The FCC Enforcement Bureau signed a consent decree with Hill & Smith (H&S), ending an investigation into whether the company violated the commission’s equipment marketing rules by marketing LED signs without the required equipment authorization, labeling and user manual disclosures, and by failing to retain the required test records. H&S “admits that it violated the Commission’s rules, will implement a compliance plan, and will pay a $47,600 civil penalty,” the bureau said Wednesday. The FCC launched an investigation of the Ohio-based company in late 2020.

Amazon made its case for allowing low-flying drone radars in the 60 GHz band (see 2210200058), in a call with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-264. “The purpose of the Near Surround Detection radar for the Prime Air delivery drone is to provide additional awareness to our existing autonomous system when operating within close proximity (approximately 2-5 meters) to obstacles such as trees, flagpoles, and power lines during delivery,” Amazon said: “The Near Surround Detect radar will be used primarily to provide proximity detection in a horizontal plane where there are no existing sensors during ascent/descent, and to provide a second, independent sensing modality above and below the drone to detect corner case obstacles that the primary optical sensing mode may have missed.”

The Wireless ISP Association asked the FCC to give small providers at least an additional year to implement broadband label requirements. "Providers should not be required to include the broadband label with customer invoices,” WISPA said in a filing Wednesday in docket 22-2: “Rather, the Commission should heed the Consumer Advocacy Committee’s April 2022 recommendations, and require that broadband labels be displayed only as ‘a conspicuous link or icon in close proximity to the advertised service plan that connects the consumer to the relevant label.’” The FCC shouldn’t require broadband labels to be machine readable and should mandate only that they be available in the English language, the group said.

The Wireless Innovation Forum and Wi-Fi Alliance submitted documents to the FCC, after a meeting at the agency last month on a “joint roadmap of deliverables” for automated frequency coordination certification in the 6 GHz band. The groups filed a new revision of the “’Function Requirements for the US 6 GHz Band Under Control of an AFC System’ Specification” and “Version 1.0 of the AFC System Test Harness,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-352.

T-Mobile said Tuesday it’s working with Sinch on next-generation 911 real-time text technology, which is being tested at an emergency communications center in Hood County, Texas. The technology allows T-Mobile customers “to communicate with 911 through simultaneous conversational text and voice -- text messages can be sent and read at the same time -- without the need for teletype technology,” said a news release: “This is particularly critical for up to 48 million Americans who are Deaf or hard of hearing, as well as those who have speech-related disabilities or are non-native English speakers. RTT also gives public safety centers the ability to make better-informed dispatch decisions during a crisis and shave crucial time off a response.”

The number of calls handled by contact centers as a service (CCaaS) will near 48 billion by 2027, from 20 billion this year, driven by advanced capabilities made possible by 5G networks, said a Tuesday Juniper Research study. Integration of 5G technologies into voice channels will drive the launch of new voice services, such as interactive calling, said analyst Elisha Sudlow-Poole. Businesses using CCaaS will be able to provide interactive content and screensharing natively on a smartphone app without the need for a third-party application, she said. 5G will also improve existing CCaaS services such as interactive voice response, using AI to reduce customer wait times and business costs.

Representatives of Robert Bosch spoke about radar operations in the 60 GHz band, in a call with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Emerging public interest use cases abound, with Bosch among those developing innovative radar capabilities such as child presence detection,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-264: “Bosch explained that restrictions such as minimum off-time periods … could jeopardize the deployment of new radar capabilities unnecessarily unless adequate spectrum in the lower portion of the 60 GHz band were provided that would not be subject to such restrictions.”

The FCC has issued a $3,239 payment demand to Cable One for defaulting on four priority access licenses in Kansas it received in the agency's 3.6 GHz band Auction 105 last year. Per an order Monday from the Office of Engineering and Technology, Cable One defaulted on the four PALs after buying an ownership stake in AMG Technology Group, which also had PALs in the license area; commission rules cap at four the number of PALs an entity may have an attributable interest in at any given time in a license area. Cable One didn't comment.

The FCC Office of Engineering is seeking comment on a request by Continental Automotive for a waiver of agency rules to allow authorization of a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) operating in the 315 MHz and 433 MHz bands. Comments are due Nov. 28, replies Dec. 18, in docket 22-382. The system “is designed to measure the pressure inside a tire directly, transmit the reading, and display it,” said a notice in Monday’s Daily Digest: “The system alerts the driver of any critical situation via a corresponding signal. Continental ... further states that the TPMS takes the reading directly on the wheel, battery-fed sensors mounted on the rim and integrated into the valve measure the tire’s inflation pressure, and send a high-frequency signal with coded information to a receiver.” The company seeks a waiver of the periodic timing requirement in the rules “that establishes provisions for the timing of and the duration of each transmission,” OET said.

Broadcom and Intel executives gave the first demonstration of the next generation of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 7, to all four FCC commissioners and staff, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. “Wi-Fi 7 is the next generation of wireless technology, and will deliver higher capacity, lower latency, and higher reliability to consumers around the world,” the companies said. “Intel and Broadcom demonstrated links between Broadcom access points and Intel laptops, over an 80-megahertz Wi-Fi 6 channel in the 5 GHz band, a 160-megahertz Wi-Fi 6E channel in the 6 GHz band, and a 320-megahertz Wi-Fi 7 channel in the 6 GHz band,” they said: “The Wi-Fi 7 channel achieved 5 Gbps throughput, an enormous increase over already-fast Wi-Fi 6 technologies. The demonstration also showed that this performance is now a reality between different devices developed by two of the world’s leading technology companies -- confirming that the FCC’s forward-looking 6 GHz decision has already produced a thriving ecosystem.” The officials urged the FCC to do what's needed to allow automated frequency coordination in the 6 GHz band (see 2210170075).