The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will refocus, at least in part, on enforcementnissues, now that its initial work on spectrum sharing is largely complete. Members approved annew enforcement committee during a meeting at NTIA headquarters (see separate report in this issue).nNTIA released a document (http://1.usa.gov/14I65pg) on suggestions for future issues that deservenCSMAC attention. CSMAC member Dale Hatfield, a former FCC and NTIA official, suggested thenlaunch of the enforcement committee. “The way I envision it, it goes beyond just the sort of normal cochannel,nadjacent interference, but also goes to issues like ... jamming, incidental radiation, all kinds ofninterference as well,” he said. Hatfield said enforcement will have to be built into future spectrum rulesn“right from the beginning.” “There are people who are actively out there today ... the renegade FM stationsnin New York City,” said Dennis Roberson, CSMAC member from the Illinois Institute of Technology.n“They’re absolutely illegal and they’re out there in large numbers today and we are not able to enforcenexisting rules for well-known systems.” “In order to accommodate the explosive growth in wirelessnnetworks of all types, wireless communications devices and systems must increasingly operate in closernproximity in frequency, space and time and, accordingly, the risk of disruptive and harmful interference isninevitably increased,” Hatfield suggested in written comments incorporated into the NTIA document. “Innaddition, increased sharing of spectrum between federal government and non-federal devices and systemsncreates new challenges in terms of institutional relationships and interagency processes for detecting, identifying,nlocating, mitigating and reporting interference sources.” The purpose of the group would be ton“help the NTIA develop new or revised strategies for responding more efficiently and effectively to thenfundamental technological, operational and other trends that continue to create an increasingly complexninterference and enforcement environment,” the document said. NTIA also asked CSMAC to look at hownto provide the government with greater flexibility and options through access to non-federal bands and ancommittee was formed on that topic as well. “Federal agencies and particularly the Department of Defensenneed significant amounts of spectrum for large training exercises, however, the United States cannotnafford to obligate so much spectrum all the time for such exercises,” NTIA said. “What approaches to authorization,ncoordination would facilitate access to spectrum for training? Should DOD expect to pay licensenholders for that access? Should DOD expect to pay for access even where the license holder doesnnot provide coverage?” Other working groups are to examine transitional sharing, spectrum managementnvia databases and quantification of federal spectrum use.
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