WASHINGTON-The Bush administration confirmed an agreement among military, high-tech and wireless firms on criteria for certifying new 5 GHz Wi-Fi devices capable of avoiding harmful interference to military radar.
RCR Wireless News first reported the accord Feb. 6.
The 5 GHz Wi-Fi pact, the result of trial-and-error testing in recent years, outlines testing and manufacturing guidelines for new 5 GHz Wi-Fi products. The offerings are expected to hit the market later this year. An advisory committee that worked on 5 GHz Wi-Fi radar protection is expected to submit recommendations to the Federal Communications Commission soon. The FCC then likely will issue a public notice or initiate a rulemaking to write the 5 GHz Wi-Fi pact into rules.
“The agreement on testing procedures for 5 GHz devices brings to an extraordinarily successful conclusion a multi-year effort to develop and eventually deploy advanced unlicensed wireless devices capable of sharing spectrum with our nation’s most sophisticated military radar. Overcoming the significant technical hurdles would not have been possible without the leadership of the FCC and NTIA, the willingness of DoD to work closely with the private sector, and the ingenuity of the high-tech companies engaged in this effort,” said Scott Blake Harris, a managing partner at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis L.L.P., which represented some of the companies involved in the negotiations.
Industry, military and government officials have been working on a 5 GHz Wi-Fi fix for the past three years, following the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s announcement in January 2003 that it had a deal with the Department of Defense to designate hundreds of megahertz for Wi-Fi and at the same time protect disruptions to military radar. The U.S. government then secured international support to expand Wi-Fi at 5 GHz at the 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference.
Recent testing of “dynamic frequency selection technology” involved equipment supplied by Atheros Communications, Cisco Systems Inc. and Motorola Inc.
NTIA, an arm of the Commerce Department, heaped praise on the DOD for helping to end the long delay in opening up an additional 255 megahertz at 5 GHz for Wi-Fi access.
“The credit for today’s outcome is overwhelmingly due to the U.S. Department of Defense’s technical tenacity and dedication to task,” NTIA said. “DoD has once again proved its ability to achieve an outcome that supports both economic security as well as national security. The technical coordination between DoD and private-sector innovators will serve as a model for overcoming spectrum access challenges for years to come.”
