Wireless Manufacturers Expect to Meet HAC Compliance Deadline, Despite Challenges
Despite major challenges, wireless manufacturers expect to meet the FCC’s Sept. 16 deadline for having 2 hearing aid compatibility (HAC) compliant products, officials said. Speaking for 36 HAC Incubator industry members, including vendors and carriers, ATIS said several HAC-compliant handsets already are available and waiting to be tested. “There’s been substantial work done in the last few months and we consistently get proper ratings,” an ATIS spokeswoman said: “But there are still technical issues that have to be addressed.”
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The FCC last year required wireless digital phones to be HAC-compliant, adopting the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) C63.19-2001 technical measurement standard for measuring and rating the wireless devices’ compatibility. Last month the Commission allowed HAC certification applicants to use either the 2001 or the draft 2005 version of the standard (CD April 26 p5). It said allowing use of the new measurement and rating procedures would enable manufacturers and carriers to meet a Sept. 16 deadline for providing handsets models that comply with the radio frequency interference requirements.
Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia recently told the FCC they may not meet the regulatory requirements for specific air-interfaces, because they have difficulty achieving HAC compatibility measurements of M3 or M4 for GSM handset devices operating in the 850 MHz frequency band (CD May 4 p6). When the ANSI standard was being developed, they said, their primary focus with GSM was on 1900 MHz products. For technical reasons, they said, GSM products in the 850 MHz band are far more likely to interfere with hearing aids. The challenge seems to be industry-wide. “850 MHz is a challenge and we formed a working group to address that issue and we fully expect to have a solution by September 16,” ATIS Technical Coordinator James Turner told us.
“The biggest issue with [the 2005 standard version] is the change from average power to peak power,” Turner said: “We are really confused what the standard is asking for and we asked C63.19 [group] to clarify the definition of peak power but we haven’t gotten the response.” C63.19-2005 is in the balloting process and is still must go through IEEE review and ANSI approval and publication. “There are differences between 2001 and 2005 versions and there is a conflict about which one to use,” Turner said: “We have some issues with 2005 that we didn’t see when we were going through the standard.” Turner said further C63.19 standard revision may be required in the future: “We are working on the standard for magnetic coupling and there may be changes needed to the [C63.19] standard. If changes are needed, we will try to open the standard to get a 2006 version.”
“There are a lot of phones that are already [HAC- ]compliant but nobody has been able to test them because [C63.19-2005] standard hasn’t been finalized,” Turner said. Many smaller wireless carriers told the Commission in comments their vendors weren’t offering any handset devices that were compliant with the ANSI C63.19 standard. But Turner said that was because “some manufacturers are not publicizing their compliant handsets because they haven’t measured them to the new 2005 version standard.”
Several manufacturers said they have handsets they believe will comply with Commission requirements. RIM said it has 2 compatible CDMA models operating in the 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands, one GSM operating in 1900 MHz and one iDEN in 800 MHz. Nokia has identified several CDMA models it believes will comply with the M3 rating in both the 1900 MHz and 850 MHz bands, plus GSM models that will comply with the M3 rating in the 1900 MHz band and the 850 MHz band incorporating a variable power mode option. Motorola has 2 compliant CDMA phone models in 800 MHz and 1900 MHz and one iDEN on 800/900 ESMR. LG has 3 compliant models, and Sony Ericsson has 2 single-band GSM models it said it believes will comply with the C63.19-2005 standard M3 or better rating in the 1900 MHz band.
To support wireless industry efforts and future development and use of C63.19 standard, ATIS said the FCC should: (1) Amend its order and rules to incorporate only the latest version of C63.19-2005. (2) Amend the order to support future changes to be implemented in the C63.19 standard. (3) Encourage ASC C63 to remain active, taking into consideration emerging technologies and contributions initiated by the Incubator. (4) Specify that only label references “M” and “T” be used to indicate wireless devices’ HAC rating, regardless of which version of the C63.19 standard is used. (5) Endorse Incubator efforts to develop interdisciplinary industry processes to create recommendations and options through consensus. (6) Let the Incubator address the technical challenges relating to the 850 MHz and higher power issues. (6) Support Incubator efforts to create a scientific method for determining the articulation weighting factor for future technologies. (7) Support Incubator efforts to define critical interfaces for wireless and hearing aid industry devices.
Wireless service providers and digital wireless handset manufacturers must report every six months on progress toward compliance with the FCC rules. This is the last report before the Commission’s Sept. 16 deadline for carriers to include in their handset offerings at least 2 digital handset models that comply with the HAC standard. By Sept. 16, 2006, handsets must comply with the “inductive coupling” requirements. By Feb. 18, 2008, at least 50% of carriers’ handset models for each air interface must comply with the standards.