FAA EMBARKS ON UWB TESTS ON POSSIBLE INTERFERENCE TO AVIONICS

FAA’s in-house evaluation of potential UWB impact comes as NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Transportation Dept. have their own UWB tests under way, sources said. NTIA will be both collating and evaluating results of other agency tests and doing some of its own tests at its Boulder, Colo., lab. Several industry observers said next round of UWB tests by federal agencies could be next regulatory battleground on emissions levels for UWB needed to protect other systems. FCC recently released staff report on UWB testing showing ambient radio noise levels in GPS bands in certain environments were “well above” emissions limits. FCC lab measured emissions from devices ranging from personal computers to electric drills and found they had emissions above limits set for UWB devices in Commission’s Feb. order but still within Part 15 restrictions. Agency has said it will test actual UWB devices when units are commercially available to evaluate.

FAA is testing 2 UWB devices at agency’s Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., with plans to have first results by late Dec., Sakai told us. FAA isn’t disclosing makers of devices under evaluation, but Sakai said one unit was ground-penetrating radar device that’s off-the-shelf technology. Other device is UWB prototype that isn’t yet available commercially. Neither device represents kind of technology that passenger could take aboard plane, Sakai said. “We are going to be investigating carry-on devices using ultra-wideband,” he said: “Right now we don’t have any carry-on devices using UWB.” Sakai said FAA was aware of testing that NASA had done on avionics systems on aircraft but said his agency was conducting its tests separately.

NASA last month released final report on tests in Victorville, Cal., assessing potential interference to aircraft radios on United Airlines and Eagles Wings Inc. planes. Preliminary testing “clearly shows the potential for handheld UWB transmitters to cause cockpit failure indications for the air traffic radio beacon control system, blanking of aircraft on the traffic alert and collision avoidance system displays and cause erratic motion and failure of instrument landing system localizer,” report said. Report recommended “further assessment of aircraft systems for susceptibility to UWB electromagnetic interference.”

FAA already has done some testing involving simulations but trial that began last week in Atlantic City marked first time that agency had evaluated actual devices, Sakai said. Devices being tested will operate at emission levels set in Feb. FCC order. FAA also has done “paper analysis” of potential impact of UWB devices on avionics systems. “That study indicates that we are going to have some problems from those devices that meet the FCC specifications,” he said. That paper isn’t yet final, but FAA is sharing results with NTIA, Sakai said. Results of tests also will be passed on to NTIA, he said. FAA tests will focus on systems below 1 GHz, including instrument landing system and nondirectional beacon, homing device used primarily by general aviation aircraft, Sakai said.

NTIA is evaluating FCC staff’s UWB report on background noise levels for different environments and different types of devices, Deputy Dir. Michael Gallagher said. “We applaud the FCC for adding to the database for ultra-wideband,” he said. “Measuring noise is certainly an important part of understanding the impact of ultra-wideband on other devices and critical systems,” he said. Gallagher said he wasn’t sure whether NTIA’s evaluation of FCC report would be submitted to Commission by Nov. 22 public comment deadline. NTIA lab is examining FCC tests but isn’t recreating them, Gallagher said. “It’s more spot examples to make sure we understand the work that was done and all the variables that are being considered,” he said. Aside from evaluating test results that other agencies produce, NTIA also will run its own UWB tests in Boulder lab, which also is primary contracting facility for other agencies that put such test programs under contract, Gallagher said. “We stand ready to perform that function for any agency that needs assistance,” he said. In addition, NTIA evaluates test data submitted by other agencies and vets it before passing it along to Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC). Point of that vetting process by NTIA is to examine areas such as methodology and assumptions, he said.

Several UWB test reports are under review now by IRAC, including one that examines impact on avionic and land mobile systems below 1 GHz, he said.

Meanwhile, DARPA is running Netex program examining effects of UWB radiation on “existing, narrower band military spectrum users,” DARPA spokeswoman said. DARPA last year had called for research proposals for new wireless networking technologies focusing on UWB radios, looking at issues such as how to create “robust networks” in hostile environments, including urban warfare scenarios. “We are evaluating the effects of a wide range of UWB waveforms and pulse repetition frequencies on military communications, radar and GPS systems,” DARPA said. Effect of both average power and temporal UWB interference on military systems are being tested, DARPA said. Program will attempt to cause military systems under evaluation “to fail in every test by using as much UWB energy as necessary,” agency said. “These tests are designed to be a worst-case scenario of UWB interference and as such no attempt is being made to accurately replicate any existing UWB system, but rather to understand the possible threat to military operations,” spokeswoman said.

Several sources said some federal agency testing faced pressure of coming up with results before Feb. In Feb. 2002, FCC approved UWB order, saying at time that it would reevaluate “ultraconservative” limits within 6-12 months to assess whether changes were necessary. Aside from govt. testing, one of other main arenas at which next level of UWB debate is playing out is at ITU. Formative meeting was held in Sept. of U.S. Task Group on UWB, which will provide input to ITU policy in that area. State Dept.’s International Telecom Advisory Committee-Radiocommunications created ad hoc preparatory group to work on U.S. contributions to new ITU task group on UWB. ITU Study Group 1 already has blueprint for policy issues to be examined on compatibility between UWB devices and radiocommunications services. FCC officials have made clear at recent meetings that U.S. policy proposals at ITU will be based on numbers adopted in UWB order. Representatives of federal agencies, wireless community, GPS users and others raised concerns at recent working group meetings that they would like to see room for differences in U.S. position that reflected their worries. “We really need to have actual ultra-wideband devices tested,” industry source said. “It’s kind of a race to get this information.” One concern is that UWB could pop up at World Radio Conference in June in Geneva, although there isn’t formal agenda item on that issue now.