University of Michigan tests found little risk to 6 GHz incumbents from unlicensed use of the band, researchers from that school, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Chicago, told the FCC. The researchers presented the results to staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology and filed a paper in docket 18-295, said a Friday filing. Some 16,000 Wi-Fi 6E access points (APs) have been deployed in about 225 buildings at the Michigan school, researchers said. “We gathered tens of thousands of measurements of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) along with other system parameters with consumer devices, smartphones and laptops, over two representative areas: a dense enterprise deployment in the main campus area and a residential deployment close to campus,” they said: “We also presented results of measurements made at a single building in the University of Notre Dame with 70 deployed APs. Our results demonstrate that while outliers with high RSSI values are observed, the median outdoor RSSI values do not pose any interference risk to incumbents.” The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and aims at developing an “unbiased, statistical understanding of the nature of a real-world, dense Wi-Fi 6E deployment,” the filing said.

HWG’s Paul Margie, who represents tech companies on 6 GHz issues, urged Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Ron Repasi to further liberalize rules for the band. Margie noted the importance of very-low power operations and “the consideration of 6 GHz matters at the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295. Margie represents Apple, Broadcom, Google and Meta Platforms.

Industry officials say they’re hearing little about when the FCC will approve final rules for the 5.9 GHz band. FCC commissioners approved an order in November 2020 opening 45 MHz of the band for Wi-Fi, while allocating 30 MHz for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology. Follow-up work remains.

Groups representing 6 GHz incumbents spoke with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about cost recovery mechanisms for licensees having to mitigate against interference in the band, which was opened for unlicensed use three years ago (see 2004230059). “Costs that have been or will be incurred by incumbents due to new unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band include: baselining the RF environment, procurement of equipment and software that would enable licensees to identify interference and, if necessary, relocation of microwave facilities to other spectrum bands or alternative communications facilities,” said a filing Friday in docket 18-295. They cited as precedent a 1996 order by the FCC providing a plan for sharing the costs of relocating microwave facilities from the 2 GHz band. Among those at the meeting were the Utilities Technology Council, APCO, the Edison Electric Institute, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

Representatives of the Wi-Fi Alliance discussed with FCC staff a “package of specifications” now complete for evaluating 6 GHz standard-power devices. “Presentation of this package culminates a multiyear effort by Wi-Fi Alliance members to advance the 6 GHz Wi-Fi ecosystem,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295: “We expressed hope that these specifications will support and expedite the Commission’s effort to authorize 6 GHz standard power devices. We also expressed our continuing commitment to assist the Commission toward that goal.” Wi-Fi advocates hope for FCC action soon on a 2020 Further NPRM on 6 GHz operations (see 2306230046).

HWG’s Paul Margie, who represents tech companies on 6 GHz issues, spoke with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and a staffer from the Office of Engineering and Technology to urge further FCC action on the band. Margie discussed “the importance of adopting rules to permit portable operations in the 6 GHz band that both protect incumbent microwave links and permit commercially viable unlicensed operations, including considerations of product design and power consumption,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295: “Any consideration of potential interference should account for propagation loss, polarization loss, feeder loss, far-field/body loss, antenna mismatch loss, transmit power control, and terrain.” Margie represents Apple, Broadcom, Google, Meta Platforms and Microsoft, and was joined on the OET call by a Qualcomm representative.

Tech companies told the FCC a new study by utility FirstEnergy warning of interference risks to utilities and other incumbents in the 6 GHz band as more Wi-Fi users take advantage of the spectrum (see 2305100047), suffers from the same flaws as a report the utility filed last year (see 2210130051). “Rather than conducting a large-scale probability analysis to test whether [radio local access networks] present a significant risk of harmful interference, FirstEnergy instead (1) cherry-picked a single [fixed service] site with two receivers, (2) purposefully selected only a set of consumer homes in the main beam of the link that it apparently believed would maximize the chance of producing its desired results, (3) placed RLAN access points in unrealistic locations within those homes, and (4) then forced multiple APs to operate constantly co-channel with the FS link rather than on any other available channels, as would be the case in the real world,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. The filing was signed by Amazon.com Services, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Qualcomm.

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, told an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel the FCC was right in its approach proposing sharing in the 42 GHz band, approved by commissioners 4-0 in June (see 2306080042). Calabrese had been an early advocate of the approach (see 2305300055). Most of the licensed “Spectrum Frontier” spectrum “sits mostly idle in mobile carrier warehouses awaiting an economically viable use case,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-258: “In contrast, … this band, particularly in combination with the lower 37 GHz band, could facilitate very high-capacity point-to-multipoint fixed access wireless deployments where they are needed most in both less densely populated areas, as well as in multi-tenant environments.” Calabrese also asked about remaining unresolved issues in the 2020 Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band (see 2306230046). Public interest groups find it “very discouraging that some staff seem to want to take the Commission backwards to focusing on corner cases based on hypothetical measures of ‘interference’ … that are unrelated to actual harmful interference (i.e., to link availability),” Calabrese said.

CTIA raised concerns Wednesday as China announced it was allocating the top half of the 6 GHz band to 5G. In the U.S., the FCC assigned the entire band to Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use in 2020 (see 2004230059). “BREAKING NEWS: China announces plans to free up far more #5G spectrum than the United States,” CTIA tweeted: “Congress must restore @FCC auction authority and identify new spectrum to secure our leadership of the industries and innovations of the future.” The 6 GHz band “is the largest remaining single block of mid-band spectrum that can be assigned to licensed mobile in the foreseeable future,” Luciana Camargos, GSMA head-spectrum, blogged Wednesday, noting the latest from China. “It can help 5G to play a central role in sustainable social and industrial development,” Camargos said: “As enhanced broadband, IoT, data, analytics, and insight permeate every aspect of society, mobile networks require a long-term vision of each nation’s future.” The development is “a big step” toward a “commercial 6 GHz 5G ecosystem,” she said. Comargos noted China is deploying the world’s largest 5G network, with more than 2.7 million base stations by the end of April, “on track to become the first country to reach 1 billion 5G connections in 2025.” Future use of the band is likely to be an issue at the World Radiocommunication Conference in November (see 2302060052).

Wi-Fi Alliance representatives updated an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on a submission the group made with the Wireless Innovation Forum containing specifications and test plans for evaluating 6 GHz automated frequency coordination systems (see 2306230046). “We expressed our hope that the delivery and availability of this package will support the Commission’s goal to approve the AFC systems for full commercial operations, beginning with an announcement of the initiation of the next phase of the approval process -- laboratory and field testing,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295.