The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology is looking for comments on a new Technological Advisory Council white paper and recommendations for improving receiver performance.
The white paper, “Interference Limits Policy — The use of harm claim thresholds to improve the interference tolerance of wireless systems,” presents recommendations from the TAC to the FCC chairman made during its December 2012 meeting.
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski had directed TAC to study the role of receiver in ensuring efficient use of spectrum and to recommend ways to avoid obstacles present by receiver performance in making spectrum available for new services.
The white paper focuses on “interference limits” as the basis for policy proposals and suggests steps that should be taken to define the radio environment in which receivers are expected to operate. The paper says this approach would make it easier to determine the party responsible for mitigating harmful interference by specifying signal power levels, called “harm claim thresholds,” that a service would be expected to tolerate from other services before a claim of harmful interference could be made.
OET is requesting comments on the white paper and its recommendations for FCC implementation of an interference limits policy. Specifically, it wants comments on the viability of the interference limits policy approach, especially among services operating on adjacent frequencies. It also seeks comments on the costs and benefits of the approach.
The office also is asking for comments on the participation of multiple stakeholder organizations in developing interference thresholds and the role the agency should play.
The deadline for comments is June 21. Reply comments are due July 8.
