This summarizes a selection of applications for the Experimental Radio Service received by the FCC during March 2011. These are related to VHF propagation, satellite communications, TV white space, military communications, radar, software defined radio, aircraft broadband services, adaptive networks, peer-to-peer networks, intermodulation testing, unmanned aircraft systems, maritime broadband communications, border surveillance, target acquisition, and millimeter wave propagation. The applications are sorted by frequency.
Recently
Blogband: The Critics Rave
April 3rd, 2011Blogband is the FCC’s official blog of the National Broadband Plan. I find many of the posts interesting; I sometimes get more insight on where the Commission is coming from. I posted a comment to one of them a few days ago. It was accepted for moderation, and that was the last I saw of it. Wondering what happened, today I checked the Blogband Moderation Policy; since I expressed a contrary view, I suppose it might have been considered a violation of the “relevant discussion” clause. Otherwise, I think I met the provisions.
Should a Sales Brochure Underlie US Spectrum Policy?
March 29th, 2011The FCC relies on Cisco’s forecast of mobile-broadband data demand as a basis for spectrum policy. Called the Visual Networking Index, it comes up many times in the National Broadband Plan, in other documents, and in speeches.
AT&T and T-Mobile – Interpreting the Spin
March 25th, 2011AT&T and T-Mobile have collected their press release and associated documents on one web site. A few points caught my eye.
Experimental Radio Applications at the FCC
March 15th, 2011This summarizes a selection of applications for the Experimental Radio Service received by the FCC during February 2011. These are related to cognitive radio, land mobile, TV white space, unmanned aircraft systems, satellite terminals, ultra-wideband, wildlife tracking, interference detection, and radar. The descriptions are sorted by frequency.
Stanford-developed Transceiver Operates Full Duplex on a Single Channel
March 2nd, 2011To avoid interference, wireless transceivers can switch between transmit and receive on one frequency (Time Division Duplex (TDD)). Or, they can transmit and receive at the same time on different frequencies (Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)). There’s been a flurry of press reports about a new radio system, developed by Stanford researchers, that can operate full duplex on a single channel; that is, transmitting and receiving at the same time on the same frequency, something not done before.
NTIA looks at Contraband Cell Phones in Prisons
February 21st, 2011Contraband cell phones are sometimes used by prisoners to talk to a child after school, for Facebook updates, or to post videos to YouTube. Other times they’re used to plan strikes, organize escapes, and order executions. Prisoner-directed crimes will occur with or without wireless, but cell phone access reduces barriers to them, and it’s a growing problem.
Experimental Radio Applications at the FCC
January 3rd, 2011This summarizes a selection of applications for the Experimental Radio Service received by the FCC during December 2010. These are related to FM broadcasting, Positive Train Control, TV white space, mobile satellite terminals, GSM, UMTS, through-the-wall surveillance radar, troposcatter communications, millimeter-wave propagation, flight test telemetry, Doppler weather radar, and air-to-air military radar.
ITU Loosens Hold on Term “4G” – Now Calls it “Undefined”
December 9th, 2010The debate won’t end but the volume is dropping on the what-is-4G controversy. Previously, I’ve written about the ITU’s characterization of 4G as only applying to the two radio technologies it has designated as IMT-Advanced: LTE-Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced (the latest version of WiMAX).
“Trusted” Academia Favored over Industry in FCC’s Proposed Experimental Rules
December 8th, 2010With praise for academia, the FCC has adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would make it easier for colleges, universities, and non-profit labs to conduct radio experiments. The proposed rules create a “program experimental radio license” that lets those institutions apply for broad, long-term, blanket licenses that reduce the need to go to the FCC for each and every experiment. Licensees would instead give seven days’ notice of new operations to the FCC and to the public via an FCC website. Potential interference victims could object before or after the experiment starts, but the burden of proof is on them. Licensees would agree to keep interfering signals on their property. Find something interesting during the experiment that makes you want to try a new frequency? Submit a new notice. It’s a streamlined process that will reduce licensing delays and speed up academic R&D. To get this efficiency, however, interference policing shifts from the FCC to potential interference victims; they’ll have to be on heightened alert.
FCC Takes Further Steps toward Mobile Broadband in TV Spectrum
December 2nd, 2010On November 30, the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) as a preliminary step toward making the current TV broadcast spectrum available for use by fixed and mobile wireless broadband services. The proposed rules would do three things: 1) make fixed and mobile wireless services co-primary with broadcasting in the FCC’s Table of Frequency Allocations, 2) create a regulatory structure giving two or more TV stations the option to share one 6 MHz channel, and 3) improve VHF TV reception through power increases and adoption of receiver antenna standards. No service rules are being proposed; they’re to come later. Congress has yet to approve incentive auction authority.
ITU Gets “4G” Pushback from IEEE 802
November 27th, 2010The IEEE 802 Executive Committee today approved correspondence asking ITU for clarification on its use of the term “4G” in an October 21 press release on IMT-Advanced. The main concern is ITU’s characterization of IMT-Advanced as “true 4G.” IEEE 802 observes that some in industry and government use 4G to mean mobile broadband technologies other than IMT-Advanced. Consequently, IEEE 802 says, ITU’s announcement has caused such users to be on the receiving end of “public response” (i.e., negative publicity), and could cause “significant disruption” to existing technical activities and documentation. It also observes that such use of 4G seems inconsistent with ITU-R Working Party 5D’s prior consideration of the term.