• Polytechnic Institute of NYU filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to conduct a network research project using WiMAX on 2535-2540 MHz. This is part of the nationwide Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) project, a suite of infrastructure that will support experimental research in network science and engineering. GENI is supported by the National Science Foundation and managed by the GENI Project Office at BBN Technologies.

• Mnemonics, Inc. filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate in support of a research project that is to develop and demonstrate the viability of wirelessly extracting measured data from a network of passive surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor devices. This sensing technique is said to have several advantages over existing sensors, including no wired connections needed to extract data, no power requirements, operation up to 1000 degrees C., and sensor cost in-quantity in the tens of cents each. Operation will be on 915 MHz.

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate on 512-608 and 614-698 MHz. This is in support of research and evaluation of equipment that uses radio-location technology to precisely identify the location of firefighters and firefighter deployed sensors within a building.

• Zimmerman Associates filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to test prototype equipment that uses ultra wideband (UWB) technology developed by Time Domain Corporation. The equipment generates a signal that is pulse position modulated. The position of the modulated pulse varies randomly in time producing an emission that approximates Gaussian noise. The nominal center frequency of the signal is 4.4 to 4.5 GHz with the half power point bandwidth at 3.1 to 5.6 GHz. The radiated power of the device is below the general limits set forth in Part 15. This testing is in support of a U.S. Army contract.

• The Moment Lab, University of California, Santa Barbara filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to conduct experimentation regarding use of the TV white spaces. The Lab seeks to evaluate its solutions for modulation and coding scheme and channel width adaptation on long-distance (rural) white-space links. Operation will be on 512-608 and 614-698 MHz.

• Panasonic Avionics Corporation filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license  to conduct ground testing in support of Panasonic’s Global Communications Suite (GCS) featuring the “eXconnect” Ku-band aeronautical mobile-satellite service (AMSS) system supporting wireless connectivity for devices such as GSM phones and Wi-Fi enabled laptops. Using low-power wireless transceivers onboard aircraft, GCS processes passenger communications for transmission to ground networks via satellite communications networks. Operation will be on various frequencies between 421 and 5825 MHz.

• Ingegneria Dei Sistemi S.p.a. filed an application for special temporary authority to operate equipment for landslide monitoring as part of a demonstration for the US Geological Survey. The equipment is classified in Europe as a portable Short range Device (SRD) as it said to be compatible with primary services. Compliance testing of this equipment with the applicable requirements in the US, however, has not been yet been accomplished. Operation will be on 17.1-17.3 GHz.

• DRS EW & Network Systems filed an application for special temporary authority to test identification, friend or foe (IFF) equipment that is being developed under a contract with Italian Air Force. Operation is between 1030 and 1090 MHz.

• Boundary County Community Television filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate using vacant spectrum in the television broadcast bands (white spaces) for the testing of fixed white-space devices. Boundary County Community Television is working jointly with Spectrum Bridge in investigating the usefulness of available white space (UHF/VHF) spectrum by providing “rural broadband access and support of video, sensor, low power AM broadcast radio using IP streaming, Wi-Fi access and medical records exchange.” The two companies will also be working with the U.S. Customs and Forest Service in application development and evaluation. Operation will be on 174-216, 470-608, and 614-698 MHz near Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

• Magna Electronics filed an application (with supporting exhibits), apparently for experimental license (the application form is not available at this time). Magna Electronics says it is developing an automotive 77 GHz radar for use in the reduction of vehicular accidents through situational awareness. Research is underway to detect forward objects of interest that may cause an accident, to either warn the driver or autonomously brake the vehicle to reduce the impact energy. Magna also notes that over 1.8 million rear end collisions are reported in the United States annually; this is more than 1/3 of all reported accidents and is the leading accident type.

• Dell Marketing filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to conduct market studies that focus on consumer acceptability of mobile digital television transmitted using the ATSC A/153 standard. This authority applies only to reception devices.  Transmission will be made from regularly licensed TV stations. The reception devices to be used in the test (up to 1000 specially configured Dell Netbook computers) will include tuners for the reception of ATSC A/53 conventional DTV signals and ATSC A/153 mobile DTV signals but not analog tuners. Frequencies to be used include 54-72, 76-88, 174-216, and 470-698 MHz.

According to Dell, “The receivers at issue are not to be sold directly to the public. Instead,, the receivers are to be sold to Dell commercial customers who, as a result of the tests they are to conduct, will be able to provide feedback as to such issues as the field performance of the receivers, acceptability of the user interface, consumer expectations and acceptability of possible prices (e.g. “Would you be willing to pay _____ for this device, provided that it includes DTV/MDTV reception capability?”), consumer use data (hours per day of viewing, principle reasons for viewing, reasons for stopping viewing), and perceived value of the service.”

Dell also says “Half of the proposed units will be sold to a major multi-channel video programming provider for use in a test in which the provider will make the receivers available to selected consumers who agree to participate in the test. The others are to be made available for sale to broadcast television transmission equipment makers who will provide them to broadcast stations for demonstration and consumer feedback purposes in connection with the launch of mobile television service this summer. In both cases, a condition of Dell’s sale will be to provide Dell feedback that will assist Dell in both product design and marketing, including being able to set initial prices should the Commission agree ultimately to permit the widespread marketing of portable receivers without analog tuners that are designed for on-the-go reception and are powered primarily from batteries.”

• Alcatel-Lucent filed an application (with associated exhibits) for experimental license to operate on various frequencies between 698 and 2155 MHz to evaluate LTE technology over-the-air. Specific tests are to include validation of call processing, handoffs, power control, and data scheduler algorithms.

• Inmarsat Hawaii filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to conduct technical demonstrations using new, pre-production Global Satellite Phone Service (“GSPS”) prototype handsets, test these handsets in connection with their production and the deployment of other parts of the GSPS network, and otherwise develop radio techniques, equipment, operational data and engineering data related to GSPS. Inmarsat Hawaii says that “GSPS will be a highly competitive offering in terms of hardware costs, airtime rates and service quality, with a strong combination of form and functionality that Inmarsat believes will change the landscape in the provision of the mobile satellite services. The requested experimental authority would facilitate the introduction of GSPS to the U.S. by enabling Inmarsat to develop the technical expertise to extend and enhance existing uses of L-band spectrum through the introduction of GSPS.”

• Associated Air Center filed an application for special temporary authority to perform electromagnetic interference susceptibility tests to demonstrate that the use of on-board cell phones do not cause interference on any electrical equipment installed on the aircraft while on the ground. “A direct influence on the aircrafts navigation and communication systems is not expected, but a susceptibility investigation is considered neccessary [sic] as the electromagnetic field levels are in close vicinity of the signal source might raise to levels that cause interference. The testing will concentrate on demonstrating the electromagnetic compatibility of RF bands used for CDMA, GSM, PDC and UMTS cell phones within a aircraft environment [sic].” Operation will be on various frequencies between 410 and 2700 MHz.

• Booz Allen Hamilton filed an application for special temporary authority to evaluate the RF performance of commercial IEEE 802.16e (Mobile WiMAX) equipment for United States Air Force Global Broadcast Service applications. Operation is to be on 2620.250-2628.500 MHz.

• Raytheon Network Centric Systems filed an application for special temporary authority to test a Ground Surveillance Radar (GSR) system, intended to provide all-weather detection and tracking capability for facility/critical infrastructure and border security programs. Operation is to be on 3100-3500 MHz.

• Vexcel, a Microsoft subsidiary, filed an application (with associated exhibits) for experimental license to demonstrate a specialized short range, low power trailer-mounted radar system that illuminates a rock wall next to a highway and maps the surface profile in detail. Vexcel says that this technique can be used to detect potential dangerous rockfalls that could damage vehicles and travelers on the adjacent highway. Operation is to be on 10.7-11.2 GHz.

As background, Vexcel says that in October 2007, it “made a presentation to the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHA) office proposing the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology for the detection and monitoring of rock fall and landslides on steep slopes that border busy transportation corridors. Vexcel had previously demonstrated through software simulation that integrating the interferometric SAR data processing technique into a ground-based system would enable the measurement of surface displacements on the order of a millimeter at stand-off distances of up to several hundred meters. Since surface displacements are a precursor to rock wall failure, the ability to measure surface displacement over time yields a capability to predict wall failures. This predictive capability would enable transportation authorities to schedule mitigation activities during low traffic periods thereby minimizing the risk to life and limb of rock wall failures and significantly reducing their negative economic impacts.”

“To properly verify the system operation, Vexcel needs to measure several different types of rock formations. To do this, the system will be installed on a trailer which can be towed to each experimental site. A drawing depicting the trailer system is shown in Figure 1. Directional horn antennas are used to transmit and receive the radar’s radio frequency signal. The antennas are mounted on a linear rail system and are moved horizontally and vertically along the rails. The motion is such that the antenna pointing direction is not changed during operation. The horizontal rail allows for 5 meters of motion. The vertical rail allows for 1.6 meter of motion. The antenna’s highest position above the ground during operation is 2.6 meters.”

• TWC Wireless, the wireless division of Time Warner Cable, filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to test WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) equipment and applications over-the-air. These tests are intended to support system, application and device development, as well as quality assurance. Operation is to be on 2513-2535 MHz.

• L-3 Communications Linkabit Division filed an application (with associated exhibits) for experimental license to conduct a series of experiments with HF and VHF multiband radio equipment. The purpose of the experiment is to confirm performance of the equipment against engineering specifications, characterize field performance of the equipment, and rehearse scripted equipment demonstrations in support of marketing activities. Operation is to be on various frequencies from 1.8 to 107.5 MHz. The communications will be primarily voice with very limited digital data. Also, encrypted (AES 256) and unencrypted communications will be evaluated. Upon successful conclusion of the experiments, the equipment will be offered for sale worldwide, subject to US export regulations.

• Morehead State University filed an application for special temporary authority to operate a ground station and characterize the Mini-RF radar instrument, one of seven instruments on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The LRO is currently orbiting the Moon. The science team has a program requirement to characterize the transmit and receive paths of the Mini-RF instrument on a regular basis. The characterizations require one week of testing and repeated every 9-12 months. Operation is to be on various frequencies from 2370 to 7150 MHz.

• Telcordia Technologies filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to conduct testing on 495-505 and 525-535 kHz in support of deliverables under a Department of Defense research program for the Laboratory of Telecommunication Sciences. The project includes experiments to better understand vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to natural and man-made phenomena. In particular, Telcordia proposes to conduct experiments on the impact of radio frequency interference (RFI) into advanced communications services such as broadband access. It proposes to do this by running short term transmission experiments at a number of locations using conventional AM transmissions, but just below the commercial AM band to avoid interference with commercial broadcasts.

• Fitness Foundation filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to test wireless monitoring and reporting of people’s activity levels in support of an effort to combat obesity and promote active lifestyles. Operation is to be on 174-216 MHz and 512-700 MHz near Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. FCC staff is concerned about the potential for interference to others and has asked the applicant why so much bandwidth is needed.
• Hyperion Technology Group filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to support the development of a system capable of early detection of extreme weather phenomena, including wind shear, tornadoes and hurricane-spawned tornadoes. Operation is to be nationwide on 10.4-10.6 GHz. FCC staff questions this frequency selection, saying in correspondence to the applicant that there are two footnotes to the U.S Table of Allocations that are problematic. US58 prohibits pulsed emissions in 10-10.5 GHz. US59 prohibits any emission other than N0N in 10.5-10.55 GHz. Staff further observes that while experimental licenses are not always bound by allocation restrictions, there is great likelihood that NTIA would object to this application when it gets coordinated with government users. The applicant has suggested a compromise, and notes that the frequency range was selected based on the availability of relatively-inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf hardware for the initial research. Once the concept is validated and high-energy wind phenomena are better understood, it is the applicant’s intention to move to a different frequency and build custom hardware to support that frequency.
• David Miller (MIT) filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to conduct testing of the CASTOR (Cathode/Anode Satellite Thruster for Orbital Repositioning) satellite. The intent is to validate the performance and application of Diverging Cusped Field Thruster (DCFT) technology. According to the Miller, this will be achieved by taking on-orbit state data to compare the degradation experienced by the DCFT to that of similar technologies such as Hall thrusters. In order to measure the thruster’s on-orbit performance, efficiency, and degradation, it is necessary to transmit sensor data and pictures obtained from an onboard camera to a ground station. Operation is to be in low-earth orbit (700-3000 km) on 2.4000-2.4835 GHz.
• Northrop Grumman filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for special temporary authority for the purpose of developing an airborne platform with a microwave transmitter to fulfill a contract with the US Air Force. The requested frequency band is 2250-2260 MHz.
• The University of Washington filed an application for special temporary authority to operate on 433.845-433.995 MHz from free-flying balloons launched in Washington State. This is to support, as part of a class project, research in atmospheric structure using a transmitter as a sounder to make atmospheric temperature profiles and as a beacon to recover the transmitter.
• Keurig, Inc. filed an application for special temporary authority to operate RFID technology on 902-928 MHz. Keurig is a vendor of single-cup beverage brewing systems. Its new Keurig B80K home-based brewers will use new beverage identification technology implemented with RFID. In the system, “K-Cups” containing the beverage powder are embedded with RFID tags. The brewers identify the type of K-Cup used and adjust brewing parameters to match the beverage. Prior to design finalization of the brewer, Keurig wants to conduct consumer acceptance testing with 300 brewers in the field.
• Ticom Geomatics filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to operate on various high frequencies in the 2-30 MHz range for test and development of direction finding techniques. As part of a US Navy contract, the company is extending high-frequency groundwave geolocation techniques to include skywave and near vertical incidence skywave (NVIS) signals. This work will include enhancements to a groundwave/skywave discriminator, extensions to include ionospheric modeling, and geolocation and error model enhancements.

• The Maryland Department of the Environment filed an application (with supporting exhibits) to operate a wind-profiling radar on 915 MHz. The equipment was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and fabricated by Radian International. The antenna is to consist of one steerable four-panel micro-patch phased array.

• DTV Norwich filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for special temporary authority to conduct propagation tests prior to potential full-scale deployment of Multichannel Video and Data Distribution Service (“MVDDS”) at 12.2 to 12.7 GHz in the Miami area. This is to determine the suitability of potential transmitter sites for full-scale operation, for which DTV Norwich has a license.

• Lockheed Martin filed an application for special temporary authority to test and demonstrate a military airborne communications system. It is a 3G cellular-like voice and data system that will be provided by a tactical airborne radio base station and modified Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) mobile ground terminals. The equipment is manufactured by IP Wireless and will operate on 758-763 and 788-793 MHz.

• Lockheed Martin also filed an application (and supporting exhibits) for experimental license to test the countermeasure capabilities of the TPS-77 tactical transportable radar system. This activity is in support of a contract with the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia. Operation is to be on 1275 and 1372 MHz.

• Lockheed Martin also requested special temporary authority for testing involving the transmission of video imagery and tactical data. Transmission will be ground-to-ground and air-to-ground using a helicopter. Operation is to be on 2.428 and 4.700 GHz.

• Battelle filed an application (and supporting exhibit) for special temporary authority to test a millimeter-wave communications link with a data rate of 10 Gbps over a distance of 1 km. Operation is to be on 95-105 GHz.

• The City of Memphis requested special temporary authority on behalf of its Memphis Light Gas and Water (MLGW) utility. This is to test a high-speed private point-to-multipoint mobile broadband wireless system to support its existing and planned mission-critical data applications. The intent is to improve on an existing, obsolete, narrowband, private mobile radio data system for its 500 utility vehicles. Operation will be on 775-805 MHz.

• Rockwell Collins requested special temporary authority  to test high-speed data waveforms over high-frequencies using bandwidths wider than the traditional 3 kHz (specifically, up to 12 KHz). Rockwell Collins is currently designing these new waveforms and testing them in the laboratory. Testing will occur on various frequencies from 3.171 to 14.550 MHz.

• Universal Avionics Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate on 131.55, 136.85, and 136.975 MHz. This is to test a two-way digital data link that allows an aircraft to exchange data with a ground host computer.

• Aviat Networks requested special temporary authority to test and demonstrate new WiMAX equipment and system design including a base station, customer-premise equipment, and mobile equipment. Operation is to be on 2502.0-2507.5 MHz.

• The University of Iowa filed an application (and associated exhibits) for experimental license to test a flight simulation system that involves ground-based and airborne simulators. Under this system, a video downlink allows a group of subject matter experts to witness the performance of the technology from the ground, while the flight is underway. This testing supports a project focusing on the development and commercialization of a physiologically-based training system that supports the goals of the US military. Operation will be at 2410.275-2415.725 MHz.

• TV Microwaves Company filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to test COFDM video transmitters aboard a non-government rocket at elevations up to 100,000 feet, above Tillamook, Oregon (the receive site). Testing will be on various frequencies between 450.65 and 2483.5 MHz.

• Rincon Research filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to conduct tests in support of a research project is to develop and improve radiolocation technology. The proposed system is to consist of “simple” equipment on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using omnidirectional antennas communicating with a base station with directional antennas tracking the UAVs. Part of the communications includes a wideband link from the UAV to the ground processing station containing signals-of-interest and precision tracking and timing information. There are also control signals from the ground processing station to the UAV signal processing hardware. Requested frequencies include 902-928, 5470-5600, and 9300-9500 MHz.

Applications were also filed by the following, but there is little information publicly available due to requests for confidentiality:

• SpiderCloud Wireless
• Boeing
• Deterministic Time Solutions
• Digital Receiver Technology

The following two companies filed applications that appear incomplete at the time of this post. An FCC staffer has requested additional information. This post will be updated as details are received.

• Intel
• International Totalizing Systems