Aura Network Systems CEO Bill Tolpegin and others from the company spoke with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Nathan Simington about the company’s request for a rulemaking on expanding use of air-ground radiotelephone service channels between 454.675-454.975 MHz and 459.675-459.975 MHz for voice and data communications, including by drones (see 2109230049), said a filing posted Monday in RM-11912. The representatives discussed “AURA’s operations and its significant progress developing its terrestrial, standards compliant, command and control (C2) and voice technology stack to augment its existing network to enable uncrewed and remotely piloted flights in controlled airspace and other advanced air mobility (AAM) operations,” Aura said: They “stressed the importance of C2 to AAM operations, many of which will rely on standards compliant C2 networks and services to gain” FAA approval.
Denso International America sought a “me too” waiver allowing early cellular vehicle-to-everything deployments in the 5.9 GHz band. Denso wants to deploy C-V2X technology in roadside units and onboard units for roadway safety, said a waiver request posted Monday in docket 19-138. Denso said it's willing to abide with restrictions approved as part of a joint waiver order released in April (see 2304240066).
The FCC ordered spectrum access system administrators in the citizens broadband radio service band to start using the DOD’s Telecommunications Advanced Research and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing System (TARDyS3) scheduling portal to protect designated DOD facilities. “The TARDyS3 is a DOD managed calendar-based tool that will support the expeditious and autonomous communication of scheduled spectrum use information for designated facilities in the 3.5 GHz band that was developed to replace the manual scheduling portal currently used,” said a Monday order by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering Technology. The FCC said it acted on a request last week by NTIA.
Apple representatives urged FCC adoption of rules allowing very-low power (VLP) portable operations in the 6 GHz band, one of the proposals in a 2020 Further NPRM (see 2004230059), in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The mobility that will come with VLP is critical to the future of the 6 GHz band and that countries around the world have already approved mobile VLP operations in the band,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295: “These countries have established a power level of 1 dBm/MHz, determining that this power level protects incumbents.” Apple asked the FCC to approve operations “at a power level as close as possible to that approved by other international regulatory bodies.” Rosenworcel is expected to release an item in the next few months in response to the FNPRM (see 2308070060).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver allowing the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands (GVI) to use frequency 157.4500 MHz for voice communications to “strengthen and expand its public safety system.” The bureau said “GVI has no reasonable alternative” to the channel, otherwise allocated for limited-area, hospital one-way paging systems. “We find particularly persuasive the statement from GVI’s contractor that there is no other frequency immediately available that can satisfy the requested public safety use, i.e., spectrum in the 150-160 MHz band that is compatible with existing infrastructure and enables it to remain interoperable,” the bureau said Monday.
Ericsson claimed a record download speed of 5.7 Gbps at one of its labs, using carrier aggregation and combining six component carriers (CCs). Ericsson was able to combine three frequency division duplexes and three time division duplexes, yielding 400 MHz of spectrum, said a Thursday news release. "We are keeping the momentum on carrier aggregation by continuously stretching its potential to boost capacity and speed," said Sibel Tombaz, Ericsson Networks head-product line 5G radio access networks: “Our successful 6CC data call shows how versatile our solution is and that we are poised to work with ecosystem partners to make this new band combination a reality.”
The Open Radio Access Network Alliance said it approved four new open testing and integration centers (OTIC) in the U.S. They're Northeastern University in Boston, the University of Utah’s Platform for Open Wireless Data-driven Experimental Research in Salt Lake City, a wireless testing platform on the Iowa State University campus in Ames, and a Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) xG Testbed at Virginia Tech in Arlington. “OTICs are vendor-independent, open, and qualified labs approved by the O-RAN ALLIANCE that issue awards in the O-RAN Certification and Badging Program, so that operators can deploy products at scale and with confidence,” said a Thursday news release.
A paper released Thursday by the ATIS’ Next G Alliance provides what the group describes as the “first comprehensive survey” of spectrum bands with the potential to support 6G in North America. “We have seen consistent evolution in the use of these systems from one generation to the next, along with an ever-increasing demand for spectrum to satisfy the needs of each system,” said Andrew Thiessen, Mitra head-5G/XG, chair of the alliances Spectrum Working Group. “Serious and diligent study of spectrum that could be made available/accessible to future systems is critical,” he said: “This paper is a comprehensive first step in meeting the needs of next generation commercial mobile broadband.” The 3.1-3.45 GHz band “is a priority band in the U.S. to accommodate the immediate need for capacity to support existing allocations in the 3 GHz band” and “it is expected that this band will be suitable for 6G in the longer term,” the report said. The 3.98-4.0 GHz band is “allocated for mobile use but lacks service rules and currently serves as a guard band,” it said. The 1300-1350 MHz band “is expected to become available before the 6G commercial timeframe and will transition to 6G in the longer term” but will require sharing with DOD and FAA operations, the report said. Among other bands examined in the report are 7.125–9.3, 10–10.5, 12.7–13.25, 25.25–27.5, 37.0–37.6, 42–42.5 and 42.5–43.5 GHz. “Enabling spectrum for 6G can be a long process,” said Fabiano Chaves, Nokia head-spectrum standardization for North America and working group vice chair. “This paper provides valuable and timely input from the industry and academia to this process, with a detailed assessment of spectrum opportunities and challenges, which will contribute to well-informed decisions about 6G spectrum in North America,” he said.
AT&T has access to all the C-band spectrum it bought in a 2021 auction, it said in an emailed statement Wednesday. The company, unlike Verizon (see 2308140051), didn’t post a public news release making the announcement. “With satellite companies finished clearing the remaining C-Band spectrum months ahead of the December 2023 deadline, we got early access to our full C-Band spectrum holdings -- doubling our available C-Band spectrum for deployment,” AT&T said: “We’ve since re-tuned our previously deployed C-Band in the original 46 locations … resulting in notable capacity and speed gains, and ultimately an enhanced customer experience with fast, reliable and consistent performance.” AT&T noted it’s deploying C band in combination with 3.45 GHz. “In the coming months, markets like Denver and Atlanta will see performance improvements as we continue expanding the deployment of our entire licensed C-Band spectrum -- an average of 80 MHz or more by market,” AT&T said. “Because our deployed cell site equipment, such as radios, are capable of handling the full bandwidth spectrum load, once a software update is completed, customers will immediately experience a dramatic increase in bandwidth,” the carrier said. AT&T said it has a minimum of 100 MHz of total mid-band spectrum throughout the contiguous U.S. and an average of 120 MHz nationwide. Verizon dominated the C-band auction, bidding $45.4 billion, almost twice the $23.4 billion bid by AT&T (see 2102250046).
FCC action on the 6 GHz Further NPRM would help make communications more energy efficient, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in a letter to the four commissioners (see 2307310049). “Commission action is particularly critical because while policymakers in several countries are following the Commission’s lead, the upcoming 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference will also consider the 6 GHz spectrum designation,” said a filing Tuesday in docket 18-295. “In addition to the substantial spectrum harmonization benefits that a global approach to the 6 GHz band would produce, these pending international decisions offer a unique opportunity to leverage spectrum policy toward energy conservation and sustainability objectives,” the alliance said: “It is already well established that Wi-Fi technology excels in low-power, cognitive radio techniques including spectrum sensing, spectrum sharing, and adaptive transmission. These capabilities enable Wi-Fi to significantly outperform other wireless technologies in energy efficiency.”