CBRS Advocates Concerned About Univ. of Utah Proposal for Innovation Zone Waiver

Commenters raised concerns on a proposal by the University of Utah for an FCC waiver of citizens broadband radio service rules for its POWDER (Platform for Open Wireless Data-driven Experimental Research) platform, used for wireless research. Comments were due Monday in docket 22-257. The university asked for a waiver to use software-defined radio equipment to interact with the spectrum access system operator “within the POWDER Platform Innovation Zone” and for other exceptions to rules for the band. The university said it uses the platform as a “living laboratory that allows research in a real-world, spectrum realistic environment.”

Utah has one of the FCC’s first two wireless innovation zones, designated in 2019. It does research there in combination with Rice University.

The application “lacks sufficient information” and the commission should require further data to “sufficiently gauge POWDER’s interference risk” to priority access licensees and general authorized access users and “whether the platform can operate as a CBRS Domain Proxy pursuant to the Commission’s rules," NCTA said. Any waiver should be “narrow in scope and include appropriate safeguards to prevent interference and avoid further requests that could circumvent the CBRS framework and the Commission’s rules,” NCTA said.

Deny the waiver, urged the OnGo Alliance, which promotes spectrum sharing. The alliance said it supports research on sharing but has concerns with the Utah proposal. Spectrum access system operators need to be able to verify that CBRS devices (CBSDs) “have a valid FCC identification number,” OnGo said. SASs also need to be able to verify that “CBSDs can communicate only with approved SASs, and that communications between CBSDs and SASs, and between CBSDs and End User Devices are secure to prevent corruption or unauthorized interception of data,” the group said. OnGo suggested the university thoroughly review CBRS rules and guidelines and resubmit the waiver request.

Federated Wireless, which provides an FCC-approved SAS, said university staff should work with FCC staff on how it can operate POWDER within agency rules. “As described in the Request, the University’s operations under POWDER appear to be consistent with the intent underlying the Commission’s requirements for CBRS operations,” Federated said. The university describes its spectrum control functionality therein, as “a software interface that ensures that the radiofrequency devices operating under its control do so in a manner that comports with its directives (and the regulatory requirements reflected therein), and can terminate operations that do not comply or do not respond within a prescribed timeframe,” the company said: “In this way, the POWDER platform as described functions in a manner that is substantially similar to the role played by a CBRS Domain Proxy, such that the University’s requested waiver may not be necessary.”

The university says POWDER consists of fixed systems, including software defined radios, RF front ends and antennas deployed on rooftops and other infrastructure, with mobile radio systems deployed on campus shuttles. It covers a 4-square mile section of Salt Lake City, including parts of downtown.