Steven J. Crowley, P.E.
Consulting Engineer
Archive for the ‘Ultra-wideband’ Category
Ultra-Wideband: How Regulatory and Standardization Delays Slowed a Wireless Technology
The FCC recently issued an order denying reconsideration petitions in its ultra-wideband (UWB) proceeding. That effectively ends the 12-year UWB rulemaking process. Mitchell Lazarus recounts how UWB became bogged down at the FCC and in a failed standardization attempt in IEEE 802.
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.
Read the rest of this entry »
Experimental Radio Applications at the FCC
This summarizes a selection of applications for the Experimental Radio Service received by the FCC during May 2010. These are related to WiMAX, sensors, SAW devices, radio-location, ultra-wideband, white space, aircraft passenger communications, landslide monitoring, collision avoidance radar, mobile DTV, LTE, Inmarsat handsets, highway rock-fall monitoring, HF communications, spacecraft link characterization, and interference into broadband access.
- 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.
Experimental Radio Applications at the FCC
.
This summarizes a selection of applications for the Experimental Radio Service received by the FCC during April 16 – April 30, 2010. These are related to GPS, ultra-wideband, high-frequency radar, mobile satellite antennas, and flight test telemetry.
- Starling Advanced Communications filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to test vehicle-mounted Ku-band transmit/receive satellite terminals. Data rates will vary from 128 kbps to 2 Mbps. The tests will use the following satellites: Horizons-1 at 127° W.L., Galaxy 17 at 91° W.L., Galaxy 19 at 97° W.L., and Galaxy 16 at 99° W.L.. Operation will be on 14.0 – 14.5 GHz.
- The Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department filed an application for which all details are not publicly available due to a request for confidentiality. From available exhibits, it seeks to conduct field testing and evaluation of a through-the-wall surveillance radar prototype developed by Akela, Inc. It appears operation will be in the band 500-3600 MHz.
- The Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate equipment in support of the SuperDARN radar network, which is used for research on the upper atmosphere. The equipment to be used is in prototype form from Leicester University in the UK. Operation is to be on various frequencies from 8 to 20 MHz.
- DRS Codem Systems filed an application for which confidentiality was requested. From available exhibits, the test seems to involve the company’s DRS’s X-Band vehicle-mounted satellite-terminal antenna system.
- Blue Origin, an aerospace research and development company developing commercial space launch vehicle technology, filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license to support command and telemetry communications testing in support of its New Shepard project, which consists of two vehicles that are attached at launch but separate during flight. Blue Origin conducts flight testing of these vehicles at its test facility in Culberson County, Texas. Each vehicle needs a separate command and telemetry link. Blue Origin already has authorizations for 2069 MHz, 2202 MHz and 2250 MHz. This application adds 2042 MHz.
- Raytheon Missile Systems filed an application (with supporting exhibit) for experimental license for missile communications testing. Three radio systems related to range safety are to be tested, and include a Flight Terminate Receiver operating on 420-430 MHz, an S-Band Telemetry transmitter operating on 2200-2290, 2310-2369, and 2360-2390 MHz, and a C-Band transponder operating on 5400-5900 MHz.
- Greenwood Telecommunications Consultants filed an application (and supporting exhibit) for experimental license to test an in-building GPS navigation network solution developed by Insiteo SA, a French company. Operation is to be on 1563-1589 MHz.
- Lockheed Martin filed an application for special temporary authority to test strategies to mitigate the impact of co-frequency Radionavigation Satellite Service (e.g., GPS) signals on the operation of a TPS77 radar signal. Operation will be on 1215-1400 MHz.