[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 250 (Thursday, December 29, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 81991-81992]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-33383]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


National Spectrum Sharing Research Experimentation, Validation, 
Verification, Demonstration and Trials: Technical Workshop II on 
Coordinating Federal Government/Private Sector Spectrum Innovation 
Testing Needs

AGENCY: The National Coordination Office (NCO) for Networking and 
Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD).

ACTION: Notice.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wendy Wigen at (703) 292-4873 or 
[email protected]. Space is limited and on a first-come, first-served 
basis. The meeting will be webcast. Individuals who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 
p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

DATES: January 17-18, 2012.
SUMMARY: Representatives from Federal research agencies, private 
industry, and academia will collaboratively define the concept and 
requirements of national level spectrum research, development, 
demonstration, and field trial facilities.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Overview: This notice is issued by the National Coordination Office 
(NCO) for the Networking and Information Technology Research and 
Development (NITRD) Program. NITRD agencies are holding a series of 
technical workshops, this being the second, to bring together experts 
from private industry and academia to help create and implement a plan 
for the Department of Commerce regarding spectrum-sharing technologies. 
The workshop will take place on January 17, from 12 Noon to 5 p.m. 
Pacific Time, and January 18 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time in 
Berkeley, California at the Berkeley Wireless Research Center (BWRC), 
2108 Allston Way, Suite 200, Berkeley, CA 94704-1302. This event will 
be webcast. For the event agenda and information about the webcast, go 
to http://www.nitrd.gov/Subcommittee/wirelessspectrumrd.aspx.
    Background: The dramatic rise of radio frequency-based applications 
has sparked a new sense of urgency among federal users, commercial 
service providers, equipment developers, and spectrum management 
professionals to determine the optimal way to manage and use the radio 
spectrum. During Workshop I held at Boulder, Colorado on June 26, 2011, 
the industry expressed a critical need to increase the number and 
availability of national testing facilities to prove that spectrum 
sharing technologies are a viable approach to sharing spectrum among 
different users. Spectrum sharing technology experimentation in ideal 
environments was cited as a key element to catalyze future wireless 
innovation in a complex spectrum environment that stakeholders can 
trust and that will provide a technological basis for national policy 
and rule making. The Wireless Spectrum Research and Development Senior 
Steering Group (WSRD-SSG) was created by the White House Office of 
Science and Technology Policy in late 2010. The committee was asked to 
identify current spectrum-related research projects funded by the 
Federal Government, and to work with the non-federal community, 
including the academic, commercial, and public safety sectors, to 
implement a plan that ``facilitates research, development, 
experimentation, and testing by researchers to explore innovative 
spectrum-sharing technologies,'' in accordance with the Presidential 
Memorandum on Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution. WSRD-SSG 
operates under the auspices of the Networking and Information 
Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program of the National 
Coordination Office (NCO), and has recently put together a preliminary 
inventory of federal R&D in the spectrum arena. This second workshop--
Workshop II--will present an opportunity for relevant interested 
parties, including technical experts from private industry and public 
safety, together with academic researchers, and Government agencies to 
collaboratively define the concept and requirements of national level 
spectrum research, development, demonstration, and field trial 
facilities. Participants will discuss the national facilities that are 
operational today and their availability. Participants, especially 
those from the industry and academia, will also be asked to identify 
infrastructure, toolsets, facilities and features that are important 
for spectrum innovation. The workshop will discuss potential payoffs, 
resource utilization and collaborative engagement frameworks that the 
national wireless industry can adopt that are consistent with the 
Federal Government's role in sponsoring ``high-risk high-reward'' 
research innovation and experimentation. The workshop will also address 
possible frameworks for supporting near-term and long-term research 
experimentation that may result in yet-to-be-conceived improvements and 
models for spectrum utilization. The workshop will discuss technology 
impacts on multiple sectors that can benefit from the use of national 
experimentation facilities including, government, public safety, 
commercial cellular, energy, transport, health, education and 
agricultural sectors.
    Submitted by the National Science Foundation for the National 
Coordination Office (NCO) for Networking and Information Technology 
Research and Development (NITRD) on December 23, 2011.

Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2011-33383 Filed 12-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P