CSMAC Asked to Help Government as It Refocuses on Spectrum Sharing
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee was asked by the NTIA Wednesday to refocus on a key issue for the wireless industry, anxious to get more spectrum in play for wireless broadband -- how to facilitate sharing between commercial and federal users in the 1695-1710 MHz and 1755-1850 MHz bands. The CSMAC will divide into five working groups looking at sharing the spectrum, per a document released Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bm9qwr).
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While the previous focus was on finding 500 MHz of cleared spectrum in 10 years, the administration’s new recurring theme is identifying 1,000 MHz of spectrum to be shared between federal and commercial users. Two months after release of a report that found clearing the 1755-1850 MHz band was possible but would prove expensive (CD March 28 p1), NTIA has refocused on sharing. The NTIA report relied on cost estimates provided from government agencies in putting an $18 billion price tag on clearing the band (CD May 8 p3).
Sharing also got a high-profile push from the White House, through a report approved last week by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (CD May 29 p1). At least for the time being, NTIA is suspending the CSMAC working group that had been focused on finding 500 MHz of spectrum for broadband. NTIA also suspended work of a second CSMAC committee focusing on broader sharing issues.
NTIA Associate Administrator Karl Nebbia discussed the 1755-1850 MHz report, explaining why the administration’s focus has shifted to sharing. “There were many different agencies operating in the band,” Nebbia said. “Some of the operations were low power. Some of them were high power. None of them had exclusive access to anything. In every case, the government was sharing among the government agencies ... so we really had a complicated situation to unravel.” Nebbia also said “if the government is going to relocate its systems they have to have places to go.”
While the government, working with industry, succeeded in clearing the AWS-1 band (1710-1755 MHz) in under five years “those were mostly microwave systems,” Nebbia said. “The transition for air combat or telemetry or UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] would certainly be longer.” The NTIA report held out the possibility that the 1755-1850 MHz band could be cleared, though at a high price and over a 10-year period, he said. “However as we looked at the situation, the costs, the transition times and so on, we began to think that there’s got to be a better way,” he said. Nebbia said the government can’t work out sharing issues on its own and that’s why NTIA is asking CSMAC to refocus on sharing.
Tom Power, U.S. deputy chief technology officer, noted in remarks to CSMAC that sharing was part of President Obama’s executive memorandum from June 2010 on spectrum (http://xrl.us/bm9tym). “Two years ago, we recognized that that was an important piece of the puzzle here,” Power said. “Whether you're a federal agency or a commercial provider, sharing is probably not the first option you would jump to in a perfect world. ... Exclusive access brings you certainty. It’s just a little easier when you know you only have yourself to worry about.”
Exclusive spectrum is ideal, Power said. “But we know two things,” he said. “One, spectrum is finite, and two, we have compelling needs for spectrum on both sides of this equation, from the government side and from the commercial side and no one is saying that either of those sides should be ignored."
"We'd all rather have our own tents, but the military issued me a shelter half many years ago and told me that I was going to have to bunk with a really mean looking sergeant and I somehow managed to do that,” Nebbia said.
"I just wanted to tell those of you who felt that CSMAC wasn’t working hard enough, who felt that you weren’t working on the most relevant issues, that you weren’t getting your names in the headlines, that we've listened to you,” NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling joked at the start of the meeting. CSMAC’s new mandate is “to really take on in a serious and intensive way this question of really facilitating sharing between commercial and agency spectrum operations,” Strickling said. “There really is a ton of work to get done.”
The working groups focus on five areas: sharing with meteorological satellite systems at 1695-1710 MHz; with law enforcement surveillance and other short distance links; satellite control and electronic warfare; tactical radio relay and fixed microwave; and airborne operations, all in the 1755-1850 MHz band. Each group will be co-chaired by still-to-be-designated government and industry officials, with the participation of CSMAC members, Nebbia said.
Nebbia said “the biggest challenge” of the five areas will be airborne operations. “Ultimately, we are trying to wrap these issues up, primarily, for most of them, in January of next year,” he said. “If we're going to be ready to have a portion of this spectrum available for the commission to work together with the 2155-2180 [MHz band] we've got to have that ready at that point.” Nebbia said work should be wrapped up first on the 1695-1710 MHz band, which contains weather satellites. “We think that the issues there are much more limited,” he said. “That band is the one we're likely to kick off as quickly as possible.”