WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum-sharing test-bed proposal attracted a mix of responses that appear to support parochial agendas among incumbent telecom carriers and others looking for a platform to leverage emerging, smart wireless technologies that may offer solutions to the nation’s dwindling supply of radio frequencies.
The test-bed, one of the few tangible products of the Bush spectrum initiative, directs the FCC and the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration each to identity 10 megahertz from non-government and government spectrum inventories, respectively, for spectrum-sharing testing.
Cell-phone industry trade association CTIA, said policy-makers should above all emphasize more efficient use of spectrum, particularly with respect to federal radio channels that are not subject to market incentives-such as spectrum auctions-that drive thorough use of frequencies in the commercial wireless sector. CTIA pointed to two government reports that raised questions about efficient federal spectrum use.
“Clearly, significant opportunity exists to examine new technologies and service models that can improve spectrum efficiency in federal spectrum,” CTIA noted. At the same time, the trade group conceded, “Reform of federal spectrum policy will not come easily.” CTIA said policy-makers also should investigate how to improve efficiency of non-government frequency bands where market incentives also are absent, but the association did not identify particular radio services that it believes should be scrutinized.
The mobile-phone industry said it does not want frequencies already used or planned for use by commercial wireless licensees in the test-bed. Cingular Wireless L.L.C. went further, saying the test-bed should be kept clear of congested frequency bands. As such, the top mobile-phone carrier recommended locating the test-bed above 5 GHz and limiting testing to rural areas.
“The commission should reject any proposals for a nationwide test-bed,” said Cingular. “Such an approach would limit the number of simultaneous experiments on the same spectrum band. Moreover, it would be extremely difficult to assess the interference potential to incumbents from a nationwide test-bed.” Cingular said the government should maintain tight control over the test-bed, and it should not become a vehicle for endorsing a single, proprietary technology.
But others opted for a far less cautious approach, saying the test-bed initiative offers the agency a major opportunity to boldly pursue the development of cutting-edge wireless technologies for a wide array of applications, including public safety and homeland security.
Shared Spectrum Co., a small wireless technology firm that is working with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency on its Next Generation (XG) Communications program, is one such entity.
“SSC is already substantially contributing to the development of these technologies through ongoing tests of its prototype wideband XG radios, but to gain adequate regulatory and market acceptance it will be necessary to demonstrate and evaluate various hardware and network configurations, adaptive software algorithms and enhanced measurement techniques in real-world situations in a variety of urban, suburban and rural environments,” SSC told the FCC. “If adequate and appropriate spectrum is expeditiously made available, the NTIA/FCC test-bed will allow SSC and others to immediately and significantly expand the development and accelerate the deployment of innovative spectrum-sharing systems for both government and non-government users.”
Unlike the cell-phone industry, SSC pushed for candidate frequency bands below 1 GHz, with at least 2.5 megahertz of contiguous bandwidth and with reasonable regulatory flexibility attached to them.
Martin Cooper, a cellular pioneer and executive chairman of ArrayComm L.L.C., said the test-bed should include the multiple antenna signal processing technology that his firm is developing. Cooper said the spectrum-sharing test-bed should be designed to objectively measure spectrum efficiency.
Motorola Inc., Cooper’s former employer, advocated creating one test-bed under 1 GHz and another above 1 GHz. In addition, Motorola suggested the FCC allow multiple candidates to utilize the test-bed by granting each a single nationwide experimental license.
TerreStar Networks Inc., which is working with its Canadian partner to deploy a hybrid mobile satellite system supported by land-based cellular networks, said the test-bed could be valuable in developing interoperability solutions for first responders.
Along similar lines, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department requested that a spectrum-sharing test-bed be established for airborne video operations in the 2.3 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands.
