Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Shared Spectrum Access for Radar and Communications Phase 2 - FCC 3.5 GHz CBRS

Shared Spectrum Access for Radar and Communications Phase 2 - Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities
Industry Day Bidder Q&A Posted
Question 6: Bob Schneider's presentation at the Industry Day referred to a recent NTIA proposal for radar/communication spectrum sharing, filed in FCC 3.5 GHz proceeding. Where can this proposal be found?
The NTIA letter (FCC docket 12-354, filing submitted 3/24/2015, attorney Stacy M. Cheney) may be found at http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=60001027385. There are 3 parts all linked from that page.

Commercial Operations in the 3550-3650 MHz Band (GN Docket No. 12-354)

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) appreciates that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will soon adopt final rules in the above-referenced proceeding to facilitate sharing between a new Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) and federal incumbents in the 3550-3650 MHz band (3.5 GHz Band). This rulemaking addresses advanced sharing with commercial operations to improve wireless broadband connectivity. NTIA's 2010 Fast Track Report identified the 3.5 GHz Band as potentially suitable for commercial broadband use, subject to certain geographic limitations. The 3.5 GHz Band is one of the candidate bands identified by NTIA in response to the President's initiative to make available 500 megahertz of spectrwn for commercial wireless broadband.

The 3 .5 GHz Band is well suited to exploring the next generation of shared spectrum technologies, driving greater productivity and efficiency in spectrum use. In this letter, NTIA responds to the 3.5 GHz Band FNPRM for the purposes of:
  1. proposing specific changes to the regulatory framework of the spectrum sharing model to effectively protect federal operations and maximize available spectrum available for commercial broadband;
  2. outlining a phased implementation and approval process for commercial access to the 3.5 GHz Band;
  3. designating smaller zones for the protection of federal systems based on new technical analysis;
  4. addressing protection of commercial operations in the 3.5 GHz Band from federal radar systems; and
  5. correcting the rules regarding an active protected federal radar site in the 3650-3700 MHz band.

Question 7: What is the influence of the expected FCC 3.5 GHz order on the SSPARC program.
It is anticipated that the FCC approach will set the baseline standoff distance against which SSPARC should show improvement in Phase 3 when applied to the same radar and communications systems.

Background/Related

The CBRS would be established at 3550-3650 MHz, possibly combined with the adjacent 3650-3700 MHz band. This is an odd choice, at first glance. The incumbents at 3550-3650 MHz are high-powered ground and airborne military radars, and earth stations that receive satellite signals – on the face of it, poor candidates for sharing. The 3650-3700 MHz segment is widely used for delivery of commercial broadband service. Both bands have long been regarded as so sensitive that they are closed to most unlicensed devices.
The FCC nonetheless thinks it has a way to introduce new users to these frequencies without causing interference either to incumbents or to each other. The details appear in a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM).
Like an earlier plan, the proposal would establish three priority levels to govern access to the shared spectrum – but there the similarities mostly end.
The new plan would give the highest priority to Incumbent Access (IA) use. As the name suggests, IA would be limited to incumbent users. They would be permitted to operate at any time, and would be free to cause interference to anybody (except, in some cases, to each other). They would also enjoy protection against interference from everybody else, using geographic “exclusion zones” within which no one else could operate on the incumbents’ frequencies.

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