The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will consider a report from one of its working groups on “Best Practices and Recommendations to Mitigate Security Risks to Wireless Protocols” at its March 28 meeting, the FCC said in a Friday notice. Other working groups will also update the FCC on their progress at the 1 p.m. meeting at FCC headquarters, the agency said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau greenlit construction and operation of a wireless tower for public safety communications in Tarrytown, New York, by PI Telecom Infrastructure and the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority. In a Friday order, the bureau rejected concerns by Tarrytown and a resident about visual impact on historic properties and the landscape. “We find that the issues raised by these parties do not provide a sufficient basis for us to reopen the historic preservation review process, which, by the terms of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement Regarding the Section 106 National Historic Preservation Act Review Process (Wireless Facilities NPA), is now complete,” the bureau said. Also, “the potential environmental impact of the proposed tower is negligible,” it said.

Nokia officials asked for a general acceleration in the timetable for auctioning mid-band and high-frequency spectrum needed for 5G and the IoT, in a meeting with aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “While the Nokia representatives commended the Commission for priming the spectrum pipeline by conducting proceedings and issuing service rules for new spectrum bands, we noted that the Commission is not moving quickly enough and should expedite auctioning those bands,” Nokia said in a filing in docket 17-79 Friday. Nokia also said the FCC should “develop a more robust record in the proceeding related to the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, ultimately providing additional proposals for the most expeditious way to clear that band for terrestrial 5G services.”

With the FCC’s next wireless infrastructure order set for a vote March 22 (see 1803010047), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said he made visits to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia last week and heard from people there about the need for better broadband. “I got to see first-hand how the FCC’s proposed order will result in more broadband and in turn greater economic opportunity and jobs for communities across the Commonwealth and the country,” Carr blogged. Carr was tasked by Chairman Ajit Pai to lead the FCC on wireless infrastructure. The order set for a vote by commissioners will help, he said. “For traditional large cells, the order streamlines certain federal historic and environmental reviews, while leaving in place appropriate local review,” he said. “For small cells -- deployments that have a much different footprint than those 100-foot towers associated with traditional, macrocell deployments -- the order updates our approach by excluding these types of deployments from those federal historic and environmental review procedures.” Meanwhile, the National Association of Towns and Townships filed a letter at the FCC raising concerns about FCC moves on wireless infrastructure. The group said in a filing in docket 17-79 it told FCC staff that the Telecom Act of 1996 “created a uniform framework for the relationship between local governments and telecommunications providers and that the intent of the Act was to balance protecting local decision-making authority and reducing barriers to deployment of telecommunications services.” It said it “noted that local governments have legitimate concerns with recent legislative and regulatory proposals that could change the public-private relationship to strongly favor telecommunications providers, thereby reducing the ability of local governments to ensure the safety and reliability of facilities located in the public rights-of-way.” The Delaware Tribe of Indians questioned the proposed changes to infrastructure rules. "Under the proposed changes private contractors would not be required to obtain written responses from tribes indicating tribal consultation, they no longer recognize the tribes right to request compensation for services rendered," the tribe said. "This would create an unfunded federal mandate which would place the financial burden on tribes. In other words, we would have the right to consult but we would need to use our tribal resources to consult on federally supported programs that would potentially impact our historic and cultural properties."

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved a grant of special temporary authority for Mobilitie to perform tests using the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band in Newport Beach, California. Tests can start April 1 and must finish by Oct. 1. Mobilitie said the tests will be inside a building and in adjacent areas. Mobilitie describes itself as the largest privately held wireless infrastructure provider in the U.S.

The FCC Wireless Bureau upgraded the Universal Licensing System (ULS) for filings by licensees and applicants in the 800 MHz cellular service, it said Thursday. “The enhanced, web-based software will, by providing greater system accessibility and reliability, improve the ability of Cellular licensees and applicants to conduct electronic licensing activities.” ULS also now allows filings for cellular systems that operate using a power spectral density model.

FirstNet said its board and its four board committees will jointly meet in Little Rock Thursday. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. EDT at the Hilton Garden Inn Little Rock Downtown, says a notice in Friday's Federal Register. The meeting won't be webcast, but the public may listen by dialing 888-677-5734, PIN 1277627#.

General Electric executives said they spoke with Rachael Bender, aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, on why the FCC should keep census tract-sized licenses in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. GE has been a leading proponent of keeping the current license sizes, citing the importance to the industrial IoT (see 1802140055). “Spectrum is an essential input for myriad activities around the United States that generate important economic, social, safety, and other public interest benefits,” said a filing in docket 17-258. “GE, its industrial and critical-infrastructure customers, and other diverse users will make intensive use of their licensed spectrum with targeted, localized wireless network deployments that will generate a wave of new cutting-edge jobs and economic growth in a mix of urban, suburban, rural, and remote areas.”

Apple landed a U.S. patent Tuesday that describes techniques for generating maps of indoor venues, including those of individual floors, to supplement GPS functionality commonly found on smartphones. Though a smartphone can use GPS to determine location, including latitude and longitude, and display that on a “virtual map” on the screen, “maps of indoor space may not be easily available,” said the patent (9,913,100), which names seven Apple inventors and is based on an application filed in September 2014. “Even when the maps are available, the maps may not be up to date due to frequent changes to the indoor space,” such as when a store moves into or out of a mall, said the patent. “Even when the maps are up to date, indoor navigation may be difficult or unavailable due to lack of accurate GPS signals in the indoor space as well as lack of integration between maps of outdoor space and maps of indoor space.” The solution the patent describes is to enlist the help of a “venue data service,” asking owners of individual properties to “upload” information to that service, including the “geometries” of floors. The service also would periodically “survey” property owners to “validate the venue data” and certify that the information is up to date, it said. The service also could generate “fingerprint data” about the venue that “can include expected measurements of the environment variable at various locations of the building,” it said. A smartphone can then use the fingerprint data to determine where within the venue the mobile device and its owner are located “using sensor readings of the environment variable,” it said. Apple representatives didn’t comment Wednesday.

Swiss consumer electronics maker Punkt Tronics will market products embedded with "BlackBerry Secure" cybersecurity technology, under a technology and brand licensing agreement, said BlackBerry Wednesday. The BlackBerry Secure platform has “best-in-class security that helps safeguard end-user privacy and protects enterprises from attackers looking to exploit device vulnerabilities,” said BlackBerry.