NTIA Cites Initial Plans on CSMAC Recommendations; New Issues Updated
NTIA outlined its preliminary responses to recent recommendations of its Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, at a CSMAC meeting Wednesday. Sparking the most discussion among members were efforts to develop “quantitative assessments” of spectrum usage and to conduct an ”enforcement” case study. The committee heard from subcommittees working to make new recommendations in May in response to NTIA questions, including on federal access to nonfederal bands (bidirectional sharing), 5G, and possibly extending U.S. spectrum databases internationally. Meeting documents are on an NTIA web page.
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The Obama administration believes the Spectrum Pipeline Act “lays the foundation” for achieving “sustainable progress” in making more spectrum commercially available, said Paige Atkins, associate administrator of NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management. She provided an overview of spectrum developments since CSMAC's last meeting in August, including the act's enactment as part of a budget package (see Communications Daily Bulletin Oct. 27). Atkins said NTIA believes the act will lead to a "stable spectrum pipeline" and "have a tremendous impact.” The act requires NTIA to identify 30 MHz below 3 GHz by 2022 to be auctioned by the FCC auction by 2024. It also requires the NTIA and FCC to identify in 2022 and 2024 at least 50 MHz below 24 GHz and at least another 50 MHz below 6 GHz eligible for auction.
Atkins also summarized the recent 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (see 1511300023) and efforts to preserve and strengthen the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences, which is NTIA’s research and engineering lab in Boulder. She said the ITS was a trusted source that's noted for its expertise and objectivity.
Atkins highlighted NTIA preliminary efforts to act on past CSMAC recommendations. In response to the quantitative assessment recommendations of the Measurement and Quantification Subcommittee, Atkins said NTIA will perform over the next two years “measurement applicability analysis” and “initial spectrum occupancy measurements” in the 1300-1390 MHz band, which includes various federal users, many for radar. NTIA will also “document the quantitative assessment effort, including data collection and verification requirements, and methodology to analytically quantify spectrum usage in terms of frequency (bandwidth), geography and time” by Q4 FY 2016, said a slide show Atkins used.
CSMAC member Janice Obuchowski, president of Freedom Technologies, said there had been good work on developing quantitative assessments, but some accompanying “overheated” rhetoric, which had extended to Capitol Hill. “It would certainly behoove all of us to take the rhetoric down and the objectivity up,” she said.
Quantifying spectrum usage can be tricky, said Dennis Roberson, a computer science professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He said there can be very efficient use of spectrum for “very useless” activities, and inefficient use of spectrum that's vital to the country. "Balancing" the two situations is important, he said.
In response to the Enforcement Subcommittee’s recommendations, NTIA plans to do a case study of interference to terminal Doppler weather radar from unlicensed devices, Atkins said. She said NTIA believes the study could provide a foundation for understanding interference problems and mitigation efforts that will help parties frame enforcement in a “more holistic way.” She also noted NTIA was working with the FCC on enforcement issues.
Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld suggested Doppler radar interference from unlicensed devices “is not the ideal case to study.” He said there had been strong FCC and technical community “reactions” to unlicensed interference issues in other cases that created broader “suspicions,” and he voiced concern about the potential for further “backlash.” Atkins said NTIA would consider the concern.
The chairs of CSMAC subcommittees summarized their early efforts to respond to various NTIA questions seeking further advice on federal access to nonfederal bands, government-industry collaboration, measurement and sensing in 5 GHz bands, possibly extending spectrum access system databases internationally, and 5G exploration. The subcommittees are working toward making recommendations at a May CSMAC meeting.
Two subcommittees reframed their questions with approval from NTIA and CSMAC. The SAS/Spectrum Database Subcommittee’s new question is: “What are the challenges in using database and sensing approaches for international spectrum management, and how can NTIA help address these challenges?” The 5G Subcommittee’s new question is: “What are the technology and standardization challenges unique to 5G that are associated with federal/non-federal spectrum sharing, and what specific roles/actions should NTIA take to address these challenges?”
A big 5G challenge is increased use of software defined systems and virtualization, said Roberson. He said the changes create a vastly different network environment from traditional wireless systems. CSMAC’s next meeting is planned for March.