COLUMBIA, Md.-The engineers at the Federal Communications Commission have finished examining various proposals to solve the interference problem experienced by public-safety agencies in the 800 MHz band, said Edmond Thomas, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.
`We basically separated the technical facts from the technical fiction,” said Thomas.
The FCC is still poised to make a decision by the end of the year, said Thomas, noting that a draft decision should be circulated to the commissioners’ offices soon. He said it has been tentatively planned for an agenda meeting later this year, but declined to say when.
Thomas would not rule out the consensus plan supported by Nextel Communications Inc., private wireless entities and some in public safety. But he continued to lean toward various technical solutions to the problem. “The requirement to clear interference does not require rebanding,” he said.
FCC engineers have evaluated the various solutions presented and understand the pros and cons of each, said Thomas. “This is like an erector set. We understand the piece parts,” he said.
While the basic examinations have been completed, Thomas expects continued evaluations as policy choices are made regarding the best way to solve the interference problem.
“There is a collection of best practices” to solve interference, said Thomas, but “that is not to say that you don’t want to do a rebanding from a policy perspective.”
Thomas made his statements at a Thursday press conference at the FCC’s Engineering Lab. As part of the press conference, reporters were given a rare tour of the lab, which was renovated after Michael Powell became chairman of the FCC. Part of the tour involved showing how $300,000 of equipment can make simulations of the various interference scenarios using 11 different public-safety radios.
The 800 MHz band contains cellular operators at one end and SMRs (mostly Nextel), private wireless and public-safety operations interwoven throughout the rest.
In late 2001, Nextel submitted a white paper to the FCC suggesting how the interference problem could be solved. Since that time, Nextel revised its plan and has joined with private-wireless entities and some public-safety advocates suggesting a rebanding proposal called the Consensus Plan. The Consensus Plan would split the 800 MHz band into two parts-one for cellularized systems and one for non-cellularized systems. The most controversial aspect of the plan is that Nextel would receive 10 megahertz of spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band (1910-1915-1995 MHz).
The alternative proposal, supported by The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, the United Telecom Council, which represents utilities, and individual wireless carriers relies on best practices to solve interference problems where they occur. The plan also would allow utilities and others to upgrade their systems without being hindered by not being able to install a cellular system if they so choose.
Motorola Inc. also has devised a technical solution.
As part of the OET tour, Thomas continued his cheerleading of ultra-wideband technologies.
A major theme of the tour was the work engineers are doing with various UWB devices. Thomas announced that the FCC is testing UWB devices. In the lab Thursday were real-life examples of ground-penetrating radar devices. During an outdoor demonstration, Thomas and other engineers showed reporters that a handheld global positioning system satellite device did not experience interference when placed directly in the path of the UWB device. They contrasted this with the impact to the GPS receiver from a mobile TV receiver that was recently taken off the market because it interfered with GPS signals.
Thomas came to the FCC as the final battle for UWB authorization was being waged in late 2001. Since the limited authorization was adopted in early 2002, he has consistently downplayed the concerns of the GPS community, including some mobile-phone carriers.
Thursday’s tour was another event in his campaign to prove that UWB has great benefits and causes little harm.
