Interference Monitoring Satellite Focus Post-Spectrum Frontiers
The FCC spectrum frontiers order ended up giving satellite operators more flexibility in siting future earth stations than they had feared they would receive, though the industry also hoped the agency would apply a heavier regulatory touch to aggregate interference, industry officials tell us. The aggregate interference wording in the 278-page order and Further NPRM voted on Thursday (see 1607140052) "is not action oriented" because it set up a route for gathering information and urges more study and cooperative data gathering, one satellite company lawyer told us.
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The order declined to set specific aggregate interference guidelines. The agency will start a proceeding where satellite operators can submit data and analyses on any changes in aggregate interference as more upper microwave flexible use (UMFU) services are deployed. "We would have liked to see something more definitive," but at least the FCC left the door open by creating the docket for any aggregate interference-related filings, said Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup.
The studies submitted during the spectrum frontiers proceeding don't support establishing an aggregate interference limit or specific technical requirements aimed at cutting skyward emissions, though they do point to a need for more study of aggregate interference on satellite receivers, the FCC said in the order. "We do not believe that aggregate interference (from upper microwave flexible use transmitters) will ever reach a level that harms the operations of the 28 GHz satellite systems." The agency said noise level increases from aggregate interference will come over time as UMFU systems are deployed.
The satellite industry also was pleased the FCC leaned away from auctions as a means for fixed satellite service (FSS) operators to acquire licenses, Stroup told us. The earth station grandfathering rules the FCC adopted also were more flexible than had been initially proposed, he said. Instead of grandfathered protections just for existing earth stations, the agency extended them to pending earth stations that ultimately get granted -- a move that recognizes the processes of building an earth station network, Stroup said.
The rules allow up to three earth stations per territory -- either county for the 28 GHz band or partial economic area for the 37/39 GHz bands -- giving more siting flexibility than originally proposed, said a satellite lawyer. Actual siting will depend on population distribution details still to be determined, with the order directing the International Bureau to issue a public notice seeking comment, the attorney said. The bureau also will seek comment more broadly on best practices for earth station siting to minimize the impact on UMFU services and on accommodating multiple earth station interference zones while staying within those population distribution guidelines, said the order.
New earth stations in the 28 GHz band "is not without cost to terrestrial licensees," but the small area encumbered by those new earth stations "will minimize such costs," the FCC said. The rules open the door to potentially thousands of additional earth stations, said the commission. "We believe the relatively small protection zones will have little impact on terrestrial use."
The FCC also said it wants satellite input via its FNPRM about whether allowing higher power flux density levels for FSS in the 37/39 GHz bands would mesh with terrestrial use of the bands. The FCC said it sought comment on different sharing options in the 47 GHz band between FSS user equipment and terrestrial 5G operations, with those options ranging from geographic area licensing to band segmentation, giving FSS priority in part and UMFU operations priority in another. Another option would be creating specific criteria for assigning priority between FSS and terrestrial operations, it said. Pointing to satellite allocations in the 50 GHz band, the FCC said it wants comment on how FSS operators might use the 48.2-50.2 uplink band if it were paired with the 40-42 GHz downlink band. Stroup said a priority for the satellite industry will be ensuring the spectrum frontiers protections are extended to the other millimeter wave bands.
Boeing, which pushed for the FCC to treat V-band spectrum separately from spectrum frontiers (see 1607060046), didn't comment. In a statement, Chief Technology Officer Mike Pettus of V-band broadband technology company Vubiq Networks said the significance of the agency expanding the contiguous unlicensed spectrum in the V band "cannot be overstated." The "FCC has shown overwhelming support for unlicensed millimeter wave operation," he said. "This action validates our company’s focus on V-Band, which has now been greatly expanded.”
SES in a statement said it "welcomes the protections" for FSS "earth station operations in the 28 GHz frequency band and its willingness to continue reviewing the risk of aggregate interference into 28 GHz satellites. SES recognizes that the introduction of mobile operations into this spectrum presents a unique situation given the existing regulatory framework and uses of these frequencies in the United States, and requires a tailored approach and on-going cooperation among the stakeholders."