Pressure Growing on FCC To Give Wi-Fi More Access to 5.9 GHz Band
Wi-Fi advocates hope the FCC will take a closer look at whether automakers need the entire 75 MHz of spectrum allocated by the agency to dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems designed to curb accidents. Skeptics said automakers need only three 10 MHz channels for anticollision systems and are looking at ways to monetize the spectrum that they don’t use directly for public safety. The FCC approved the DSRC allocation in 1999, setting aside the entire 5850-5925 MHz band for auto safety.
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“The current debate over the currently unused 75 MHz at 5.9 GHz is the distinction between the spectrum needed for the safety-of-life DSRC signaling that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seems likely to mandate and the remainder of the band, up to 45 MHz, that could be shared between non-safety applications and Wi-Fi,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the New America Foundation's Wireless Future Project.
Cisco and Qualcomm proposed different approaches to sharing in the band. Cisco, which has been working with automakers, proposes that if an unlicensed device operating anywhere in the band detects a DSRC transmission, it would vacate the entire band, plus the 25 MHz below it, for at least 10 seconds. Cisco calls its approach “sense and avoid.”
Qualcomm, which has the support of Wi-Fi advocates including the cable industry, urges instead that the band be segmented -- with 30 MHz at the top of the band divided into three safety channels that would be off limits to unlicensed devices. Non-safety-of-life DSRC applications would then be allowed to operate in two 20 MHz channels in the lower 40 MHz of the band, from 5855-5895 MHz. The DSRC devices would still be the primary users, but Wi-Fi devices would share the band under a more traditional listen-before-talk protocol.
“Segmenting and sharing the band, as Qualcomm has proposed, would be a win-win for consumers,” said Calabrese, a member of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. “Gigabit Wi-Fi using wide channels is possible only at 5 GHz, whereas any widespread deployment of DSRC is speculative, far off and for non-safety applications can share the band with low-power unlicensed users.” Calabrese is writing a paper on use of the band.
Automakers remain concerned about protecting DSRC and without exception oppose the approach proposed by Qualcomm, said lawyers who represent their interests. The groups did not comment Wednesday.
In a recent report, GAO said many of the experts it interviewed agreed more study is needed to better understand the interference risks unlicensed use of the band poses to anticollision systems being deployed by automakers. In a key filing in March, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and Association of Global Automakers said sharing the band is possible. “However, the Alliance and Global have for reasons of public safety urged the Commission to act deliberately and cautiously in promulgating rules that allow for sharing,” they said.
The 5.9 GHz band was originally allocated for unlicensed as part of the creation of the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) in 1997, said Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge and a member of the CSMAC. Two years later, the FCC reallocated the U-NII-4 band for DSRC, he said. “The auto industry then did nothing for nearly 20 years, until the FCC opened the current proceeding,” Feld said. “This makes it a little hard to take the position of the auto industry that they absolutely need all of it for safety of life services. It looks remarkably like the auto industry is simply interested in protecting spectrum for their own use, without regard to how much they really need.”
“We need additional spectrum to support the skyrocketing growth of unlicensed technologies like Wi-Fi and we are confident sharing can be achieved in a way that preserves the legitimate safety-related needs of the auto industry,” said Bill Maguire, director of WifiForward's Save Our Wi-Fi Campaign.
Former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski kicked off the controversy in January 2013, when in a speech at CES he mentioned 5850-5925 MHz as part of 195 MHz of spectrum that the FCC should open, in part, for unlicensed use. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers responded that DSRC will save lives and is close to broad use nationally (see 1305310095).
In a September blog post, Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mike O’Rielly appeared to raise questions about how much spectrum automakers need for DSRC. They said they are impatient to see the band made available in part for Wi-Fi. “We want to see that spectrum allocated for automobile safety in the 5.9 GHz band is used for just that -- safety -- and that more Wi-Fi is safely available for wireless access and innovation nationwide,” they wrote.
Congress has looked at the band and key senators have urged tests (see 1509100064). But Capitol Hill and industry officials said legislation is unlikely. The officials said Wi-Fi interests have friends on the Hill, but so do automakers. The Senate Commerce Committee also deals with transportation issues, noted a communications lobbyist. The House Commerce Committee doesn't, but is chaired by Fred Upton, a Republican from Michigan, the home of the U.S. auto industry.