• Amateur Radio operator Brian Justin filed an application with exhibit (shown below) for special temporary authority to “be able to operate antique Heising modulation on 470.0 kHz on or about x-mas evening and several other days” to commemorate Reginald Fessenden’s “original claimed voice transmissions over 100 yrs ago.” The transmissions were to take place on 470-475 kHz from Forest, Virginia.

• Chesapeake Operating, Inc. filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to “provide music and announcements throughout Chesapeake’s corporate campus” and for “determining propagation and coverage while simultaneously considering a waiver to operate permanently under 15.221(b)” of the FCC’s Rules. Operation is to be on 1300 kHz and 1610 kHz in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The applicant says it’s parent company, Chesapeake Energy, “is the Nation’s second-largest producer of natural gas, a top 15 producer of oil and natural gas liquids and the most active driller of new wells in the U.S.” “Chesapeake is considering the use of low power AM broadcasts at its corporate campus that could be used for a variety of purposes. For example, the system could be used for disseminating severe weather information (e.g., tornado watches, tornado warnings, ice storms, etc.,) street closings, traffic re-routes due to construction, as well as during outdoor events such as the farmers market that Chesapeake sponsors during the summer months and outdoor activities associated with United Way campaigns, concerts, and family events.”
• Phillip J. Williams filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to operate using spread spectrum on HF and VHF frequencies in the Amateur Radio Service. Current rules don’t permit spread spectrum operation below 220 MHz. In the tests, comparisons will be made with other digital modes such as JT65A, Olivia, MT63 and PSK31, including with regard to weak-signal capabilities. Experiments will focus on minimum required transmitter power and developing operating procedures for the Amateur Radio community. Operation will take place in Euless, Texas in various Amateur bands between 1.8 and 148 MHz.
• The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets at the University of Kansas filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct testing of a 72 MHz link used to control the “Meridian Uninhabited Aircraft System,” an aircraft that carries a variety of scientific payloads, including ice-penetrating radar, for research on the flow-ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Operation will be at several locations in Kansas and Utah on 72.01-72.99 MHz.

• National Public Radio filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to evaluate the feasibility of using a Cognitive Modulator. This is envisioned as an alternative to consumer FM modulators long used to allow audio from a personal electronic device to be played through a vehicle’s FM radio. These modulators have their drawbacks: they can cause interference to other FM listeners, FCC rules limit their power such that it can be difficult for them to overcome interference, and they may need to be retuned as the vehicle travels into range of new, interfering FM stations. Preliminary testing led by NPR suggests a Cognitive Modulator operating at 87.7 MHz may present a solution to the above service problems. Such a device would sense the amount of interference and noise (I+N) at or around 87.7 MHz and adjust its transmitter carrier power to provide a desired C/(I+N) in a vehicle’s FM radio. Experimental operation will be in New Haven, Connecticut on 87.7 MHz
• Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate at Syracuse, New York on various frequencies in the bands 109.375-137.000, and 960-1400 MHz. This is to test electronic-support-measures receiver systems for the U.S. Navy on vessels being deployed overseas.
• Cosmogia Inc. filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to operate communications inks in support of the Dove 1 satellite mission. This is a “technology demonstration to: a) test the basic capabilities of the low-cost bus built from non-space, Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) components; b) show that a bus constrained to the 3U cubesat form factor can host a small payload; and c) demonstrate the ability to design, produce and operate satellites on short schedules and low cost. Dove 1 will do this by transmitting health and payload data to the ground.” The satellite is due to be launched as a secondary payload on the maiden flight of the Taurus II from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. It will be placed in a nearly circular orbit of 280 km, which will decay with the satellite burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere approximately 2 weeks after launch. Amateur beacon transmissions on 145.825 MHz will commence upon deployment of the satellite. A half-duplex, spread-spectrum radio on 2.4016-2.4776 GHz will be used for main payload downlink and for telecommand uplink. The satellite has dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm x 30 cm. Its mass is about 5 kg.
• The Wisconsin Wireless and NetworkinG Systems (WiNGS) Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to test fixed point-to-point backhaul and vehicular networking on TV white=space frequencies. Operation will be in the vicinity of Madison, Wisconsin on 174-216, 470-608, and 614-698 MHz. The experimental platform is called Wide Band Digital Radio. Its major function is to perform frequency translation from Wi-Fi frequencies in the 2.4 GHz range to UHF-TV frequencies.

• Lockheed Martin filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to conduct radiosonde factory acceptance testing as part of a government contract. During testing, the radiosondes are attached to a weather balloon and deployed from a Lockheed Martin facility in Marion, Massachusetts. The weather balloon can travel a ground distance of 250 km and reach a height of 30 km. The average duration of the deployment is 135 minutes. The expected number of deployments is about five per month. The radiosonde transmitter uses a monopole antenna that directs transmitted power towards the ground. Testing will take place on various frequencies between 400.25 and 405.5 MHz.
• Carlson Wireless filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test white-space radio technology in rural locations of Hawaii prior to database and device certification. This is to compare performance of white-space radio propagation to that of WiMAX and 900 MHz radios in very dense tropical cover and in heavy rain conditions. Operation will be in Pahoa, Hawaii and in Keaau, Hawaii on 470-608 and 614-698 MHz.
• America’s Cup Event Authority, LLC filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to permit video production, and to coordinate operations and security for the Americas Cup World Series Sailboat Race in the vicinity of San Diego. Several frequency bands are requested including 470-476, 476-482, 482-488, and 506-512 MHz (i.e., television broadcast channels 14, 15, 16 and 20), television broadcast auxiliary frequencies 2025-2110 MHz, and amateur frequencies at 2390-2400 MHz and 3300-3500 MHz.
• Robert Miller Consulting filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to operate on TV channel 44, 650-656 MHz, near Green Bay, Wisconsin to conduct research on the effects of wind turbines on over-the-air TV reception. The applicant says the “proliferation of wind turbine deployment and the associated history of television interference problems have prompted an urgent need for development of tools to assist in the placement of the turbines so as to minimize interference.” This testing is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and there is the prospect of more funding for more exhaustive tests depending on these initial test results.
• ShawnTech Communications filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to operate in Ridgeville, South Carolina on 851-869, 869.2-893.8, 869.70-893.31, 1930.2-1989.8, and 1931.25-1988.75 MHz. Details are not available due to a request for confidentiality. This appears to be a test of a managed-access cellular system for intercepting unauthorized phone calls from a prison. It further appears that a cellular operator gave its consent for the test.
• Boeing filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to test RFID tags that Boeing and commercial airlines use on various items aboard commercial aircraft. The device being used is certified for unlicensed use in Europe but not in the U.S. Testing will be in Goodyear, Arizona on 865-867 MHz.
• The South Coast Air Quality Management District filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate a wind-profiling radar, which depends on the scattering of transmitted signals by irregularities in the index of refraction of the atmosphere. The irregularities are caused by turbulence in the wind. By determining the Doppler frequency shift, the speed of the wind can be determined. Temperature data can be obtained by measuring the propagation velocity of an acoustic signal. The hardware includes a receiver/modulator, a final amplifier/preamplifier, a digital control and data processor, and an antenna system. These items were developed by NOAA and are fabricated by Vaisala, and will be owned and operated by the applicant, a government agency that manages air pollution control in the southern California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. The data collected will include hourly profiles of low-level winds between 100 and 5000 meters above ground level (m AGL) and “virtual temperatures” between 100 and 2500 m AGL. This data will be collected to improve meteorological analyses, as well as air quality forecasting and modeling in the South Coast Air Basin. Operation will be on 915 MHz at Irvine, California.
• Harris filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test transmission and reception of voice and data from 1.35 GHz to 1.39 GHz at various distances and locations at its facility in Rochester, New York. Stationary and mobile tests will be performed to transmit voice and data in both urban and rural settings. Tests will replicate in-theater tactical communications. This testing is partly in support of U.S. government contracts. The tests will use the Harris AN/PRC 117G wideband tactical radio.

• BAE Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to test next-generation “communication intelligence” for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Operation will be in Hudson, New Hampshire on 1626-1660 MHz.
• Orbital Sciences filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate from Persimmon Point, Virginia on 2222-2228, 2239-2243, 2258-2260, 2267-2271, 2286-2290, and 5764-5772 MHz. Orbital is under contract to NASA/Johnson Space Center to develop a commercial cargo transportation system for delivery of cargo to the International Space Station. The contract includes two demonstration flights of this system, and eight operational flights to the Station. The experimental operation is in support of various communications needs for these flights from NASA’s Wallop’s Flight Facility, including flight termination system uplink, multiple S-band telemetry data downlinks, a C-band radar system with transmit and receive, and a GPS uplink.

• RF Film, Inc. filed an application for special temporary authority to provide wireless video transmission from film cameras during the production of “Spiderman 4” in Los Angeles. Operation will be on 2363-2371 and 2380-2388 MHz. Those frequencies are in a band normally used for aeronautical telemetry. The applicant has consulted with the frequency coordinator for that band, (AFTRCC), which approved their use on a non-interfering and temporary basis.
• Google filed an application for special temporary authority to test an “entertainment device.” It will test the functionality of “of all subsystems, including WiFi and Bluetooth radio. Users will connect their device to home WiFi networks. This line of testing will reveal real world engineering issues and reliability of networks. The device utilizes a standard WiFi module, and the planned testing is not directed at evaluating the radio frequency characteristics of the module (which are known), but rather at the throughput and stability of the home WiFi networks that will support the device, as well as the basic functionality of the device. From this testing we hope to modify the design in order to maximize product robustness and user experience. Utilizing the requested number of units will allow testing of real world network performance and its impact on applications running on the device, so that any problems can be discovered and addressed promptly. All devices will be used by and registered to specific individuals (all Google employees), and Google will maintain a record of each device, so that they can be easily recalled at any time during testing and when testing is complete. The devices will be tested at Google facilities and in and around the employees residences.” There will be 252 devices in the test, which will take place in Mountain View and Los Angeles, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and New York, New York on 2400-2483 MHz.
• AirScan filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test “state?of?the?art airborne surveillance and security operations for government and private service customers.” Transmissions will be from aircraft in the Titusville, Florida area on 2475.5 and 2458.5 MHz.
• Panoscan filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to test video transmission from a robot it’s developing for law enforcement inspection purposes. Operation is to be in Sylmar, California on 5725-5858 MHz. The transmitter is an Iftron Mondo Stinger 5.8 video transmitter. Apparently, prior work in development of the radio portion of the robot fell under Part 15 of the FCC’s Rules, and now it does not, necessitating the experimental license. Panoscan says it has a request pending before the Commission for waiver of Section 15.247 of its Rules to allow the use of digital modulation.

• GE Aviation filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to conduct outdoor testing of its HEET radar system, a “proprietary three-dimensional radar scanner for radar cross section measurements. This one of a kind scanner is currently in checkout phase. Eventually the system will be used on military bases.” Operation will be in Evendale, Ohio and in Peebles, Ohio on 6.5-18 GHz.
• Telephonics Corporation filed an application with exhibits for experimental license to operate in Huntington, New York on 8850 MHz. This to support testing of the ARSS-1 portable radar system. The radar operates on a single channel at a pulse repetition frequency of 5 kpps. The pulse width is 17.0 ?S and the receive interval is 183 ?S for a total repetition interval of 200 ?S.

• Telephonics Corporation filed an application with exhibit for experimental license to conduct tests of its model RDR-1700B maritime surveillance and imaging radar, which the company describes as a multimode airborne search radar that uses pulse compression techniques to provide various search and imaging capabilities, using a programmable waveform generator that can generate different pulse widths, pulse repetitions, and modulation. The radar operates over the frequency band of 9.2 to 9.5 GHz. The radar is continuously changing frequency thereby minimizing the number of undesired pulses being received by fixed-frequency marine and aviation weather radars. This testing is to improve the radar’s signal processing techniques for the purposes of improving the radars ability to search, detect and track multiple targets during over-water surveillance as well as search and rescue and weather detection/avoidance capabilities. Development of imaging techniques that provide the ability to identify the size and shape details of objects detected beyond visual ranges or bad weather conditions will also be part of the testing. Operation will be in the vicinity of Farmingdale, New York.

• The University of Nebraska – Omaha, filed an application and exhibits for special temporary authority to test repurposing of Furuno marine radar to count aircraft at a non-controlled airport. Operation will be at the Council Bluffs, Iowa airport on 9410 MHz. The applicant says it wants to investigate marine radar in this application as a step toward creating a system to prevent aircraft collisions. The radar system in this experiment will include a stationary radar antenna linked to a 10 inch radar display that will transmit data to a computer, which will be programmed to count aircraft. The data collected includes the distance from the radar, the heading from the radar, and the heading of the aircraft.
• Tachyon Networks filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to test an 18” terminal mounted to a C-12 military aircraft. Communications will be with one of three Intelsat-owned, U.S. licensed satellite hubs. This is in support of a U.S. Army contract for communications in Afghanistan related to airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Operation will be centered on Middletown, Delaware on 14.0-14.5 GHz.

• Mokulele Research Corp. filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to test airborne mechanical tracking antenna performance. Mokulele will use millimeter-wave spectrum from a directional antenna on the ground pointed straight up. The airborne receiver antenna, installed inside the cabin of a small aircraft, will intercept the narrow beam, and immediately activate its reflector to the optimum angle in order to sustain strongest signal level, while the aircraft’s pitch and bank angles change. The aircraft will fly over the ground station between 8,000 and 18,000 feet AGL in tight circles of approximately 0.5 nautical mile diameter. The signal strength, optimized by the tracking antenna, will be recorded for later analysis. An airborne-antenna signal re-acquisition algorithm will also be evaluated. Operation will be on 46.75-46.95 GHz at Haleiwa, Hawaii.
• Honeywell filed an application with exhibits for special temporary authority to conduct flight testing using a developmental sensor to collect data on potential helicopter obstacles such as power lines and towers. The data collected will be used to learn about the detection criteria of such targets. Operation will be in Torrance, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and Everett, Washington on 92-94 GHz. The sensor antenna connects to a PC?based data processing system used to operate the antenna, display, and capture results. The antenna radiates a 0.7 degree horizontal by 4.0 degree vertical beam. The modulation is a linear frequency modulation that uses up to a total of 1.0 GHz about a center frequency of 93.0 GHz (i.e., 92.5 GHz – 93.5 GHz). The bandwidth is swept repeatedly at a rate of 500 us per sweep.

• Raytheon Missile Systems filed an application with exhibit for special temporary authority to conduct tests on 94-96 GHz at Tucson, Arizona. “This application is being filed for the experimental development of a directed energy device to be exported that will use radio waves to achieve the mission.” (“Directed energy device” appears to be a euphemism for directed energy weapon.) “Because this technology is very new, there is a great deal to be learned still about how to effectively direct the radio energy while ensuring that there is no lasting harm.” “[A]ny personnel present will have volunteered to work on this technology.” The device to be tested will have an input power of 800 watts and an effective radiated power of 50 megawatts.

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.

NAB – Shortages of Capacity, Not Spectrum

The NAB report is prepared by Uzoma Onyeije, a consultant who was once Broadband Legal Advisor to the Chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. The main claims are that there is no need for an urgent and massive reallocation of spectrum, that there are numerous alternatives to spectrum that can boost network capacity, and that sources of spectrum other than TV are more readily available.

It starts by noting there wasn’t a “spectrum crisis” until the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which required the FCC to promote broadband access. The National Broadband Plan followed calling for 500 MHz of spectrum to be made available for broadband within 10 years, with 300 MHz of that for mobile within five years, and 120 MHz of that to come from television broadcasting. Seven months after concluding that 300 MHz was needed in the short term, the FCC released a Technical Paper intended to support the 300 MHz figure. In November I wrote on that Paper, pointing out several factors not considered that, had they been, would have acted to reduce the estimate of short-term spectrum requirements. Later, I questioned the appropriateness of the FCC relying on a forecast prepared by the marketing department of an equipment vendor, without critically and openly examining the assumptions that went into the forecast. Onyeije shares some of the concerns I had, and still do, with that Paper.

I expect the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act turned some spectrum wants into needs, but by all accounts mobile network data volumes are increasing significantly, fed by a volatile mixture of old flat-rate plans and new bandwidth-hungry devices, though the growth rate of those data volumes is decreasing. Getting additional spectrum is a natural option to consider for more capacity. Onyeije provides a list of non-spectrum options. Some have been mentioned here before – offloading to Wi-Fi and other technologies, adjusting rate plans so largest data users pay more, tighter software coding of applications and operating systems. I don’t think I’ve discussed channel bonding, which is a technique that uses non-contiguous spectrum – combining a sliver here and a sliver there. Support for this will be appearing in LTE-Advanced, going on the air in a few years. Backhaul is also something I haven’t focused on; how much of the current spectrum crunch is really due to backhaul bottlenecks?

Another capacity-increasing technique mentioned is sectorization – changing a non-directional transmission system to a directional one using two or more sectors at the same cell site. In the most congested urban areas in the US, antenna systems are generally configured with three sectors, with each sector 120 degrees wide. You don’t see many six-sector configurations, in which each sector is 60 degrees wide. Theoretically, that doubles capacity from the same tower. A long time ago there was more activity in six-sector antenna systems, but the sense then was it wasn’t too practical; you might end up with just a 70% capacity increase because of real-world issues such as imperfect antenna patterns. It was hard to justify the expense. These days, however, with better transmission technology, it should be looked at again. I note SK Telecom in Korea is deploying 500 six-sector sites, after good results with 20 test sites.

Onyeije looks at the spectrum warehousing issue. If an operator has spectrum that isn’t being used, but is on track to build it out, I’m fine if it is fallow for a year or so. Maybe longer if the delay is to wait for much more efficient transmission technology that is on track in the standards process. If it is just sitting there with no build-out requirement and no prospect for utilization, I’d think the operator’s investors would create pressure to sell it. If a spectrum holder has “no plans to sell, lease or use” its spectrum, to quote one in Onyeije’s report, I’m more concerned.

Aside from the warehousing issue, Onyeije identifies a few bands that have been languishing at the FCC for years and makes the point that, since they have been idle for so long, the spectrum crisis must not be so great. These are the AWS-3 spectrum at 2155-2175 MHz, H block spectrum at 1915-1920 MHz and 1995-2000 MHz and J block spectrum at 2020-2025 MHz and 2175-2180 MHz, 700 MHz D block at 758-763 MHz and 788-793 MHz. What’s the story there?

Onyeije suggests mandatory receiver standards. Receivers are already very good in mobile broadband because of vendor competition and the need to operate in a congested environment. Receiver design is proprietary and an important source of differentiation among vendors. I’d think continued improvement of receiver performance in the marketplace, in the long run, would achieve greater capacity benefit than imposed government standards.

The report calls on the FCC to complete and publicly release a comprehensive spectrum inventory, along the lines of the Snowe-Kerry RADIOS Act, which includes measurements. The FCC has made available several spectrum tools online, including LicenseView and the Spectrum Dashboard, which it says is its inventory. According to their disclaimers however, LicenseView “is not intended for analysis of spectrum utilization or spectrum holdings of licensees” and “the FCC makes no representations regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information maintained in the Spectrum Dashboard.” Regarding federal spectrum, I’d add that an inventory becomes more important in light of GAO’s report on NTIA processes that said “NTIA cannot ensure that spectrum is being used efficiently by federal agencies” in part because “NTIA’s data collection processes lack accuracy controls and do not provide assurance that data are being accurately reported by agencies.” Thus, “it is unclear whether important decisions regarding current and future spectrum needs are based on reliable data.”

CTIA , CEA, and WCAI dismiss the NAB report, saying it’s a stalling tactic and they know these things already. One of Onyeije’s points, however, is that it’s the Commission that needs to know these things, and fully investigate and quantify the impact of all capacity-generating alternatives. It has not. It tried with the Technical Report, but inadequately.

CTIA Establishes the Efficient Properties of Cellularization

The CTIA report is intended to demonstrate that US mobile wireless providers are “extremely efficient” in their use of spectrum. The report was prepared by Peter Rysavy, a consultant known in wireless circles for his series of technical reports, with many pertaining to spectrum, air-interface, and mobile device issues.

This report seems to be a response to an NAB claim, some time back, that broadcasting is a more efficient user of spectrum than wireless. I presume NAB’s claim is based on broadcasters’ DTV system transmitting about 19 Mbps in a 6 MHz bandwidth, while the wireless operators are sending about 10 Mbps in 10 MHz bandwidth. (So, TV has more bits per Hertz.) This is kind of an apples and oranges comparison, but the comparison has been made and we have this report in response. Having spent a lot of time in 3G and 4G standards battles, I have no doubt that those participating are trying wring out all the efficiency that is both possible and practical. Wireless standards groups sweat to get another tenth of a dB improvement. Of course, part of efficiency is an implementation issue and not covered by standards. I agree cellular services are more efficient at delivering unicast traffic. Broadcasters, however, can be more efficient in another way. The efficiency debate occurs in part because we have not agreed on a definition of efficiency. More on this below.

The CTIA paper starts with a section on spectral efficiency. It discusses its fundamental measures and technologies that have been used to continually improve it, including adaptive modulation and coding. (Rysavy says his list of technologies is not exhaustive, but to his list I’d add Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request as a key enabler.)

Rysavy observes that the industry’s technologies are operating close to the Shannon Bound, the theoretical limit on the spectrum efficiency that can be had for a given signal-to-noise ratio. Capacity improvements thus must come from advanced antenna techniques (such as MIMO) and topology evolution (e.g., adding picocells to a macrocell).

The report is hopeful on the prospects for Wi-Fi and femtocells to relieve traffic on the macro-cellular network. I’m somewhat more cautious on the potential of femtocells to relieve the capacity crunch.  For various reasons, including interference management, what I think may happen with femtocells is that they get pulled out of the home and put up in neighborhoods using existing structures for support. (The more-favorable pole-attachment rules recently adopted by the FCC are timely.) There are many small-cell trials underway but I haven’t seen much in the way of results.

Network evolution is discussed in a larger sense, focusing on developments in heterogeneous networks, but Rysavy says that’s not enough and that more spectrum is needed, too.

Back to the efficiency issue, the efficiency of cellular systems is compared to that of broadcast television. The point made is that if you take many small cells and place them within a larger area  covered by one transmitter (e.g., one for TV), the cellular system can deliver many times the unique bits in that area. This is true, if that is the definition of efficiency. Let’s look at it another way and compare the maximum number of users served by each scheme. As a best-case scenario, assume the cellular users are using a low-bit-rate application such as LTE VoIP. In 10 MHz we can support about 400 users. That times 3 sectors is 1,200 users per cell. That times 30 cells (as per the example in the paper) is 36,000 users that can be supported at once. In contrast, a TV  station covering the same area can support an unlimited number of users, albeit one-way, since it isn’t limited by uplink capacity nor MAC addresses. Is it a fair comparison? No. One is broadcasting and the other is cellular. Can’t cellular broadcast also? Yes, but to the extent it does the unique-bits argument becomes weaker. We can go around and around. The television example is used, along with other analysis in that section, in an attempt to persuade the reader that “cellular architectures represent a configuration that is capable of providing tremendous service capacity to its users.” I’m convinced, but I was before reading the report.

Rysavy depicts how voice minutes, message volume, and data volume have increased on cellular networks over the years. Yesm growth has been dramatic, but the growth rate is slowing.

Epilogue

Concurrent with this debate, ATSC is in the early stages of planning and developing the second DTV standard to replace the current one that’s been around for about 15 years. LTE specifications support broadcasting, which can be done in a cellular manner on the same frequency. Transmissions are synchronized so the terminal can combine energy from multiple sites. The broadcasters looked at cellularization a year ago assuming use of the current ATSC DTV standard, and rightly found it was not practical. It just wasn’t designed for that purpose. With the new LTE standards, it’s time to look at TV cellularization again but with LTE as a core technology. There could be a return path, inexpensive chips for receivers, and it might  be able to be done in less than 100 MHz, making over 200 MHz available for auction. With DTV, the broadcasters found significant deployment and operating costs with cellularization, but with LTE infrastructure would be shared; it remains to be determined if it’s a business. The technology is there; it just has to be architected by broadcasters and infrastructure vendors into suitable form.

UPDATE 5/20/2011

The FCC issued a Public Notice today seeking comment on using the 2 GHz bands identified as “languishing” by NAB. Some are listed above. 75 MHz total.

• 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.)

At least one FCC observer has noted an uncharacteristic level of hype in today’s announcements. The FCC calls it “super Wi-Fi,” and adds the “potential uses of this spectrum are limited only by the imagination.”

Over two years ago, Google called it “Wi-Fi on Steroids.” It was later picked up by the popular press. Not all agree; it’s “Wi-Fi on Crutches” according to one who dares to consider the realities of physics and economics.

I’ll call it “Wi-Fi on Caffeine,” at least with respect to better range and coverage — if not data rates — compared with current Wi-Fi equipment. This is partly due to operation in the UHF-TV band instead of the 2.4 GHz band. In major markets and their suburbs, there will be few or no channels available for white space use. In rural areas and other less dense areas, the technology will be a good fit with Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) and other longer-distance applications.

Cellular operators would like some of the white space on a licensed basis for backhaul in rural areas. They didn’t get it today, but the FCC is actively considering it and we may hear more on that by the end of the year.  No way are all these vacant channels going to be occupied by internet services in the most rural areas, so the proposal of the operators makes sense.

In IEEE 802, Working Groups 802.22 and 802.11 are working on standards that can be used by equipment in these applications; 802.22 may be the one with longer range. Working Group 802.19 is trying to facilitate coexistence between the two. Now, there are asymetric interference effects, which is causing friction between the two groups beyond the normal competition. (802.22 takes the harder interference hit.)

There will be other standards and equipment as well. The white space concept is international, but unique to each area of the world.

Equipment is not easy; it’s challenging to develop sufficiently-broadband power amplifiers and antennas, and to meet the emission mask in a cost-effective manner.

Another challenge is developing a business plan when 120 MHz of TV spectrum could be taken away under the National Broadband Plan.

Paragraph 3 of today’s Memorandum briefly outlines what the Commission considers to be the main points of today’s action. I reproduce the text of that outline below. Please refer to the complete document for more information, and consult with a communications attorney before acting on any of this information.

By today’s decision, the FCC is taking the following actions:

“Protection Criteria for Incumbent Services

• Modifying the protection criteria for low power auxiliary stations such as wireless microphones to reduce the required separation between such devices and unlicensed personal/portable devices operating in Mode II.

• Modifying the definition of the receive sites entitled to protection outside of a television station’s service area to include all multi-channel video programming distributors as defined by our rules.

• Reserving two vacant UHF channels for wireless microphones and other low power auxiliary service devices in all areas of the country.

• Allowing operators of event and production/show venues that use large numbers of wireless microphones on an unlicensed basis that cannot be accommodated in the two reserved channels and any others available at that location to register the sites of those venues on TV bands databases to receive the same geographic spacing protections afforded licensed wireless microphones.

• Restricting fixed TV bands devices from operating on locations where the ground level is more than 76 meters above the average terrain level in the area.

TV Bands Devices

• Eliminating the requirement that TV bands devices that incorporate geo-location and database access must also listen (sense) to detect the signals of TV stations and low power auxiliary service stations (wireless microphones). As part of that change we are also revising and amending the rules in several aspects to reflect use of that method as the only means for determining channel availability. While we are eliminating the sensing requirement for TVBDs, we are encouraging continued development of this capability because we believe it holds promise to further improvements in spectrum efficiency in the TV spectrum in the future and will be a vital tool for providing opportunistic access to other spectrum bands.

• Adopting power spectral density limits for unlicensed TV bands devices.

• Modifying the rules governing measurement of adjacent channel emissions.

• Restricting fixed TV bands devices from operating at locations where the height above average terrain of the ground level is greater than 76 meters.

TV Bands Database

• Requiring that communications between TV bands devices and TV bands databases, and between multiple databases, are secure.

• Requiring that all information that is required by the Commission’s rules to be in the TV bands databases be publicly available.

Use of TV Channels

• Amending the rules to protect Canadian and Mexican stations in the border areas by including those stations in the TV bands database as protected services.

• Changing the protection zone for the radio astronomy facility near Socorro, New Mexico to a rectangular area.

• Declining to grant a request by FiberTower to set aside TV channels for fixed licensed backhaul use.”

UWB, as authorized by the FCC, operates across 3.1 to 10.6 GHz, with very low power at any one frequency; its tendency to cause or receive interference is very low.

IEEE 802 attempted to create a UWB standard in IEEE 802.15.3a but did not, as neither of two competing proposals reached the necessary voting threshold for approval. One of the competing proposals, Multi-band Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM), has since seen some consumer success in Wireless USB, which is based on a platform maintained by the WiMedia Alliance; data rates are up to 480 Mbps at a range of about 10 feet.

UWB was eventually standardized in IEEE 802.15.4a, where it exists as an alternative physical-layer to standard IEEE 802.15.4-2006, a standard for very low power, low data rate devices. (The IEEE 802.15.3 family is for higher data rates with higher power consumption.) It uses what was the other competing proposal in 802.15.3a, Direct Sequence UWB (DS-UWB). This standardized form of UWB has been commercialized for asset tracking and other location services, but not yet for consumer applications.

As Lazarus says, though UWB is successful in several applications outside the home, it has not made as much progress in the consumer market. A big reason for this is that UWB’s competitors were not so encumbered with regulatory and standardization delays.

• Standard IEEE 802.11n-2009 (high-throughput Wi-Fi) was approved a year ago with uncoded bit rates up to 600 Mbps in a 40 MHz bandwidth at 2.4 or 5 GHz.

• The Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI), which operates in 40 MHz of bandwidth in the 5 GHz unlicensed band, was standardized late last year by the WHDI Consortium. The targeted market is transmission of uncompressed (better-quality) HD video, with data rates up to 3 Gbps. IEEE 802 was not involved, though the technology is similar to 802.11n.

• There are two new millimeter-wave technologies that offer multi-gigabit data rates. These 60-GHz technologies are not direct competitors with UWB, but some overlap in applications could emerge. The data rates are much higher, but 60 GHz is blocked by most any obstruction, and power consumption is high making it unsuitable for mobile devices at this time. As with WHDI, the main market is the transmission of uncompressed HD video.

WirelessHD operates in the 57-64 GHz unlicensed band and is based on the IEEE 802.15.3c-2009 standard that was published about a year ago. The Wireless Gigabit Alliance is another 60 GHz proponent; its specification is to be based on the IEEE 802.11ad standard, which is under development and should be completed around the end of 2012.

If someone tried to standardize UWB in IEEE 802.15.3 today, they would have a better chance of success due to meeting process improvements. In making decisions in IEEE 802, it has traditionally been one-person, one-vote. That has sometimes motivated companies to send as many as possible to the standards meetings so they can earn voting rights and vote as a block, a practice frowned on by ANSI, IEEE 802’s accrediting body. Since the failure of the UWB standardization in 802.15.3, and because of evidence of block voting in other groups, IEEE 802 has modified its voting procedures to make block-voting harder. Everyone participating in the meetings now has to declare an “affiliation,” the definition of which is carefully worded to lead to the primary entity paying the participant. Consultants, for example, have to declare affiliation with their client, not their consulting firm; they often didn’t do this before. If roll-call votes show evidence of block voting, the group may be switched to entity voting (e.g., one company, one vote). That helps. IEEE 802.20 got bogged down, switched to entity voting, instantly made progress and completed its standard.

With these and further process improvements, IEEE 802 is a good home for these unlicensed standards. One advantage is that all IEEE 802 wireless projects are required to address coexistence with other IEEE 802 wireless standards. That’s hard, as many are using the same spectrum, but the affected groups sometimes can make accommodations with each other to reduce mutual interference. Also, many companies prefer the more-open process of an accredited standards development organization. The decision to go it alone or with a proprietary specification, however, is ultimately a business decision.

UWB remains unique in terms of its interference-resistant characteristics. As more RF devices enter the home, as they will with increased machine-to-machine communications, UWB could help as the more-popular relatively-narrowband devices increasingly interfere with each other. UWB may then become successful in the home out of necessity, if not as an option.

• Harris filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate on various frequencies between 3 and 15 MHz to test an experimental high-frequency wideband waveform that is intended to operate at either 12 kHz bandwidth or 24 kHz bandwidth to allow faster data transfer via high-frequency communications.

• Harris also filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to operate on 4.94-4.99 GHz in support of development of US Army’s Warfighter Information Network: Tactical (WIN-T) and Future Combat Systems (FCS) programs. Equipment is to consist of the HNRe2 Highband Network Radio, manufactured by Harris. Harris says the HNRe2 is comprised of four elements: 1) the Baseband Processing Unit, 2) the Highband RF Unit (HRFU), 3) an Inertial Navigation Unit (INU), and a GPS device. The HRFU further consists of an upconverter, a High-Powered Amplifier (HPA), a Switched Beam Antenna (SBA), a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA), and a downconverter). The test network will consist of five fixed nodes and one mobile node. The FCC has asked Harris to justify extended testing in a band that is primarily allocated for non-government public safety use.

• Canon U.S.A. filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate wireless devices in support of a private technology and product exhibition from September 1, 2010 through September 3, 2010 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, NY. Canon is planning to import many wireless devices from Japan to be used with displays during the exhibition. These devices are not FCC compliant and not expected to be FCC compliant until after the exhibition. Frequencies requested include 315.0-315.7 MHz, 2.40-2.50 GHz, 5.18-5.67 GHz, and 61.6-62.5 GHz. This application was granted on August 11.

• The Washington State Department of Ecology filed an application (and supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate 150 Design Analysis model H-222 GEOS satellite radios to transmit stream flow data. Operation is to be on 401.710-401.998 MHz.

• BAE Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for special temporary authority to operate an antenna test range in Merrimack, New Hampshire in support of the manufacture of military systems. Many frequencies are requested from 1 MHz to 2587 MHz. The application was granted on July 29.

• Broad Comm filed an application for special temporary authority to operate in support of an “emergency project by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Ocean Engineering (MIT) related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. …  Part of the project requires collecting continuous video data from an aircraft that will fly over the Gulf. The video feed needs to be relayed to nearby receiving stations either on land or on vessels near the aircraft. The operation may require the aircraft to fly out over the Gulf to a maximum distance of 300 miles (483 km) from the New Orleans, LA area at altitudes up to 3,000 feet.” The application is inconsistent with regard to the specific frequencies requested. At one point it says three frequencies are being requested: 2,210, 2,220 and 2,230 MHz. At another point it says 2253.3 MHz. The application was granted on August 11.

• Olson Instruments filed an application for special temporary authority to test an IBIS sensor unit during static and dynamic bridge testing. Operation is to be on 17.101-17.299 GHz. This application was granted on August 11.

• Lockheed Martin filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate synthetic aperture radar (SAR) in the portions of the Gulf of Mexico affected by the oil spill. The SAR data collected will be used to classify oil debris in support of FEMA operations. Operation is at 16.9 GHz.

• DRS ICAS filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate in support of the manufacture of military systems. The company has requested confidential treatment of details, but appears to be testing the DRS X46-V SATCOM terminal and 4.8 meter ground station in support of development of X-band mobile satellite communications for Operation Enduring Freedom. Operation is to be on 8326-8332 MHz.

• Reindert A. Smit, apparently an amateur radio operator, filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to experiment with ROS digital communications modem software, whose purpose is to optimize high-frequency, moon bounce, and meteor-scatter digital communications. Operation is to be on several frequencies between 1.838 MHz and 14.416 MHz. Approval was granted on August 10.

• Northrop Grumman filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for special temporary authority to test a radar system that is to demonstrate the ability to track line-of-sight (LOS) terrain obstructions, target detection, and perimeter intrusion. The radar operates using a slotted waveguide array. Operation is to be on 9380-9440 MHz. This application was granted on July 31.

• Raytheon Missile Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to operate in support of development of interference-resistant command and control radio transmissions. Operation is to be on 430-440 MHz and 902-928 MHz.

• Raytheon Network Centric Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibit) to test the Nett-Warrior Communications System. This system will be integrated into other Raytheon systems. Operation is to be on 30.025-74.600 MHz.

• CapRock Government Solutions filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to test an antenna along with modulation and encryption techniques. Operation is to be on 8280-8300 MHz.

• The Alameda County [California] Sheriff’s Office filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to operate on 763-768 MHz and 793-798 MHz to develop and evaluate broadband Long-term Evolution (LTE) equipment.

• Alcatel-Lucent filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to test LTE at several cell sites in the Chicago area. The purpose of the testing is to verify LTE performance in a mobile environment and to optimize system settings under various environments. Key performance indicators to be verified include attach success rate, paging success rate, and handover success. Operation is to be on several frequencies between 698 and 793 MHz. This application was approved on August 7.

• The Aerospace Corporation filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to test synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on 92.05-99.95 GHz. As the applicant explains, in SAR radars, “the transmitter has a component of motion in a direction perpendicular to the beam, and the reflected signals are formed into an “image” of the scatterers when resolved into groups of scatterers in a two-dimensional map based on time-of-arrival (range coordinate) and Doppler frequency shift (azimuth coordinate).” The applicant notes that, in SAR, weather and vibration can mask man-made effects. Part of the research includes mitigating image degradation due to weather and vibration so man-made effects are more apparent. This application was approved on August 7.

• The Union Pacific Railroad Company filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to conduct propagation testing on 220.725-220.750 MHz. The applicant explains that “the US rail industry is subject to a federal mandate to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) technology by the end of 2015. The industry is in the midst of a comprehensive development effort to realize this technology. A central component of PTC is wireless communications. The industry has identified 217-222 MHz as the band of operation for PTC, and some 220-222 spectrum licenses have already been acquired by an industry group. A concerted effort is underway to develop a radio specifically for this application, and we expect to have an authorized radio in early to mid 2011. However, as part of our deployment planning, we need to characterize the performance and propagation of modulated 220 MHz signals by doing field tests this year.”

• The Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate high-frequency Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar (CODAR) to map surface ocean currents. Operation was to be on several frequencies between 24.615 and 26.475 MHz. The FCC rejected the application, saying that CODAR is currently being reviewed for its potential as a service requiring a frequency allocation. Until that determination is made, there will be no more experimental authorizations.

• Rockwell Collins filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to conduct experiments to test waveforms for high speed data over high-frequencies. Testing is to include characterization of performance and actual wideband channel propagation characteristics. Rockwell Collins says it is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for MIL-STD-188-110C and MIL-STD-188-141C standards revisions and new standard definitions, and the experimental authorization will enable verification of performance and inter-operability metrics in the standards. Operation is to be on many frequencies between 2.398 and 29.720 MHz.

• Rockwell Collins also filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to test a prototype transmitter (as part of a transceiver) for the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system, a surveillance technique for air traffic control and similar uses. The company intends to conduct mobile ground testing in and around the Rockwell Collins’ facilities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Operation is to be on several frequencies between 977 and 1096 MHz.

• SpectrumBridge filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to test the usefulness of white space spectrum for use in telemedicine applications – indoor telemetry, medical records exchange, M2M applications, and enhanced wireless broadband access for doctors, patients, and visitors residing within a hospital campus. Testing is to be done in association with Hocking Valley Community Hospital in Logan, Ohio. The requested frequency band is 470-698 MHz.

• Western DataCom filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to conduct a test of extending cellular telephone coverage on the waters of Lake Erie. Operation is to be on 2353.5-2370.0 MHz. The base station would operate from a tethered aerostat (helium balloon system) at 1000-1400 feet above ground.

• Keurig, Inc. filed an application for special temporary authority to test a coffee brewing system that uses RFID technology to adjust brewing parameters in accordance with the beverage being prepared. Operation is to be on 902-928 MHz. This application was granted on August 7.

• Columbia University filed an application (with supporting exhibits) to operate WiMAX equipment on 2535-2540 MHz in support of the GENI project. The application was approved on August 11.