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Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member,
and Members of the Subcommittee:
Good morning.
I am Julius Knapp, Deputy Chief of the Office of Engineering and
Technology at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
I welcome this opportunity to discuss the FCC’s proceeding to provide
for the introduction of ultra-wideband (UWB) devices.
Introduction
Ultra-wideband
technology holds great promise for a vast array of new products that have the
potential to provide significant benefits for public safety, businesses and
consumers. Some of the applications for this technology include radar
imaging of objects buried under the ground or behind walls, short-range
high-speed data devices, and vehicle radar systems.
UWB
devices operate by employing very narrow or short duration pulses that result in
very large or wideband transmission bandwidths. With appropriate technical
standards, UWB devices can operate using spectrum occupied by existing radio
services without causing interference, thereby permitting scarce spectrum
resources to be used more efficiently. To
that end, the Commission reviewed extensive comments that were filed in the UWB
proceeding by numerous industry stakeholders.
On February 14, 2002, the
Commission adopted a First Report and Order establishing rules to allow
development and marketing of unlicensed low power UWB devices.
The Commission’s action is a cautious first step in authorizing UWB
technology. The technical rules are
based in large measure on standards recommended by the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that NTIA believes are
necessary to protect against interference to vital federal government
operations, including safety systems. In taking its action, the Commission expressed concern,
however, that the standards may be overprotective and could unnecessarily
constrain the development of UWB technology.
Upon adoption of the First Report and Order, the Commission indicated an
intent to review these standards and explore more flexible technical standards
to address the operation of additional types of UWB operations and technology.
Overview of the New Provisions for UWB
Devices
The Commission categorized UWB
devices into three types: (1) imaging systems; (2) vehicle radar systems: and
(3) communications and measurement systems.
The
first category, imaging systems, includes ground penetrating radars (GPRs), wall
imaging systems, through-wall imaging systems, surveillance systems and medical
systems.
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Ground
penetrating radars detect the location and image of buried objects and can
be used for applications such as law enforcement investigations and for
detecting flaws in bridges and roadways.
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Wall-imaging
systems can be used to examine the foundations of buildings and to locate
objects such as pipes inside a wall.
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Through-wall
imaging devices can be used by law enforcement, fire and rescue
organizations for hostage rescue and locating persons trapped inside a
burning building.
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Surveillance
systems, although technically not imaging, can operate as “security
fences” by establishing a stationary radio frequency (RF) perimeter field
and detecting the intrusion of persons or objects in that field.
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Medical
imaging is used to detect the location or movement of objects within the
body of a person or animal.
Imaging systems
generally need to operate in the lower parts of the radio spectrum in order to
work properly. However, these are
also the parts of the spectrum that are used the most heavily by other radio
services. The recently adopted
rules generally allow imaging systems to operate below 960 MHz or above 3.1 GHz,
prevent them from causing interference in the most sensitive frequency bands
used for services such as air traffic control and the global positioning system.
The rules also restricted the users to include law enforcement, fire and
emergency rescue organizations, scientific research institutions, commercial
mining companies, licensed health care practitioners and construction companies.
At the request of NTIA, the FCC will coordinate the operation of all
imaging systems with the federal government.
The second category of
UWB technology permitted by these rules is vehicle radar systems.
Vehicle radars can be used for collision avoidance, safer deployment of
airbags, and smoother suspension systems that better respond to road conditions.
These systems will operate in the upper reaches of the spectrum between
22 and 29 GHz, where the spectrum is not as heavily used as lower frequency
bands.
The third category of
UWB devices is communications and measurement systems.
These devices can be used for applications such as high-speed home and
business networking devices, in-home distribution of digital TV signals, and
storage tank measurement devices. Existing
users of the spectrum expressed the greatest concerns about this category of
devices due to the potential for widespread and uncontrolled use. The Commission restricted operation of these devices to the
frequency band 3.1-10.6 GHz, thereby avoiding the parts of the spectrum that are
used most heavily, including the GPS band.
Protection of Existing Radio Services
Against Harmful Interference
The
establishment of standards to protect against harmful interference from UWB
devices has been a daunting task. Most
interference issues involve potential interactions between two, or perhaps a
few, radio services, because the energy generated by a particular service tends
to be limited to a narrow range of frequencies. In contrast, UWB devices emit energy over wide swaths of the
spectrum used by dozens of services, raising the possibility of many potential
interference interactions, each of which needed to be analyzed.
Since
the UWB proceeding commenced in 1998, many parties filed comments in the
Commission’s rules making proceeding raising concerns about potential
interference from UWB devices to the personal communications service, multipoint
distribution service, satellite digital audio radio service, GPS, and others.
The Federal Government, under the auspices of NTIA, also evaluated
potential interference to a wide variety of systems such as GPS, aeronautical
navigation systems, weather radars, and systems used by agencies such as the
Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and
the Department of Transportation.
The
FCC’s engineering and technology staff analyzed the extensive tests performed
by NTIA, Stanford University, the University of Texas and others.
We reviewed and considered more than 700 filings that were submitted in
the Commission’s rule making proceeding.
We also coordinated extensively with NTIA.
We
are extremely confident that the standards the Commission adopted will protect
against harmful interference to other radio services. For example, the rules require ultra-wideband communications
devices to operate above 3.1 GHz, well away from the frequency band at 1.6 GHz
used for GPS. In addition, any
spurious emissions in the GPS spectrum would need to be suppressed by 34 dB
below the emissions limits that apply to millions of existing radio frequency
devices - - in other words, more than 2000 times less than the radio noise
permitted to be emitted by a personal computer.
The FCC plans to closely
monitor the introduction of this technology through our equipment authorization
program. In addition, the
Commission is committed to take enforcement action for noncompliance with the
rules and to act expeditiously to resolve any instances of interference.
Coordination with NTIA
As I previously mentioned, FCC
staff coordinated extensively with NTIA staff in developing the standards
adopted in the First Report and Order and in large part based the standards on
measures that NTIA believes are necessary to protect
against interference to vital federal government
operations. Throughout the proceeding NTIA and FCC staffs were in
constant dialogue. Because UWB
devices emit energy over large swaths of spectrum, emissions into spectrum used
by both Government and non-Government systems cannot be avoided. Therefore, both
NTIA and the FCC have shared jurisdictional responsibilities.
Given the multitude of radio services that could potentially be affected
by UWB emissions and the complexity of the technical analyses, it should not be
surprising that there were different points of view on some issues among the
agencies as well as the parties. However,
the staffs of the Commission, NTIA and the other Federal agencies and
departments worked together cooperatively to develop rules that will enable
initial deployment of some UWB technologies while ensuring that incumbent
government systems are fully protected against harmful interference.
Next Steps: Further Testing and
Measurements
UWB technology is still in its
infancy and it is important that the government continue to monitor the
development of this technology. Additional
scientific work is needed to expand our understanding of this technology and its
interference potential as it develops.
As I mentioned earlier, the
Commission has committed to
review the standards for UWB devices in the next six to twelve months.
We are undertaking a study at the Commission’s Laboratory in Columbia,
Maryland, to better understand whether the limits that were adopted are
appropriate, particularly relative to the levels of background noise that may
already exist from other devices. We
plan to make the results available to the public for evaluation by the end of
the year. We have invited other
organizations to perform further studies of UWB technology as well.
Reaction to the First Report and Order
The reactions to the
Commission’s decision on UWB have generally been quite favorable.
Several companies have announced that they plan to introduce new UWB
products very soon. We recognize
that some UWB interests have raised concerns about the new rules, in particular,
manufacturers and users of ground penetrating radars.
We also realize that some non-Government radio services may not be
satisfied that they will be adequately protected against interference.
We are confident that any remaining issues can be resolved in an
expeditious manner.
Conclusion
I would like to thank you, Mr.
Chairman, for the opportunity to appear before you today.
This concludes my testimony and I would be pleased to answer any
questions you or the other members may have.
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