[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 127 (Friday, June 30, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40614-40615]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-16576]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

[Docket No. 000623194-0194-01]
RIN 0660-XX09


Notice, Request for Comments on Ultrawideband Systems Test Plan

AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 
U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice, request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) and the 
Office of Spectrum Management (OSM) of the National Telecommunications 
and Information Administration (NTIA) invite interested parties to 
review and comment on a proposed test plan for developing accurate, 
repeatable, and practical methods for characterizing the very narrow 
pulses (and pulse trains) of ultrawideband (UWB) systems and collecting 
the information to estimate or measure the potential for UWB systems to 
interfere with existing (narrowband, channelized, band-limited, and 
wideband) radio communications or sensing systems. This test plan 
covers the effects of UWB signals on selected Federal radio receivers, 
but does not include effects on Global Positioning System (GPS) 
receivers.\1\
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    \1\ NTIA is preparing a separate test plan to measure the 
effects of UWB signals on GPS receivers. NTIA intends to post that 
UWB-GPS test plan on the NTIA homepage in late-July and will seek 
public comment at that time.
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    The UWB test plan will be posted on the NTIA homepage at: 
www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/uwbtestplan>. Interested parties may also 
obtain a copy of the test plan from ITS or OSM.

DATES: Interested parties are invited to submit comments on the test 
plan no later than July 17, 2000.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS: The Department invites the public to submit 
comments on the UWB test plan in paper or electronic form. Comments may 
be mailed to Paul Roosa, Office of Spectrum Management, National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration, Room 4099 HCHB, 1401 
Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230. Paper submissions should 
include a diskette in ASCII, WordPerfect (please specify version) or 
Microsoft Word (please specify version) format. Diskettes should be 
labeled with the name and organizational affiliation of the filer, and 
the name and version of the word processing program used to create the 
document.
    In the alternative, comments may be submitted electronically to the 
following electronic mail address: [email protected]>. Comments 
submitted via electronic mail should also be submitted in one or more 
of the formats specified above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. William Kissick, Institute for 
Telecommunication Sciences, telephone: (303) 497-7482; or electronic 
mail: [email protected]>; or Paul Roosa, National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration, telephone:(202) 482-
1559; or electronic mail: [email protected]>. Media enquiries should 
be directed to the Office of Public Affairs, National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration, at (202) 482-7002.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Recent advances in microcircuit and other 
technologies have resulted in the development of pulsed radar and 
communications systems with very narrow pulse widths and very wide 
bandwidths. These ultrawideband (UWB) systems have instantaneous 
bandwidths of at least 25 percent of the center frequency of the 
device. UWB systems can perform a number of useful telecommunication 
functions that make them very appealing for both the commercial and 
government applications. These systems have very wide information 
bandwidths, are capable of accurately locating nearby objects, and can 
use processing technology with UWB pulses to ``see through objects'' 
and communicate using multiple propagation paths. The bandwidths of UWB 
devices, however, are so wide that, although their output powers in 
many cases are low enough to be authorized under the unlicensed device 
regulations of the NTIA and the Federal Communications Commission 
(FCC), some of the systems emit signals in bands in which such 
transmissions are not permitted because of potential harmful effects on 
critical radiocommunication services.
    The NTIA and the FCC have developed spectrum management procedures 
for unlicensed devices (conventional electronic devices with narrow 
bandwidths), but these procedures do not currently address UWB devices, 
which were unknown when these procedures were adopted. Thus, NTIA and 
the FCC must work closely with each other, current users of the radio 
spectrum, and the UWB community to determine how UWB devices can 
operate without adversely impacting existing radio-

[[Page 40615]]

communication systems. The difficulty in measuring both the UWB signal 
characteristics and their effect on other devices exacerbates the 
difficulties of this coordination. The pulses are very narrow, often in 
the low nanosecond or picosecond range, requiring new measurement 
techniques and equipment to measure the signal characteristics 
accurately. Further, the interference effects of very narrow pulses 
with high repetition rates and aggregations of similar devices, such as 
could occur in some applications of UWB technology, are not well 
understood.
    The NTIA has therefore undertaken this measurement program to 
develop information to help address the implementation and operation of 
UWB systems. The objectives of this test plan are to:
    1. Develop measurement procedures that use commercial-off-the-shelf 
(COTS) measurement equipment to accurately portray UWB emission 
characteristics;
    2. Observe effects of UWB signals in the intermediate frequency 
(IF) sections of selected receivers, and determine the susceptibility 
of conventional radio receivers to UWB emissions;
    3. Provide a basis for development of a one-on-one interference 
analysis procedure to determine the minimum needed separation distances 
or the maximum peak and average effective isotropic radiated power 
(EIRP) of UWB devices to ensure compatibility;
    4. Perform a limited set of measurements to validate the one-on-one 
interference analysis (above) between UWB signals and selected Federal 
radio receivers, particularly radio navigation and safety-of-life 
systems; and
    5. Investigate how multiple UWB emissions add together within a 
single receiver.

Kathy D. Smith,
Chief Counsel.
[FR Doc. 00-16576 Filed 6-29-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-60-P