FCC

Ligado Asks Officials to Disregard GPS Testing Report

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Ligado Networks LLC has asked the FCC and the Defense and Transportation departments to reject a recent report by the Space-Based Positioning Navigation & Timing National Systems Engineering Forum (NPEF) assessing whether there are gaps in testing of adjacent-band interference to the Global Positioning System L1 band (TR Daily, March 20).

The NPEF was tasked with doing the assessment by the National Executive Committee for Space-Based PNT, an intergovernmental agency body. The analysis evaluated tests done by an FCC-mandated technical working group, the NPEF, the Department of Transportation, Roberson and Associates LLC for Ligado, and the National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (NASCTN).

The NPEF report faulted the Roberson and NASCTN tests for not using a 1 dB increase in the noise floor as the threshold for assessing harmful interference to GPS receivers, as the other tests did. It said that the other tests “included sufficient scope and methodology in compliance with the PNTAB’s [Space-Based PNT Advisory Board] set of recommendations, namely the DOT ABC, NPEF, and FCC TWG tests.”

But in a letter Monday to Patrick M. Shanahan and Jeffrey A. Rosen, the deputy secretaries of the Defense and Transportation departments who chair the National PNT Committee, Ligado President and Chief Executive Officer Doug Smith said there were “fundamental flaws” in the NPEF report.

He said that the report failed to mention that major GPS equipment manufacturers have signed agreements with Ligado stating they will not oppose the company’s planned LTE network deployment as long as certain technical parameters are met.

Mr. Smith also said that the NPEF’s report “is flawed because it is based on criteria that simply have no basis in spectrum regulation.” In particular, he complained that it “concludes that the only testing that matters is the testing for a change of 1 dB in the noise floor caused by operations in adjacent bands, and it gives no value to almost 1,500 hours of testing done by” the NASCTN.

Mr. Smith added, “The metric of a 1 dB change in the noise floor is appropriately used by regulators to govern users who share a band, sometimes referred to as a ‘co-channel interference.’ While Ligado’s operations and GPS are near each other (but not exactly ‘adjacent’ given the 23-megahertz guard band), the truth is that under all spectrum regulations GPS and Ligado do not share a band. That is a fact that some GPS advocates seem unwilling to accept.”

GPS equipment makers Garmin International, Inc., Deere & Co., Trimble Navigation Ltd., TopCon Positioning Systems, Inc., and NovAtel, Inc., have reached agreements with Ligado under which they will not oppose Ligado’s network, but those agreements don’t cover use of the 1 dB threshold, which most of the companies support.

Mr. Smith’s letter was attached to an ex parte Ligado filing with the FCC yesterday in IB docket 11-109 that also criticized the NPEF report.

“We encourage the Commission, as the expert spectrum agency in consultation with NTIA, to consider the full record before it, which shows that Ligado can both protect GPS devices and enable the use of prime mid-band spectrum to enhance American competitiveness and security, invest in American infrastructure, and create thousands of new jobs,” Ligado said.- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily

 

 

FCC: 2017 EAS Test ‘Largely Was a Success’

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The third nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) last September “largely was a success,” but some stakeholders reported experiencing problems, according to a report released by the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau today. The report cited a number of metrics from the Sept. 27 test to highlight what the bureau said was its overall success. Continue reading →

Communications Outage Info Needs to Be ‘Actionable,’ Responders Say

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Public safety and emergency response officials suggested today that the information on communications facilities status provided by the FCC during disasters such as last year’s hurricanes could be more timely and presented in a way to emphasize “actionable” information.

In remarks at the beginning of the workshop, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, “The ability to communicate information is critical during emergencies—it’s what helps us warn communities, dispatch assistance, and more.”  He added that the agency has already received input in response to a public notice released in December on its performance during the 2017 hurricane season and said the agency the workshop would provide “a candid discussion about what information the Commission could or should provide to help improve disaster response and recovery efforts.”

During the first panel, officials from federal agencies with missions related to emergency and disaster response noted that information in the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) is 24 hours old by the time they get it and may not include information from all providers, since compliance is voluntary.

“We can’t just change” DIRS reporting to “mandatory, FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Associate Chief Jeff Goldthorp noted. Continue reading →

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 12, 2018

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Batteries in the Field:  When we add smartphones and tablets to the mix of public safety communications devices we are adding yet another set of devices that run on batteries that need to be recharged. While there are a number of companies working on charging these devices from the radio energy that is transmitted from a cell site, which could make recharging a non-issue, that appears, once again, to be well into the future. In the meantime, how are these devices to be charged along with the Land Mobile Radio (LMR) handheld radios?

Comparing LMR to LTE Devices:  LMR devices are generally designed for battery life of over a shift, which is ten hours or so. But this is with a duty cycle that is generally light. The norm is 80-percent standby (lowest power requirement) to 10-percent receive (mid-power requirement) and 10-percent transmit (highest power usage). The batteries for LMR radios are removable and replaceable and can be run through a “fast charge” system to replenish them in short order. There are also what are known as “clam-shell” battery cases that are designed to be used with disposable batteries, usually a number of AA cells. During major wildland fires when the forest services issue their cache of radios, they are mostly powered by throw-away cells. The batteries used in LMR radios are usually on the bottom of the radio, are easy to take off, and have a lot more battery capacity than batteries that are not removable.

There are a number of different scenarios for LMR radio distribution. In police departments, most LMR handhelds are staged in gang chargers and as patrol officers exit the station for a shift they will grab a radio and sometimes a spare battery for use on their shift and then replace the units in the charger at the end of their shift. In the fire service, since there are normally four assigned to an engine, radios are sometimes in chargers near one of the engine’s rear doors and are picked up as needed when arriving on a scene. Most EMS personnel have radios issued to them at the start of each shift. Of course, there are many variations of this including some departments where the LMR handheld is the only radio each person carries. Read the Entire Post Here Continue reading →

FCC Order Requires Electronic Filing of State EAS Plans

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The FCC released a report and order today mandating the electronic filing of state Emergency Alert System (EAS) plans, a step that the agency says will reduce burdens on state officials while enabling federal and other stakeholders to better access and use the data. In the order in PS docket 15-94, the FCC established the Alert Reporting System (ARS). It said the ARS “will create a comprehensive online filing system for EAS by combining the existing EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) with a new, streamlined electronic system for the filing of State EAS Plans. ARS will replace paper-based filing requirements, minimize the burdens on State Emergency Communications Committees (SECCs), and allow the FCC, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other authorized entities to better access and use up-to-date information about the EAS, thus increasing its value as a tool to protect life and property for all Americans.”

The adequacy of state EAS plans has been discussed in the wake of a false ballistic missile alert in Hawaii in January (TR Daily, Jan. 16).

For example, at a Senate field hearing in Hawaii last week, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC should make sure that state EAS plans that are filed with the Commission are up to date (TR Daily, April 5). “The Hawaii plan was over a decade old,” she said. Continue reading →

FCC Releases Final Report on False Hawaii Missile Alert

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The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau today released its final report on a false ballistic missile alert in Hawaii in January (TR Daily, Jan. 16), concluding “that a combination of human error and inadequate safeguards” were contributors to the error and making about a dozen recommendations to prevent future occurrences anywhere in the U.S.

The false alert was sent via the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and by wireless emergency alert (WEA) by a shift warning officer at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) who thought the alert was real instead of only a test. It took the agency 38 minutes to send a corrected alert, although authorities used social media and the news media to get the word out earlier that the alert was not real.

The Public Safety Bureau presented a preliminary report to Commissioners on the incident on Jan. 30 (TR Daily, Jan. 30), and at a Senate field hearing in Hawaii last week, an official outlined the conclusions and recommendations in the report released today (TR Daily, April 5).

“As set forth in greater detail below, the Bureau finds that a combination of human error and inadequate safeguards contributed to the transmission of the January 13 false alert,” according to the 28-page final report. “Neither the false alert nor the 38-minute delay to correct the false alert would have occurred had Hawaii implemented reasonable safeguards and protocols before January 13, 2018, to minimize the risk that HI-EMA would issue a false alert, and to ensure that HI-EMA would be able to issue a rapid correction of any false alert that was delivered to the public.”

The report also said that “it took HI-EMA until 8:20 a.m. (HST), 13 minutes after the initial alert, to provide the public with the first authoritative announcement over social media that this was a false alarm, and 38 minutes to issue a correction using EAS and WEA.” Continue reading →

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 5, 2018

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For the past two weeks I have been sidelined with a nasty infection I appear to have brought home as a souvenir from IWCE in Orlando. Many important things happened during this time so this week I will recap some of them and attempt to catch up. Some of the news has to do with the fact that FirstNet completed its Evolved Packet Core (EPC) for use by only the first responder community, Verizon says its core is up and running and the FirstNet core is “vaporware,” the FirstNet Authority tasked FirstNet to build out public safety band 14, AT&T has stated that the FirstNet network build-out will happen a lot quicker than five years, and much more.

FirstNet Core:  Let’s start with the FirstNet core. The core of an LTE network is the brains of the network. AT&T has been offering up all of its LTE spectrum with full priority and pre-emption for public safety and now the redundant brain of the network is also up and running. This means several important things. First, the public safety network is really end-to-end and available for public safety only, and the core is hardened and separate from AT&T’s customer core, ensuring Public safety traffic will remain separate and apart on the overall AT&T LTE network and band 14 (the FirstNet spectrum). The core is the final step in the end-to-end encrypted LTE network. Because public safety devices have their own SIM identification number, they are instantly identified as members of a network riding on a network. Public safety users, while on the same LTE spectrum AT&T is using for its commercial users, are segmented so public safety users have priority, better data encryption, and access to the public safety core. Even when AT&T’s secondary (commercial) users are sharing bandwidth they have no access to the FirstNet core or any way to intermingle with FirstNet users.
Read the Entire Post Here Continue reading →

FCC Raises OpEx Cap for RoR Carriers Serving Mainly Tribal Lands

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Over the partial dissents of the two Democratic Commissioners, the FCC today raised the cap on operating expenses recoverable through federal high-cost support for carriers that “predominantly serve Tribal lands … in recognition that they are likely to have higher costs than carriers not serving Tribal lands.”

The FCC had imposed the recoverable opex limit on rate-of-return carriers in a 2016 order which was “calculated by comparing each study area’s opex cost per location to the regression model-generated opex per location plus 1.5 standard deviations,” the FCC noted in a report and order adopted March 27 and released today in Wireline Competition docket 10-90.  In a further notice of proposed rulemaking released with the 2016 order, the FCC had asked whether the opex limitations should be modified for carriers serving tribal lands.

Under today’s order, the limit will be raised to 2.5 standard deviations above the per-location opex generated by the regression model, the order says. Continue reading →

FCC Daily Digest, April 2, 2018, Items of Interest

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Released:  03/30/2018.  PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU PROVIDES GUIDANCE TO CMRS PROVIDERS REGARDING UPCOMING CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH THREE-YEAR E911 LOCATION ACCURACY BENCHMARK AND REMINDS CMRS PROVIDERS OF ADDITIONAL LOCATION ACCURACY DEADLINES IN 2018. (DA No.  18-323). (Dkt No 07-114 17-78 ).  PSHSB . Contact:  Brenda Boykin at (202) 418-2062, email: Brenda.Boykin@fcc.gov https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-18-323A1.docx

FULL SPECTRUM, INC.   Proposed $22k fine against Full Spectrum for apparently willfully and repeatedly causing harmful interference to 200 Verizon Wireless sites in CA.; operating equipment without a license; operating equipment without FCC equipment authorization. Action by:  Regional Director, Region Three, Enforcement Bureau. Adopted:  03/30/2018 by NAL. (DA No. 18-322).  EB  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-18-322A1.doc

ANTHEM DISPLAYS, LLC.   Resolves an investigation into whether Anthem marketed LED signs used in digital billboards and other commercial and industrial applications, in violation of the Commission’s equipment marketing rules. Action by:  Acting Deputy Chief, Enforcement Bureau. Adopted:  03/30/2018 by Order/Consent Decree. (DA No. 18-310).  EB  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-18-310A1.doc

FCC Seeks Comment on SS7 Best Practices Implementation

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The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released a public notice today seeking comments on implementation of best practices recommended by the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council to address cyber vulnerabilities in Signaling System 7 (SS7), a 1970s-era technology widely used to connect phone calls.

The bureau released a public notice last August recommending that providers implement the best practices (TR Daily, Aug. 24, 2017), which were recommended by CSRIC in March 2017.

“The Bureau seeks public comment, including from communications service providers and other stakeholders, on the implementation and effectiveness of the March 2017 CSRIC recommendations regarding SS7 security risks. The Bureau also seeks comment on any alternatives to the CSRIC recommendations that communications service providers have implemented or plan to implement to help address SS7 security risks,” today’s public notice said. Continue reading →