WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At a Wireless Innovation Forum (WInnForum) Spectrum Sharing Committee meeting this week, members praised the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recent Public Notice requesting Spectrum Access System (SAS) Initial Commercial Deployment (ICD) Proposals (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-18-783A1.pdf).
On the heels of its release of the complete baseline standards package in February, the Forum announced the release of the first SAS test harness (http://bit.ly/testharness) in May. Shortly thereafter, the Institute of Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) began verification and validation of the test harness using several SAS operational models provided by individual SAS administrators (Amdocs [NASDAQ: DOX], CommScope [NASDAQ: COMM], Google [NASDAQ: GOOGL], Federated Wireless, KeyBridge Global and Sony [NYSE: SNE]). In the Notice, the FCC recognizes the work of the Forum members in collaborating the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and other CBRS stakeholders throughout the review process for SAS certification.
“The FCC Public Notice of Initial Commercial Deployment in the 3.5 GHz band is a fantastic example of the benefits that all sides gain from a public/private partnership,” said Kurt Schaubauch, CTO of Federated Wireless and Co-Chair of the WInnForum’s Spectrum Sharing Committee. “The FCC understands the positive economic impact that the expedited commercialization of shared spectrum will have, and we applaud them in taking this important step in wireless innovation.”
Once ITS has sufficiently tested the WInnForum-provided test harness, ITS will conduct lab tests of individual SASs that choose to collaborate with the ITS against the test harness. The resulting test report may be submitted by the SAS provider. This process helps further the FCC’s efforts to ensure rapid deployment of new commercial wireless services in the band.
“Forum members are very excited by the forward momentum this Notice signifies,” said Lee Pucker, CEO of the WInnForum. “Through the unique and innovative collaboration among equipment manufacturers, incumbents, operators, government and other stakeholders in the band, we are one step closer to deployment. That’s what we’ve all been working toward and this Notice demonstrates the FCC’s commitment to the same.”
As stated in the Notice, the purpose of the ICD is to ensure SAS operation compliance with Commission rules through testing in a variety of real-world scenarios. ICD proposals must include at least a description of how each SAS administrator’s SAS will demonstrate several required functions, all of which are outlined in the Forum’s baseline specifications package (https://www.cbrs.wirelessinnovation.org/cbrs-baseline-specifications):
- User registration
- SAS-CBSD Communications
- Professional Installation (see https://www.cbrs.wirelessinnovation.org/cpi-program-administrator for additional information or to apply to become Program Administrator for a Certified Professional Installer Program)
- SAS-SAS Interoperability
- SAS Utilization of Commission Databases
- DPA Protection
- Incumbent Protection Implementation
- Interference Reports and Mitigation
The ICD Notice provides a framework for early demonstration of the viability of the Band. In actual deployments, the Commission will be able to see a variety of submitted cases and evaluate in the field how well the ecosystem performs. More information about the Forum’s CBRS activity is at https://cbrs.wirelessinnovation.org.
About the Wireless Innovation Forum
Established in 1996, The Wireless Innovation Forum (SDR Forum Version 2.0) is a non-profit mutual benefit corporation dedicated to advocating for spectrum innovation, and advancing radio technologies that support essential or critical communications worldwide. Members bring a broad base of experience in Software Defined Radio (SDR), Cognitive Radio (CR) and Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) technologies in diverse markets and at all levels of the wireless value chain to address emerging wireless communications requirements. To learn more about The Wireless Innovation Forum, its meetings and membership benefits, visit www.WirelessInnovation.org. Forum projects are supported by platinum sponsors Motorola Solutions, Leonardo and Thales.
