The FCC should do more to collect information on “the...
The FCC should do more to collect information on “the practical effects of various options” for improving “receiver performance, including consideration of small-scale pilot tests of these options,” the GAO said in a report released Friday. GAO said that in…
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its response to the report (http://1.usa.gov/1202Jxb) the FCC described various actions under way at the agency to look more closely at receiver standards. But more may need to be done, GAO said. “We do not believe that these actions will provide information on the practical effects of options that FCC might get from a pilot test or other information-collection efforts, which, as we note in the report, will allow FCC to make more informed spectrum-management decisions,” the report said. The report was addressed to the leaders of the Senate and House commerce committees. GAO found that receiver performance is likely to remain a hot topic. “To date, there have been a limited number of instances where interference concerns driven by receiver performance have impeded a licensee’s planned use of adjacent spectrum,” GAO said. “Even so, [the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology] and FCC, among others, have recognized the growing impact of receivers on efficient spectrum use, and adjacent-band interference concerns may increase in years to come as spectrum management agencies look to allocate additional spectrum for wireless broadband and other new services in an already crowded environment.” Challenges include “the lack of coordination across industries when developing receiver standards, the lack of incentives to improve receivers, and the difficulty accommodating a changing spectrum environment,” GAO said. In December, members of the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council said the group will recommend creation of a multistakeholder group to oversee voluntary receiver standards and interference limits (CD Dec 11 p2). Also last year, the FCC held a two-day workshop on receiver standards (CD March 14 p1). “The overall sense here is that something needs to be done,” FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp said then. “We don’t know what that is.” Receivers include everything from TVs and radios to Wi-Fi systems, to GPS devices, to police radios.