The Federal Communication Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology is conducting the first mandatory workshop for TV band database administrators. The workshop will be held on March 10th, 2011, at the FCC lab in Columbia, Maryland.
Nine entities are on the list of conditionally designated administrators - Comsearch, Frequency Finder Inc., Google Inc., KB Enterprises LLC and LS Telcom, Key Bridge Global LLC, Neustar Inc., Spectrum Bridge Inc., Telcordia Technologies, and WSdb LLC. While all nine entities are required to attend, the workshop is open to other interested parties, the number of attendees will be limited however, and all parties attending must register in advance.
The workshop topics include 1) the construction of the database(s), including its contents, 2) sharing of information among the databases, and 3) the determination of available channels. In addition, information will be provided on the required security provisions and the database trial periods.
TV Bands Devices are unlicensed devices that will operate in the space between TV channels, at locations where channels are not being used for authorized services, or as is commonly referred to as the White space.
The Laboratory Division of the OET released an Initial evaluation of prototype TV bands “White Space Devices” in 2007, following up with a Phase II evaluation in 2008. The FCC first adopted rules for the unlicensed use of “White Space” devices in November of 2008, under a document titled FCC-08-260A1, Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order, in particular this addressed unlicensed operation in the TV broadcast bands and additional spectrum for unlicensed devices below 900 MHz and in the 3 GHz band, these rules were amended by a Second Memorandum Opinion and Order, FCC-10-174A1, in September of 2010.
The rules require that all fixed and Mode II (portable devices with Geo Location capabilities built in) TV bands devices access a database to obtain information on the available channels at their location and require that all unlicensed fixed TV bands devices register their operations in this database. The databases will be privately owned and operated, currently by the nine entities listed above. Which database the device will use will be determined by the user or manufacturer of the particular device(s)
For updates to current FCC rules and requirements, please visit Compatible Electronics, Inc. on the web at http://CElectronics.com, or subscribe to the feed.
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