FCC's 6 GHz Order Expected to Be Approved Despite Objections
With a vote scheduled for Thursday, FCC commissioners are expected to approve, largely as proposed, a draft order and Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band, though a few tweaks are possible. The Department of Transportation raised concerns last week about the out-of-band emission limits allowed by the FCC for very-low power (VLP) portable devices and mobile access points (see 2310110060). An FNPRM examines increasing the power at which low-power indoor (LPI) access points may operate.
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Wi-Fi advocates said they’re not hearing of major changes to the item, though some tweaks are likely. The FCC continues to hear concerns, the latest by the Competitive Carriers Association, posted Monday in docket 18-295.
“In this long-awaited item, it would be very surprising, and downright unadvisable, for the commission to water down further the OOBE limits,” former Commissioner Mike O’Reilly told us. The Office of Engineering and Technology “has been very conservative in setting certain power limits, sometimes to my disagreement … and this is plowed ground,” O’Rielly said. “Notwithstanding action still needed on greater power for LPI, we should embrace the new unlicensed VLP services, features, functions and devices that innovators will create rather than dealing with the ridiculousness that is DOT.” O’Rielly worked with then-Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on the reallocation of the 5.9 GHz band (see 201118004).
CCA representatives said they spoke about the item with aides for all the commissioners. They discussed “ongoing concerns … regarding the increased potential for pop-up interference to 6 GHz microwave incumbents from expanded unlicensed users in the 6 GHz band and expanded very low power devices,” CCA said: “Further interference issues in the band could undermine the FCC’s interest in maximizing spectrum efficiency and use of the spectrum.”
The Utilities Technology Council also raised red flags in a series of meetings with commissioner aides and other staff. UTC opposes allowing VLP operations outdoors without automated frequency coordination or exclusion zones, the group said. UTC objected to the commission’s “continued reliance on simulations by proponents and the Commission’s rejection of real-world testing by utilities and other incumbent licensees,” the filing said: “UTC explained that it and other incumbent stakeholder organizations have attempted to engage with unlicensed proponents to obtain the raw data and the underlying algorithms used in their simulations. Despite these attempts, unlicensed proponents continue to decline to provide this information, which makes it difficult to replicate the results of their simulations.”
The 5G Automotive Association agreed with arguments made by DOT about protecting cellular vehicle-to-everything operations in the 5.9 GHz band. The draft order “concludes that a -27 dBm/MHz OOBE limit is sufficient to protect adjacent to prevent interference to licensed microwave systems band services and suggests that such a limit offers benefits in its commonality among different classes of unlicensed devices,” 5GAA said: “This rationale ignores the valid technical reasons contained in the present record for adopting a different, more protective level for C-V2X against VLP devices that may operate inside of vehicles.”
The Wi-Fi Alliance sought a few changes to further clarify the rules. The draft order “contains wording that could be incorrectly interpreted to mean that the Commission now questions CableLabs simulations on which the Commission’s earlier decisions to permit low power indoor devices relied,” the alliance said: “We urged the Commission to amend the wording to eliminate any confusion.” The rules also would permit VLP devices to operate using only the U-NII-5 band on aircraft operating above 10,000 feet, the alliance said. “We pointed out that implementation of that rule in portable VLP consumer devices may be complex and may cause the diminished use of VLP devices in general,” the filing said.