Adaptrum Granted WSD Testing License

The list of experimental actions granted from 12/1/08 to 1/1/09 released Thursday includes news of a license (WE2XXI) issued to Adaptrum, Inc. which allows the company to operate in the 174-216 MHz, 470-608 MHz, and 614-698 MHz TV bands for testing white space devices (WSDs).

While the list shows mobile operation within the state of California, the license application indicates operation only in a 5 km radius around the coordinates matching Adaptrum's offices at 1815 McCandless Drive in Milpitas, Calif. The transmitter output power on all bands is specified as 1 watt, with an ERP of 2 watts. The emission type is 5M50X3D.

In a supplement to its experimental license application, Adaptrum agreed with the need for SBE coordination “for any combination of parameters that exceeds what has been authorized in the First Report and Order in Docket 04-186 for equipment subject to normal equipment authorization.” Adaptrum agreed in the document that coordination was a “two way street.”

The company stated that it would work with the SBE frequency coordinator in developing experiments geared to increasing “mutual confidence” that there would be a lack of harmful interference stemming from those experiments. Adaptrum also said that it expected SBE to enter into the agreement with “an open mind” and to be cooperative in establishing frequencies and power levels needed to make the testing meaningful.

Adaptrum added that “coordination is not intended to be a continuation of the public comment part of ongoing rulemakings” and that “objecting to frequencies that are not usable in practice in the experimental area would not be constructive.”

The company also requested “incremental” increases in power levels used in earlier experiments should be given “positive review and reasonable consideration.”

Adaptrum requested that test parameters that would be eligible for normal equipment authorization under the new rules be allowed without prior SBE coordination.