6 GHz use comes closer to fruition in the US
The Federal Communications Commission has given the green light on testing for Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems in the 6 GHz band, which the Wireless Innovation Forum (WInnForum) called “a significant and material step towards the opening of the 6 GHz band to shared use.”
The FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology has put out a public notice that lays out the testing process, which including both lab testing and a required public trial in which the systems are open for public use for 45 days; those tests can occur concurrently. Once AFC systems have passed the testing successfully, they will be approved for full commercial operations in the band.
When the FCC opened wide swaths of the 6 GHz band for use, it also acknowledged that parts of the spectrum between 5.925-7.125 GHz are heavily used by point-to-point microwave systems and in some locations by radio astronomy systems, and the agency envisioned AFC systems that would manage spectrum access—similar to Spectrum Access Systems in the CBRS band.
WInnForum and Wi-Fi Alliance put together a suggested approach to testing based on the functional requirements laid out by the FCC, which ultimately ended up as the basis for the testing that OET has laid out. The test vector inputs that the organizations came up with, the FCC said, “will exercise the AFC systems over a wide range of conditions comprising locations requiring all three specified propagation models (free space, Winner II, and Irregular Terrain Model) to be used, different environments (urban, rural, and suburban), and different fixed microwave antenna heights.3 These test vectors have been designed to exercise the full variety of propagation environments and microwave link characteristics that can occur in practice to verify that the AFC system is protecting those links from harmful interference in accordance with the Commission’s rules.”
Dr. Masoud Olfat, chair of WInnForum’s Test and Certification Task Group as well as VP of technology and ecosystem development at Federated Wireless, said that WInnforum is “delighted” that its efforts to address the interests of the various 6 GHz ecosystem players were successful. “Our efforts have yielded an extensive test plan and test harness that have been approved by FCC to execute the AFC test and certification process,” he said.
“This is a significant and material step towards the opening of the 6 GHz band to shared use for standard power outdoor uses in conjunction with AFC system protections of 6 GHz licensees,” said Richard Bernhardt, senior director of spectrum and industry at WISPA, who serves as chair of the WInnForum Functional Specifications Working Group.
Thirteen AFC systems were given conditional approval for operations late last year, on the condition that they undergo a rigorous testing process to make sure that unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band would still allow incumbent operations to be protected. Google, Comsearch, Sony Group, Kyrio, Nokia Innovations, Federated Wireless, Qualcomm, Plume Design and RED Technologies were among the first to receive conditional approval, with Wi-Fi Alliance, the Wireless Broadband Alliance, Key Bridge Wireless and Broadcom also receiving conditional approval.
Last week, Qualcomm announced that the government of Canada had approved it as the first Automated Frequency Coordination System Administrator (AFCSA) for commercial operation of Wi-Fi 6 systems in Canada. Qualcomm said that its AFC system is “immediately available” for operations in Canada.
