Urgent Communications has tips (registration required) from a grant-writing consultant on getting grant money for public safety narrowbanding.

• 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

• Skyport Global Communications filed an application (with supporting exhibits) to test a 55cm slot-array X-band antenna manufactured by EMS Technologies on 8218-8400 MHz. The test will be done using a satellite link between the 55cm antenna in Atlanta, Georgia and a hub in Houston, Texas using the XTAR LANT X-band satellite.

• Ingegneria Dei Sistemi S.p.a. filed an application for special temporary authority to operate on 17.1-17.3 GHz in support of a landslide monitoring system to be tested in Bingham Canyon, Utah. This testing is in conjunction with Rio Tinto, an international mining group.

• Columbia University filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for an experimental license to operate WiMAX equipment on 2590-2596 MHz as part of the GENI project.

• SET Corporation filed an application (and supporting exhibits) for special temporary authority to operate on 35.75 GHz in Denver, Colorado and vicinity. There are not many technical details in the filing; the company has requested confidential treatment of the information describing the proposed operation. The company is using equipment from Norden Millimeter, a vendor of millimeter wave amplifier products for what is apparently a radar project.

• DRS Tactical Systems filed an application (and supporting exhibit) requesting special temporary authority to operate in Melbourne, Florida on 4.94-4.99 GHz. This is to be in support of a test of three data nodes – two fixed, and one mobile. In the test, a Harris Broadband Ethernet Radio system will be attached to a DRS Gateway System The testing is intended to develop complex gateway functionality for military and commercial users in a mobile environment.

• Sierra Nevada Corporation filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate near Sparks, Nevada on 9.30-9.32 and 33.0-33.4 GHz. This is to support design and development of a receiver that is to be part of an Automated Carrier Landing System, an all-weather automatic landing system used on some ships to land high-performance fighter aircraft.

• Oklahoma State University-University Multispectral Laboratories, LLC filed an application (with supporting exhibits) for experimental license to operate  on 495.25 609.25, and 753.25 at Chilocco, Oklahoma. Those frequencies correspond to the visual carrier frequencies for analog television channels 18, 37, and 61, respectively. The modulating signal may be NTSC television.

The purpose of the proposed operation is to fulfill a government contract, but there is little additional detail. Part of the application says the operation is “to provide various sensor test and evaluation services.” Another part says operation is for “testing of the Psyops transmitting equipment.”

The format is an online narrated presentation of about 170 slides. Internet Explorer and registration are required for viewing.

Today most backhaul links are wireline; through 2015, the percentage of wireless versus wireline backhaul links is predicted to increase, with percentages about even by 2016. The number of backhaul links in wireless networks is predicted to increase from 300,000 in 2008 to 500,000 in 2015.

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