[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 130 (Thursday, July 7, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44408-44409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16136]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION


GPS Adjacent Band Compatibility Assessment Testing

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation, through the Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R), is providing 
notice to the public that it will conduct additional testing of Global 
Positioning System/Global Navigation Satellite System (``GPS/GNSS'') 
receivers this July as part of the DOT Adjacent Band Compatibility 
Study (``the Study''). The goal of the Study is to evaluate the 
adjacent radio frequency band power levels that can be tolerated by 
GPS/GNSS receivers, and advance the Department's understanding of the 
extent to which such power levels impact devices used for 
transportation safety purposes, among other GPS/GNSS applications. In 
April 2016, radiated testing of GNSS devices took place in an anechoic 
chamber at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at the White Sands Missile 
Range (WSMR) facility in New Mexico.
    The Study provides for testing categories of receivers that include 
aviation (non-certified), cellular, general location/navigation, high 
precision and networks, timing, and space-based receivers. 
Approximately twelve receivers, representing each of these receiver 
categories, will be selected for additional testing from those 
receivers tested in April.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Mackey at the DOT/OST-R Volpe 
National Transportation Systems Center at [email protected] or 
617-494-2753.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department obtained input from broad 
public outreach over the past year that included four public meetings 
with stakeholders on September 18 and December 4, 2014, and March 12 
and October 2, 2015, public issuance of a draft test plan on September 
9, 2015 (see 80 FR 54368), and comments received regarding the test 
plan. The final test plan was published March 9, 2016 (see 81 FR 12564) 
and requested voluntary

[[Page 44409]]

participation in this Study by any interested GPS/GNSS device 
manufacturers or other parties whose products incorporate GPS/GNSS 
devices.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review a 
Privacy Act system of records notice regarding our public dockets in 
the January 17, 2008 issue of the Federal Register (73 FR 3316).
    Discussion at the DOT public meetings highlighted the importance of 
conducting GPS/GNSS receiver acquisition testing which had always been 
planned as part of the DOT GPS Adjacent Band Compatibility Assessment, 
but was not feasible due to time constraints during the radiated test 
conducted at WSMR in April. The goal of the additional lab testing to 
be conducted at Zeta Associates in Fairfax, Virginia and MITRE 
Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts, is:
    (1) Receiver characterization for comparison with results obtained 
in April at the anechoic chamber at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory;
    (2) Evaluation of Out Of Band Emission (OOBE) interference at 
prescribed and proposed levels with Long Term Evolution (LTE) uplink 
and downlink signals;
    (3) GPS/GNSS signal acquisition characterization.
    The same instrumentation will be used for these conducted tests at 
the Zeta Associates laboratory as for the radiated test at the U.S. 
Army Research Laboratory at WSMR, utilizing the same GNSS playback 
system and interference generation equipment with modifications to 
support OOBE and acquisition test requirements;
    (4) Antenna characterizations.
    The acquisition test will be conducted using 10 MHz LTE signals at 
four frequencies:

 Base station frequencies of 1525 MHz and 1550 MHz
 Hand-set frequencies of 1620 MHz and 1645 MHz

    Information referenced in this Notice and further background can be 
viewed at: http://www.gps.gov/spectrum/ABC/.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on June 29, 2016.
Gregory D. Winfree,
Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2016-16136 Filed 7-6-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P