What's New
Part 1
Updated 8/23/97[PRESIDENT CLINTON'S TEAM APPLAUDS ADOPTION OF "U-NII" RULES]
[FCC GRANTS NII SuperNet -- 300 MHz New Wireless Bandwidth at 5 GHz!]
[TAPR's SS STA GRANTED] [Our Thoughts re: TAPR SS STA]
[Build Something for SS]
[Past What's New Pages]
January 9, 1997
Contact: Paige Darden, NTIA, Washington, D.C.
202-482-7002
pdarden@ntia.doc.gov
CLINTON ADMINISTRATION APPLAUDS ADOPTION OF "U-NII" RULES
WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules making spectrum available for use by a new category of unlicensed equipment, called "Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure" devices, or "U-NII" devices. The Clinton Administration has been a strong supporter of the effort to develop rules allowing the deployment of these devices, and applauds the Commission for taking this important step.
"The result of this proceeding could have a profound impact on the way individuals, groups, and public institutions communicate and help us realize our goal of universal access to advanced telecommunications services for all Americans. Also, deployment of these unlicensed systems will further the Administration's critical goal of making NII access available to every school and library in the United States by the year 2000," said Larry Irving, assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and information. "The FCC has carefully considered an approach that can allow schools, libraries, businesses, and individuals to communicate within a building, a campus, and in some instances, a small community."
The FCC's decision allows the U-NII devices to operate within bands currently used by the Federal Government. "We are particularly pleased that cooperative efforts between NTIA and the FCC have produced this result, which represents a very important first step in determining the compatibility of U-NII devices with Government operations. We are optimistic that the technical approach proposed in today's ruling will enable these two important uses of the spectrum to coexist, and we look forward to further discussions to permit broader U-NII operations," said Irving.
BACKGROUND: NTIA has submitted two filings in this proceeding. The first filing, submitted November 2, 1995, urged the FCC to explore the feasibility of implementing unlicensed wireless technologies as proposed by WINForum and Apple Computer Company. On August 16, 1996, NTIA urged the Commission to adopt rules to open the door to provide wireless access to computer networks without the need for users to obtain an FCC license. NTIA also provided technical advice to allow Federal spectrum users to share spectrum with unlicensed wireless systems.
On January 9, 1997 the FCC Adopted its Final Report & Order on The NII SuperNet
By Report and Order FCC 97-005 January 9, 1997 the FCC has created a home for the NII. See:FCC Report And Order 97-005 on NII SuperNet for more information. Quoting some selected paragraphs from 97-005:
By this action, we amend Part 15 of our rules to make available 300 megahertz of spectrum at 5.15-5.35 GHz and 5.725-5.825 GHz for use by a new category of unlicensed equipment, called Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure ("U-NII") devices.
The Commission has determined that the public interest is best serviced by increasing the maximum peak power limit as follows: 50 mW peak transmitter output power with up to 6 dBi antenna gain (equates to 200 mW EIRP) permitted in the 5.15-5.25 GHz band; 250 mW peak transmitter output power with up to 6 dBi antenna gain (equates to 1 W EIRP) permitted in the 5.25-5.35 GHz band; and 1 W peak transmitter output power with up to 6 dBi antenna gain (equates to 4 W EIRP) permitted in the 5.725-5.825 GHz band. In addition, to permit manufacturers flexibility in designing U-NII equipment, the Commission will permit the use of higher directional antenna gain provided there is a corresponding reduction in transmitter output power of one dB for every dB that the directional antenna gain exceeds 6 dBi. Also, U-NII use of the 5.15-5.25 GHz band is restricted to indoor operations only. Further, this action adopts a power spectral density ("PSD") requirement for U-NII devices that would require that the maximum power be spread across of bandwidth of at least 20 megahertz. This PSD requirement will ensure that U-NII devices spread its signal energy evenly across the band and encourages the use of this spectrum by wideband high data rate applications, but permits non-wideband operations at reduced powers. These increased power limits will permit U-NII equipment manufacturers, many of which may be small businesses, more flexibility to develop products to meet market demands.
The Commission has now concluded that the proposed LBT spectrum etiquette could delay deployment of U-NII devices and hinder innovation in the development of these devices. Rather, the Commission has concluded that simple technical rules, such as PSD limits and out-of-band emission requirements, should be sufficient to ensure spectrum sharing between incumbent operations and new U-NII devices. The Commission declined to adopt a spectrum etiquette, any channelization plan, or a minimum modulation efficiency requirement because such requirements may preclude certain technologies or some of the many different concepts envisioned by U-NII proponents. We believe this action will benefit small entities by permitting these entities to develop innovative equipment to meet market demands without having to follow protocols governing use of the spectrum.
Contributions
Build Something for SS
We have wanted to encourage experimentation with SS techniques for a long time. When SSS was a paper publication, we published a number of "how to" articles, two generations of "Ham Hopper" transceiver designs and a number of other tidbits for the avid or budding experimenter. We even went so far as to help start a local group of Hams who wanted to build a Ham Radio Wireless Internet Transceiver. This group project never really got off the ground. From time to time we get email and FAXs from individuals, students and Ham groups asking for advice, help or "pointers" on how to get started learning something about SS technology AND building something useful for SS. This short article is the first in a series from SSS Online which will try to suggest avenues of experimentation, SS resources, design tools and we hope to give enough detailed project information so that you may actually duplicate something worthwile for SS.
Now that TAPR has a brand new SS STA from the FCC, perhaps something will finally happen in this area. My guess is that before 1997 is over TAPR will be offering some sort of SS radio / modem kit. I would sure like to help with the design and development of such a project. This may be just what is needed to really get the interest going in SS techniques. I don't know of any kit now available anywhere that can wet the appetite of experimenters, students and Hams, do you? So until TAPR puts out their SS kit, what can people do to learn more about SS technology?
We at RF/SS have had good intentions for a long time and have hoped that we could offer kits, evaluation boards or some other "you build it" version of some of our SS designs. Until now, however we have just been too busy with our commercial work AND we have not seen enough interest in this sort of thing to justify the time, trouble and expense of a new PCB layout, new firmware design and pulling together all the loose ends needed to market a kit to fill this need. Maybe the time is now right -- just maybe, there will be enough interest to get something going.
I assume that most of you would-be experimenters out there have already studied SS theory, have done some Spice, or block diagram simulation or other preparations and hopefully know what you'd like to build. If you are not sure what you would like to build or are not sure what can be built simply, we will provide a short shopping list below (based on some of past RF/SS projects):
Many thanks to Mr. Bruce Buell, BB Associates, Inc. of San Jose for the wonderful support he provided on these projects. Bruce did the digital, microprocessor and circuit board designs for all three of these projects. He also helped immensely with Orcad Schematic capture, system integration and test / debug of all of these projects.
Click here to go to Bruce's WEB Site
email Bruce: [bbuell@practical-designs.com]
PIC17C42 All Firmware PN Generator - De-Speader (Use for TX or RX) -- Will generate arbitrary PN Patterns up to over 2 MHz!
Click here for details on the PIC17C42 Firmware PN Generator Design
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