Tech Advisory Council More Important During Coronavirus Crisis, Group Told

The FCC Technological Advisory Council heard early reports from working groups at an online meeting Tuesday. TAC Chairman Dennis Roberson warned the COVID-19 crisis might well not be over when the group next meets June 9. The kind of work TAC does is more important than ever, said Roberson, executive chairman of entigenlogicTM. Last year, TAC’s work was slowed by the prolonged federal government shutdown, Roberson said. That was “nothing compared to what we’re dealing with now, of course,” but TAC never got started until June, he said.

Kevin Leddy, Charter Communications vice president-technology planning and co-chair of the new future of unlicensed operations WG, said he has three millennial kids, and they talk about buying Wi-Fi, not internet service, from their ISPs. “They assume access to unlicensed spectrum wherever they go and I think that’s true of the entire generation,” he said. “The commission wants to understand both the pathways for continued evolution of unlicensed as we know it today and where it can go in the future,” he said. “What are the potential modifications and current operations. Then what can be done to enable new services and applications?”

The panel will look at the history of unlicensed in the U.S. and whether lessons can be learned from other countries, Leddy said. It will consider “where unlicensed can go from here” and what the new demands will be, he said: “Much of our focus is going to be on how unlicensed applications can complement licensed applications.” The subgroup will also look at how unlicensed is regulated today and rules for new bands, he said. Leddy said the WG will also consider new technologies for sharing.

The last time TAC examined unlicensed, there was “general agreement” that more unlicensed spectrum was needed and Wi-Fi bands were too crowded or nearing that point, said Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-research & standards. “We have to get a lot more creative now.”

The rules are “dependent” on whether they can be enforced, said Dale Hatfield, Flatirons Center executive fellow. Plans for Wi-Fi 7 call for 320 MHz channels, said Marvin Sirbu, Carnegie Mellon University professor of engineering and public policy: “We’re going to have to find new spectrum for unlicensed. Where are we going to find it?”

The artificial intelligence WG will look at the use of the technology in networks, said co-chair Lisa Guess, Cradle Point senior vice president-global sales engineering. The group is looking at how carriers “share information for the common good and mutual improvement,” she said. “There are times when there is a mutual good by sharing larger data sets.” The WG will look at machine learning for wireless networking systems and how to extract meaningful information that is available or may become available, she said. Work started before the pandemic, Guess said: Now, more than ever, “it’s really important to know where we have broadband, where we have the possibility of broadband.” The subgroup has been examining how to defend against harmful use of AI, Guess said: “How do we mitigate harm and how do we promote the safe use of AI? How do we deter bad actors?”

The telecom and high-tech industries “are really looked on as the leading sectors employing AI,” said co-chair Adam Drobot, chairman of OpenTechWorks. “If you start taking a hard look at what is actually being deployed, there has been a tradition coming out of this sector of using AI sort of up and down the stack.”

“Our major focus as we start another year is creating actionable recommendations,” Roberson stressed: “Not just recommendations.”