Tech companies urged the FCC to act on an order allowing client-to-client operations in the 6 GHz band, the subject of a January notice (see 2101110031), in a call with Office of Engineering and Technology staff. Apple, Broadcom, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft and Qualcomm participated. The companies discussed “how client-to-client operations can enable important new use cases, subject to strict limits to protect incumbents from harmful interference,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “When client devices are near one another it’s more spectrally efficient for them to transfer data directly using lower transmit power levels,” they said: “Using lower transmit power conserves power and precious battery resources.”

Jessica Rosenworcel's tenure as FCC acting chairwoman has featured bipartisan unanimity. Former commissioners and others don't see her running out of noncontroversial agenda items soon. They told us to expect issues that could be contentious, such as revisiting net neutrality and new orbital debris rules, to be back-burnered until a third Democratic commissioner is appointed, breaking the current 2-2 balance. Current commissioners credit Rosenworcel including them in decision-making and communicating with them.

Zebra sought FCC action on its waiver request to operate its Dart positioning system in the 7.125-8.5 GHz band, in a call with an aide to FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The need is urgent due to the growing use of unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz band “requiring immediate alternate solutions,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 20-17. The request was filed in December 2019, the company said. The system is primarily used to track balls and players at NFL facilities.

The FCC approved 4-0 an NPRM -- with tweaks, as expected (see 2104200063) -- on wireless mics in the TV and other bands, plus an order ending the 800 MHz rebanding proceeding. Commissioners offered brief statements on both items, neither of which faced opposition before the vote at Thursday's meeting.

The NPRM proposing to allow the use of new wireless multichannel audio system (WMAS) technology by wireless mics is expected to be approved 4-0 Thursday, though a few tweaks are possible based on ex parte filings, FCC officials told us. The NPRM hasn’t faced opposition since circulation by acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. A few questions were raised on implications for the 6 GHz band, which the FCC reallocated for Wi-Fi a year ago. An order terminating the 800 MHz rebanding proceeding is also expected to get unanimous approval.

Action on the FCC’s Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band likely has been pushed until later this year, industry and agency officials said, mainly because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is considering a challenge to the April 2020 rules, filed by AT&T, APCO, electric utilities and other plaintiffs. The Office of Engineering and Technology is also still working through technical questions, officials said.

Despite concerns expressed by some 6 GHz incumbents (see 2103290028), the Wi-Fi Alliance said it has been active in the 6 GHz Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), in a call with an aide to FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Some 6 GHz stakeholders wrongly assert that Wi-Fi devices are urgently required to support interference testing,” the alliance said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295: “But the general issue of unlicensed device coexistence with incumbent services is not within the scope of the MSG’s work,” and the FCC addressed it in its April 2020 order.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved waivers sought by six companies wanting to use the 57-64 GHz band for vehicular safety technologies. The waivers were approved in a single order for Vayyar Imaging, Valeo North America, Infineon Technologies Americas, Tesla, IEE Sensing and Brose North America. OET said granting the waivers, in coordination with NTIA, “will bring immediate relief to the industry and the public in this area.” The technologies all involve detection of children inadvertently left in vehicles in hot weather “and other related passenger safety functions at higher power levels than specified in the rule,” OET said Wednesday. The waivers “will enable important in-vehicle sensing technology to further the auto industry’s goal of saving lives,” Auto Innovators President John Bozzella said in a statement. “The industry is working to reduce pediatric heatstroke fatalities through advanced technology, public awareness efforts, and a 2019 commitment to equip vehicles with rear seat reminder systems by Model Year 2025,” he said.

AT&T, APCO, electric utilities and other plaintiffs said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should overturn the FCC’s 6 GHz order on the grounds that the regulator never fully addressed the interference threat to band incumbents. “In defending the Order, the FCC and its supporters mischaracterize the basic choice before the FCC,” said a brief (in Pacer) posted Friday in docket 20-1190: “That choice was not whether to allow unlicensed devices to operate in the 6 GHz band at all, but how to mitigate their interference risks. The FCC never faced up to that choice.” Plaintiffs said they challenged the April 2020 order “because it is very likely to result in harmful interference at unpredictable places and times and because, without explanation, it arbitrarily rejects readily available safeguards.”

Southern Co. is having problems getting cooperation from Wi-Fi proponents on 6 GHz interference tests, it told the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. “Manufacturers and proponents of unlicensed use continue to ignore or reject repeated requests to participate in any field testing and continue to decline ... to provide any prototype or sample devices that could be used in such testing,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295.