x5x10 inches. It’s to be deployed during the last space shuttle mission, STS-135, which is now scheduled to launch July 12. The satellite has two radios for redundancy, both operating on 914.7 MHz, and both using an omni-directional patch antenna.

The Maryland Department of the Environment filed an application and exhibits for experimental license to use wind-profiling radar to study the transport of air pollutants such as ground-level ozone. The radar is a boundary-layer profiler, and depends on the scattering of a transmitted signal by irregularities in the index of refraction of the air caused by turbulent eddies in the wind. By receiving the scattered signal and determining the Doppler frequency, the speed of the wind can be determined. The radar consists of a vertically-looking antenna subsystem, a transmitter subsystem capable of unmodulated and phase-modulated pulses, a receiver subsystem, a signal processing subsystem performing target parameter extraction and identification, and a data processing/communication subsystem for charting, recording, and transmitting results.  Operation will be on 915 MHz at Cambridge, Maryland.

BAE Systems filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to operate on 1370-1390 MHz in Tucson, Arizona to test a new radio modem, transmitter, and receiver on the Silver Fox unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as part of a U.S. military project.

LightSquared filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to conduct testing to determine the effects of L-band LTE signals on GPS devices in a live field-test environment. The testing is an outgrowth of the requirements established in FCC Order DA 11-133 granting LightSquared, a Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) licensee in the L-Band, a conditional waiver of the Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) “integrated service” rule. The requested frequency bands include 1526-1536 MHz and 1545.2-1555.2 MHz.

Qualcomm filed an application and exhibits for experimental license to test time-division duplex (TDD) technology in San Diego, California and Bridgewater, New Jersey. Operation will be on 1,915-1,920 MHz. A single fixed transmitter will be installed and operated at each location. Mobile units will operate within a 5 mile radius of the fixed sites.

Western DataCom filed an application and exhibit for special temporary authority to test the range and throughput of a UMTS cellular-based system mounted to an aerostat. Operation will be at South Boston, Virginia on 1972.5 MHz and 2162.5 MHz, with the antenna about 800 meters above ground.

Powerwave Technologies filed an application and exhibits for experimental license to operate a small network to test LTE picocell technology, including aspects related to handover, QoS, power control, and resource scheduling. The test will take place in Santa Ana, California on 1,710-1,755 MHz and 2,110-2,155 MHz.

ETS Technologies filed an application and exhibits for experimental license to test non-line-of-sight wireless backhaul technology for 4G systems. Operation will be in San Jose, California on 3,700-4,200 MHz.

Qualcomm filed an application and exhibit for experimental license to test IEEE 802.11p Dedicated Short Range Communications (DRSC) mobile devices in Bridgewater, New Jersey and New York, New York. Operation will be on 5,850-5,925 MHz. DRSC is a short-range communications service for roadside-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle links that are part of the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).  Compared to 3G or 4G mobile broadband, DSRC acts as a complement with higher data rates and lower latency over a small area. In addition to the DRSC tests, Qualcomm will evaluate new proprietary OFDM technology operating within the same DRSC channel bandwidths.

Lockheed Martin filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to test enhancements to an existing AN/APY-12 modular Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI)/Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The enhancements are brought about by changes in operational requirements by the U.S. Army in Korea. This testing is required prior to integration and deployment of the radar system in an Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) aircraft. The testing will involve detection and analysis of moving and fixed targets in open and urban settings. Testing will be on 9.297-9.903 GHz in Goodyear, Arizona and Hagerstown, Maryland.

Raytheon filed an application and exhibit for special temporary authority to conduct ground and airborne test and evaluation of design modifications and mode implementations to the APY-10 Radar. This product is for a direct commercial sale between Raytheon and Boeing, for a user in India. The modifications, required in part due to export restructions, reduce the accuracy of the radar by removing accumulated carrier phase measurement, removing 1 and 3 foot-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) capability, and limiting performance to meet 30 meter SAR geo-location accuracy. Operation will be within 200 miles of Sherman, Texas on 9.350-10.150 GHz.

Niitek, Inc. filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to test a ground radio link intended to enhance the capability of the company’s landmine detection system. The system has been procured by the U.S. Army for use in Afghanistan. The enhancements provide data communication between a primary landmine detection vehicle and a second route-clearance vehicle. Operation will be on 14.7145-15.1365 MHz and on 15.1900 MHz.

• Brian D. Justin, Jr., an amateur radio operator, filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to operate a propagation test beacon on 70.005 MHz at Bedford, Virginia. In his application, he reports an increasing interest in trans-Atlantic VHF communications by amateur radio operators, in part because of recent changes in EU regulations. A beacon would help operators know when sporadic E propagation (E-skip) conditions were good for communications near that frequency. (E-skip is enabled by scattered regions of relatively dense ionization that develop seasonally and reflect signals up to about 150 MHz.) Today, there are beacons on 50 MHz, and FM broadcast stations act as beacons in the 100 MHz range. There’s a gap at 70 MHz; AM video carriers once served as beacons (e.g., VHF channel 4 with a video carrier at 67.25 MHz), but those have gone away with the DTV transition.

• The University of Michigan’s Professor James Cutler filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate communication links for the Michigan Multipurpose Minisat (M-Cubed), a small student-built satellite that will capture images of Earth and transmit them to a ground station. The satellite weighs 1.3 kg and forms a cube 10 cm on a side. The imaging system consists of a 2.0 Megapixel CMOS sensor and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) coprocessor. The test is to prove the reliability of the radiation-hardened FPGA in the space environment and assess the performance of the processing algorithm that will resolve the images in the satellite. M-Cubed will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Delta-II rocket in the fall of 2011. The uplink will be on 144-146 MHz. The downlink will be on 437-439 MHz using an Astrodev Li-1 radio.

• Carlson Wireless Technologies filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test TV white-space radios in rural, rugged, and forested areas. Testing will take place in various areas around New England on 174-216 MHz.

• Rockwell Collins filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to demonstrate its FlexNet software-defined radio technology at the 2011 Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration,  an annual event directed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that is intended to showcase new information technology. Operation will be on 245-327 MHz at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

• Telephonics Corporation filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test an existing 2.4 GHz ISM band product modified for operation in the 300-400 MHz military band. In addition to the change in frequency, the multiple-access method will be changed to frequency-hopping spread spectrum. The objective is to achieve superior communications in urban environments compared to 2.4 GHz operation. Testing will occur in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

• Panasonic Avionics Corp. filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to conduct ground testing in support of the Panasonic’s Global Communications Suite, featuring the eXConnect Ku-band aeronautical mobile-satellite service (AMSS) system, providing broadband connectivity to passengers in flight. Panasonic wants to test the potential for interference from transmitting portable electronic devices to aircraft avionics and communications. The test will use a signal generator to simulate the operation of multiple devices. Test results will be used to support certification of Panasonic’s aircraft equipment with the FAA. The tests will occur in Roswell, New Mexico on various frequencies between 410 MHz and 5.825 GHz.

• Carlson Wireless Technologies filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to test fixed white-space devices with attached cellular femtocells. Carlson Wireless and Vergennes Broadband are working jointly with Spectrum Bridge to investigate the applicability of white space spectrum for use in rural broadband applications, including support of femtocells. Operation will be in Vergennes, Michigan on 470-698 MHz.

• Microsoft filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to demonstrate interactive Xbox Live HD (1080p) video streaming over TV-band white-space spectrum during the April 11-14 NAB Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The demonstration was to incorporate Microsoft Research’s prototype white-spaces database, which controls white-space device access to help protect incumbents from interference. The frequency bands requested were 512-608 MHz and 614-698 MHz.

• Shared Spectrum Company filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to conduct tests as part of DARPA’s Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) program. The goal of the program is to “develop and demonstrate technologies and system concepts enabling densely deployed networks in which distributed and adaptive network operations compensate for limitations of the physical layer of the low-cost wireless nodes that comprise these networks.” Operation will be on 902-928, 2400.0-2483.5, 4400-4900, and 5650-5925 MHz in Stafford and Prince William Counties in Virginia.

• LightSquared filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to communicate with SkyTerra-1, a licensed and in-orbit satellite, and conduct a six-month test of two prototype models of Access Terminals (ATs) using the L-band spectrum coordinated for LightSquared’s satellite system. The ATs will transmit on 1626.5-1660 MHz and receive on 1525-1559 MHz. Testing will occur throughout North America.

• Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibit for experimental license for flight tests of real-time video transmission using the company’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The video source will be the F-35’s Electro Optical Targeting System (EOTS).  EOTS video data will be compressed and routed to an L-3 VORTEX transmitter. The transmitted signal will be received by an L-3 ROVER 5 handheld transceiver with the video displayed on a screen in the device. Operation will be at several locations around the US on 1710-1850 and 2200-2500 MHz.

• GBL Systems filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to develop, test and validate homeland security applications based on a peer-to-peer system under development by Qualcomm. Operation will be in Camarillo, California on 1915-1920 MHz.

• Row 44 Inc. filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to conduct tests using its aeronautical-mobile satellite service (AMSS) network. The tests will use a GSM picocell connected to Row 44′s Ku-band network in a simulated aircraft cabin environment. The objective is to understand the operation of GSM devices in the on-board environment. The tests will take place in Lombard, Illinois on 1930-1990 MHz.

• L-3 Communications filed an application for special temporary authority to operate on 2025-2120 MHz at Simi Valley, California. L-3 builds antennas for satellite tracking, telemetry, and control. The company says it has been experiencing high passive intermodulation (PIM) distortion that “causes transmitter noise to bleed into the receive band.” The testing is intended to resolve this problem.

• AeroVironment Inc. filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct experiments with small unmanned aircraft system (SUAS) technologies intended for use by to state and local public safety agencies. Operation is to be on 4940-4990 MHz in the Camp Roberts and Simi Valley areas of California.

• Kongsberg Seatex AS, a Norwegian company, filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to test its Embedded Maritime Broadband Radio (EMBR) system. The system is intended to provide maritime users with reliable broadband data links using a system with no moving parts such as mechanically-steerable antennas. The system can operate at 5 Mbps when the distance between the nodes is up to 10 km. To eliminate the mechanically-steerable antenna, the system uses an electronically-steerable antenna array comprised of 60 antenna/transceiver sub-units. While there are other maritime broadband data link systems, such as those based on Wi-Fi and WiMAX, this system is said to outperform those due in part to a custom Physical Layer and Media Access Control Layer. Operation will be at 5220-5240 MHz on a route between Galveston, Texas and a Shell oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

• Raytheon Network Centric Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test its Pathfinder maritime radar system in border surveillance applications.  Operation will be on 9.41-9.71 GHz in McKinney and Falcon, Texas.

• SRC Inc. filed an application for special temporary authority to conduct demonstrations of the SR Hawk ground surveillance radar at Fort Benning, Georgia. Operation will be on 16.21-16.50 GHz.

• Laurel Technologies Partnership filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test the operating capability of the Manportable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar (MSTAR) after its integration into a border and force protection ground surveillance system. The system is comprised of a trailer-mounted telescoping mast that supports a sensor package. That package includes the MSTAR radar and two video cameras (for day and night). The experiment will test and evaluate target detection and tracking capabilities of the radar and visual capabilities of the cameras once a target is acquired. Testing will be on 16.75-17.25 GHz in the Largo, Florida area.

• Samsung filed an application for special temporary authority to conduct sounding and propagation measurements on 28 GHz in Richardson, Texas. Samsung wants to better understand the outdoor mobile environment and impacts to path loss, angular spread, delay spread, non-line-of-sight beamforming, and blocking issues.

• Virginia Tech filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate on several frequency bands: roughly, in the 160, 220, 410, 470, 800, 900, 1850, 1950, and 3500 MHz range. This is for its CORNET cognitive radio network test bed, which is for the use of researchers evaluating cognitive radio engines, sensing techniques, applications, protocols, performance metrics, and algorithms in a real-world environment. The test bed has 48 nodes distributed on four floors of a campus building. Nodes consist of an Ettus Research USRP2 software-defined radio (SDR), or similar, each with a wideband antenna.  Frequency, operating mode, and protocols are controlled by computer through a wired connection. “Mobile” units are used in the building to evaluate handoff and interference characteristics.

• BAE Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test a new version of the Army’s Ground Mobile Radio. Testing will take place in Wayne, New Jersey on 287 and 425 MHz.

• The University of Wyoming filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate radios on 401.65 MHz in support of sage-grouse research in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming. The study will monitor the effects of bentonite clay mining on sage-grouse by comparing hen survival, nest survival, and brood survival in an area actively mined to a reference area where mining is not taking place. The study will monitor the movement of about 50 birds in each study area. Each sage-grouse will be fitted with a 22-gram solar-powered integrated GPS receiver and UHF transmitter manufactured by Microwave Telemetry. The device records two-dimensional location data and transmits it at intervals.

• L3 Communications filed an application with exhibits on behalf of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) for special temporary authority to conduct demonstrations of prototype cognitive radio technology developed by university researchers and funded by NIJ. The technology is being developed to improve public safety and law enforcement communications.  Frequency bands around 462, 769, 799, 2412, 4940, and 5150 MHz will be used. The demonstrations include cognitive channel management, radio-channel waveform identification, and reconfigurable OFDM waveforms.

• Raytheon Network Centric Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test a high-speed data-gateway radio system that operates in TV white space. It uses 12 channels, each 1.2 MHz wide. Operation will be in several California cities on 470-698 MHz (TV channels 14-51).

• General Dynamics filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to test digital data links for the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs). The new links are designed to allow higher concentrations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the same battle space. Testing will occur in South Carolina and Vermont on 1760-1850 and 2202-2290 MHz.

• TerreStar filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to operate a prototype transceiver for automobiles. TerreStar operates a 2 GHz satellite (TerreStar-1). In connection with providing services over the satellite, TerreStar is working with a vendor to develop and bring to market an automotive kit composed of a transceiver and a cradle for TerreStar’s GENUS satellite smartphone (currently marketed as Satellite Augmented Mobility (SAM) by AT&T). The transceiver and cradle will be mounted in an automobile and a roof-mounted antenna added. The transceiver will transmit on 2005-2010 MHz using linear polarization and will receive on 2195-2200 MHz using left-hand circular polarization; these frequency bands have been allocated for use by TerreStar-1 to provide mobile satellite service (MSS). Operation will be at various locations throughout the continental United States.

• ZAI filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test an ultra-wideband (UWB) vehicle-mounted radar system for identifying roadside threats and obstacles. The hardware is manufactured by Time Domain Corporation and operates on 3100-5600 MHz. Testing will be done in Jefferson, Maryland. The device generates a signal that is pulse-position modulated; the position of the modulated pulse varies randomly in time producing an approximate Gaussian noise signal.

• Integral Systems Inc. filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test a transportable Rapid Attack Identification Detection Reporting System (RAIDRS). RAIDRS consists of a central operating location and a variety of transportable antennas deployed around the world to detect, characterize, geolocate, and report sources of RF interference to U.S. military and commercial satellites. In the test, the RAIDRS will be connected to a transportable satellite terminal and linked to an earth station through an X-band or Ku-band satellite transponder. Link quality will be measured and recorded continuously to isolate any communications link failures. Data rates for the test will be 4352 and 8192 Kbps. Operation will be on 7.9-8.4 and 14.0-14.5 GHz.

• Teledyne Brown Engineering filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to experiment with Degraded Visual Environment (DVE) radar, intended to allow helicopter pilots to have a visual representation of the ground when it is obscured. It also serves as an altimeter. Testing will take place on 35.2 GHz at Huntsville, Alabama.

• Google filed an application for special temporary authority to conduct experiments of advanced driver assistance systems it’s developing. Each test vehicle contains several radars, operating in the 76.0-77.0 GHz band, that are used to sense the environment. The vehicles will be driven through a variety of traffic situations, including along freeways, on urban streets, and through complex intersections. Google suggests one test would be for the case when a vehicle is about to make a right turn on to a busy road; a left-sensing radar would inform the vehicle to allow high-speed traffic to pass before proceeding.

The reports seem to have been triggered by a February 14 Stanford News Service release. For those wanting to go beyond the headlines, the researchers have a web site and make available a technical paper that was presented, along with a demonstration, at Mobicom 2010 in September. On its face, this system seems to halve the spectrum needed for a two-way system, but it’s not that simple. Furthermore, for reasons you’ll see below, this doesn’t seem to be a mobile solution. The researchers are coming  from the perspective of improving the performance of WLANs, and the paper is more clear when read from that view. Still, no matter what radio system you work with, full-duplex on the same frequency makes you think. I’ve read the paper and have pulled out what I think are the essential points.

The custom has been to not transmit and receive on the same frequency at the same time because it doesn’t work; the receiver is overwhelmed by interference. Interference cancellation techniques that can help, but not enough. To reduce interference to the point where the receiver can detect the desired signal, we get to the novel aspect of this system. The transceiver uses three antennas, two for transmit and one for receive. Power is split between the two transmit antennas. The transmit antennas are placed such that one is one-half wavelength apart from the other, with respect to the receive antenna. The transmitted signals thus arrive at the receive antenna 180 degrees out of phase and cancel, mostly, in a process the researchers call antenna cancellation. After that, RF and baseband interference cancellation reduces remaining interference to the point where the desired signal can be detected.

If that’s too opaque, think of noise-cancelling headphones.

The system, as implemented, has several practical limitations:

• The two transmit antennas produce a pattern, in the horizontal plane, that varies according to their placement and how they are fed in amplitude and phase. This produces a null (low or no signal) where the receive antenna can be placed, but it also produces undesired nulls where one wants coverage. Adjusting the antennas’ power ratio can fill those nulls to some extent.
• Null position is sensitive to slight differences in transmit antenna power ratios. If the null moves too much, interference returns.
• Null position is sensitive to slight differences in antenna placement. At the frequency used for testing (2.48 GHz), if an antenna moves too much — on the order of 1 millimeter — interference can return.
• The bandwidth is narrow (5 MHz at 2.48 GHz); if the signal is too wide, the outer edges don’t get canceled and there’s interference.
• The requirement that the transmit antennas be at least one-half wavelength apart means that lower frequencies become awkward to work with. At 2.48 GHz, one-half wavelength is 5 inches. At, say, 700 MHz, it’s 17 inches.

On the plus side, the researchers say this system can alleviate several wireless networking bottlenecks, albeit with reworking of WLAN MAC layers to allow full duplex (which they’re working on).

• With no time-division, the hidden node problem is reduced since the access point can respond without delay to the first transmitting node. Other nodes hear that response and delay their transmissions, reducing collisions.
• Full-duplex reduces loss of network throughput cause by congestion and MAC scheduling since congested nodes can send and receive packets at the same time.
• Delay in multihop networks is reduced because a node can start forwarding a packet as it receives it, instead of using typical store-and-forward techniques.

They also point to a potential application in cognitive radio; a secondary user, while transmitting, could monitor for the primary user. In addition, the ability to have a control channel in-band and in real-time raises the prospect of improving the performance of some systems.

The full-duplex prototype, made with off-the-shelf parts and incorporating the IEEE 802.15.4 modulation/demodulation scheme, achieves performance within 8% of an ideal system. Some of this shortfall is caused by granularity of the test setup, such as using attenuators with larger-than-desired steps. The researchers are considering applying the technology to IEEE 802.11 radios; that’s a challenge because both power and bandwidth are larger (more interference to be suppressed).

The system seems to perform best with single propagation paths. In the presence of multipath, I’d expect a reduction in performance due to fading; the researchers report multipath was not a “dominant component” in their tests, which were done indoors with pretty good results. I’d like to see simulated or measured performance under a few different multipath conditions.

We handle multipath on WLANs well today through the use of multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas. With sufficient multipath, and a sufficient number of antennas, spectrum capacity can be doubled, or more. But MIMO in the WLAN context doesn’t permit full duplex, and thus doesn’t permit the networking fixes that this system does, and those improvements are expected to be a significant source of gain. Furthermore, MIMO is designed to take advantage of multipath; its gain isn’t that great where multipath is low, such as on some outdoor links.

The tradeoffs of this system when comparing it to others are gains from reduced spectrum requirements, losses from lack of MIMO, and gains from relieving the hidden node problem, reducing network congestion, and reducing end-to-end network delay. The researchers suggest the biggest benefits are to come from reducing network bottlenecks; they downplay physical layer gains.

We’ll follow this. Reading about it reminds me of sitting in a wireless standards meeting in the mid 1990’s and hearing about Turbo Codes, a coding scheme that doubles data rates with no increase in transmitted power, and that is in widespread use today. That concept also came out of the blue. Many were skeptical, but it worked. As with this radio system, Turbo Codes were made from existing elements put together a different way. Sometimes that’s all it takes.

(Disclosure: According to the paper’s acknowledgments, this research is supported in part through a gift from DOCOMO Capital, a subsidiary of NTT DOCOMO, which is a client.)

• National Public Radio filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for an experimental license to operate on 87.7 MHz in Philadelphia and San Francisco to test a “cognitive modulator” that would operate below the current FM band as an alternative to current consumer FM modulators. These modulators plug into the earphone jack of an audio device and transmit the audio at low power to an FM radio, often in a car.

The performance of these devices is usually mediocre at best. The FCC limits them to very low power. They’re tuned initially to unused FM frequencies that become occupied as the car moves, causing interference. HD Radio, which overlays a digital signal on the analog channel, increases interference; furthermore, HD Radio interference has no audible content and, to the listener, appears to be an unused channel causing confusion when selecting a frequency for the modulator. The modulators can also cause interference to other FM listeners.

The cognitive modulator to be tested would operate on 87.7 MHz, just below the FM band. It would measure interference and noise and adjust its transmitter power to provide a desired signal quality in car’s FM radio. In addition to testing the effectiveness of the new modulator, any interference from the modulator to other services would be evaluated. Services that could be impacted (but probably won’t) include FM broadcast stations on 88.1 MHz and digital TV stations on Channel 6 (82-88 MHz). Presumably, successful test results would be used in support of a request to the FCC to allow the manufacture and sale of the devices.

• Lilee Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to support the development of radio systems for Positive Train Control (PTC). PTC is mandated by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 with regulation administered by the Federal Railway Administration. It’s intended to prevent train-to-train collisions, enforce speed restrictions, and temporarily slow trains near construction zones, among other things. Lilee is developing a radio product family to support PTC; specifically, it intends to provide software and hardware for radios in base stations, in locomotives, and at waysides. Testing is to be done in the Santa Clara, California area on 217-222 MHz.

• Adaptrum filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for special temporary authority to demonstrate a TV white space device at the FCC. The frequencies requested are 512-518, 542-548, 626-632, and 644-656 MHz (TV channels 21, 26, 40, 43, and 44, respectively).

• Syniverse Technologies filed an application for special temporary authority to operate a low-power GSM base station on 1900 MHz in Tampa, Florida to test wireless roaming solutions and fraud services associated with GSM SIM cards.

• Western DataCom filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate a UMTS base station from an aerostat in the vicinity of South Boston, Virginia on 1972.5 and 2162.5 MHz. Testing will include evaluation of communications range and data throughput.

• AKELA Inc. filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to test a through-the-wall surveillance radar prototype in Santa Barbara, California. AKELA says the technology was originally developed for the military and is now being modified for state and local first responders. The final version of the device is expected to allow identification and location of movement within a structure from “a few tens of meters away.” The prototype operates as a frequency-stepping radar from 2900 to 3600 MHz. The current design uses a stepping interval of 3 MHz, with a dwell time on each frequency of 65 microseconds; these parameters will be varied as part of the test.

• Comtech Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for special temporary authority to test a transportable angle-diversity troposcatter antenna on 4400, 4700, and 4935 MHz. The testing is part of fulfilling a contract for delivering these systems to the US Marine Corp.  Troposcatter antenna systems are generally set up for diversity operation using two reflectors; a feature of this antenna is that diversity is implemented in the feed system, so only one reflector is needed.

• Raytheon Missile Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to test missile flight test telemetry systems that operate on C-band aeronautical telemetry frequencies that were allocated at the 2007 World Radio Conference (WRC). These include 4400-4940, 5091-5150, and 5925-6700 MHz, and supplement existing S-band frequencies at 2200-2290 and 2300-2390 MHz. Although the WRC spectrum allocation is not yet in effect in the US, it’s expected to be eventually, and Raytheon wants to start developing the new telemetry systems that will operate in those bands.

• LaPoint Blase Industries filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to conduct tests using a portable Doppler weather radar system as part of a US Air Force contract. Operation will be on 9320-9370 MHz. The radar will be mounted on a truck that will be deployed at various urban locations in the US during times of severe weather.  The radar will be used to finely characterize severe weather events near the truck as part of an effort to improve urban weather prediction over a small scale.

• ITT Gilfillan filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to test an Air-to-Air Radar Subsystem (AARSS) that is used as a collision sense-and-avoid radar for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform. This is part of a project for the US Naval Air Systems Command.  The AARSS is said to deliver 9.4 miles range in 4 mm/hr rain. Operation is to be on 13.25-13.40 GHz in the vicinity of Van Nuys, California.

• KVH Industries filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to test new terminals for use with its global maritime communications network. Operation will be on 14.0-14.5 GHz in the continental US and on surrounding waters. The tests will be used to evaluate, optimize and demonstrate return uplink performance including for web access, e-mail, and voice. The terminal supports uplink data rates of up to 512 kbps and downlink end-user rates of up to 2 Mbps. It has a parabolic reflector 14.6 inches in diameter, and uses tracking mechanisms to keep it oriented toward the satellite. The market for this terminal includes small and medium-size vessels over 40-feet in length, including from the private, commercial, public safety, and defense sectors.

• Raysat Antenna Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate on 14.0-14.5 GHz in the continental United States. Technical details are not disclosed by the FCC due to a confidentiality request by Raysat. This is likely a test of a two-way mobile antenna for fixed satellite use.

• The University of Texas at Austin filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to conduct tests of millimeter-wave propagation at 35-41 GHz and 57-63 GHz. The data collected are to be processed and integrated into published channel models to assist other researchers and designers.

• SET Corporation, a subsidiary of SAIC, filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate on 93.5 GHz in and around Manassas, Virginia. This is to support manufacture of “multi-sensor products designed to counter the growing number of deadly security threats faced by homeland security and defense customers.” Further specifics are not disclosed by the FCC due to a confidentiality request by SET.

A basic idea in these systems is to take advantage of the time a user is not transmitting, and let someone else use that spectrum until the original user needs it again. If the second user is in the middle of something when the first user needs it back, the second user identifies another piece of spectrum to move to. Both users, ideally, notice no degradation of performance. Overall spectrum capacity is increased.

For the purpose of the FCC’s inquiry, dynamic spectrum access is a broad term that includes cognitive radio; radio that is aware of the RF environment and uses that information to make decisions based on its objectives. The term Software Defined Radio (SDR) is sometimes used in this context, but an SDR device may be used for other purposes.

The following issues are some of those identified in a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) that the Commission adopted at its November 30 meeting:

• Technical advances. The Commission wants information on the state of the art of spectrum sensing, interference suppression, propagation models, and policy-based radios, whose emissions are governed by a set of rules. Information is sought on how radios could be tested as part of the equipment authorization process. A related issue is how the Commission should police interference complaints in an increasingly-dynamic radio environment.

• Development and deployment. The Commission looks for opportunities to progress dynamic radio systems. It wants comment on how its database and Spectrum Dashboard can be made more useful. It asks how existing secondary-spectrum market rules might be revised to accommodate dynamic radios. (Existing rules are described as providing “wide latitude” for flexible spectrum use and spectrum leasing, and there’s a suggestion that the public doesn’t fully realize that.) The Commission asks which bands are most appropriate for dynamic spectrum access techniques, discusses the opportunity to aggregate “scraps” of narrower-band spectrum into something more useful, and asks about the feasibility of using spectrum in the 40 GHz range and higher.

• Test-beds. A test-bed would be an area in which certain frequencies are set aside, and guidelines established, for dynamic radio experimentation beyond that contemplated by the experimental licensing rules. The Commission looks for opportunities to fund such a test-bed and encourage participation.

• Real-time databases. It’s possible to take the database model used for TV white spaces and apply it to other bands. Dynamic radio systems could use such databases to determine current spectrum availability. The experience with TV white space operation can inform this and subsequent dynamic spectrum access proceedings.

• Real-time spectrum monitoring. The Commission has a vision of deploying spectrum monitoring equipment throughout the country, in a manner similar to weather monitoring stations seen along highways and atop some schools. A dynamic radio system could query the monitoring equipment for a specific area, and would then have current information on the RF environment. The Commission asks if such a system is practical, and who should run it.

• Public safety. The Commission asks about the potential use of dynamic radios by the public safety community to address ongoing interoperability problems.

The Commission does not address the issues of the definition of harmful interference, the rights of incumbent spectrum users, and receiver standards, except to say that they are matters of general spectrum policy that might be addressed in future proceedings.

Some of the issues in the NOI are interrelated. When a dynamic radio system queries a spectrum database, the information received is processed and an appropriate message is sent to the radio. This introduces latency, and the messaging over the air interface can consume a substantial portion of the data capacity one had hoped to gain. One way to relieve this, depending on the state of the art, is to add functionality to the radio that allows it to make more decisions on its own. This increased processing, however, reduces battery life. These and other tradeoffs are being explored by system developers. It would help them, and the FCC’s goal of promoting these systems, if the rules eventually adopted give them sufficient freedom to innovate.