We announced last week as part of the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) program that the FCC has designated the PAWR testbed sites in Salt Lake City and the West Harlem neighborhood of New York as the first-ever spectrum Innovation Zones for experimental research. We, along with our partners at Northeastern University, will act as frequency coordinators for these Innovation Zones, which means we’ll be helping to match researchers up with the experimental licenses they need.
More to the point, it means researchers will have a much easier time accessing licensed spectrum in select bands for experimentation in a city-scale, outdoor environment.
There are numerous opportunities ahead for the academic community, for the companies participating in the PAWR Industry Consortium, and for our federal agency partners. We also expect that this is just the beginning of a wave of collaboration set to take place as the nation not only races toward 5G, but also toward new heterogenous network deployments and spectrum sharing arrangements.
If that all sounds like jargon and nonsense, not to worry. The bottom line is that all of the pieces are coming together to accelerate cutting edge wireless research. That’s good not just for the commercial wireless industry, but for the development of smart city systems – including smarter transportation, public safety, and more – that will take advantage of next-generation networks.
Spectrum available as part of the Innovation Zone program
Salt Lake City Technical Limits and Band Information:
FREQUENCY BAND |
TYPE OF OPERATION |
ALLOCATION |
FIXED STATION MAXIMUM EIRP (DBM) |
MOBILE STATION MAXIMUM EIRP (DBM) |
698-763 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
NON-FEDERAL |
65 |
20 |
914.87-915.13 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
SHARED |
65 |
20 |
1710-1780 MHZ |
MOBILE |
SHARED |
65 |
20 |
2110-2180 MHZ |
FIXED |
NON-FEDERAL |
65 |
20 |
2390-2483.5 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
SHARED |
65 |
20 |
3300-3600 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
SHARED |
65 |
20 |
3700-4200 MHZ |
MOBILE |
NON-FEDERAL |
65 |
20 |
5650-5850 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
SHARED |
55 |
20 |
5850-5925 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
SHARED |
65 |
20 |
5925-7125 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
NON-FEDERAL |
65 |
20 |
West Harlem, New York City Technical Limits and Band Information:
FREQUENCY BAND |
TYPE OF OPERATION |
ALLOCATION |
MAXIMUM EIRP (DBM) |
2500-2690 MHZ |
FIXED |
NON-FEDERAL |
20 |
3700-4200 MHZ |
MOBILE |
NON-FEDERAL |
20 |
5850-5925 MHZ |
MOBILE |
SHARED |
20 |
5925-7125 MHZ |
FIXED & MOBILE |
NON-FEDERAL |
20 |
27.5-28.35 GHZ |
FIXED |
NON-FEDERAL |
20 |
38.6-40.0 GHZ |
FIXED |
NON-FEDERAL |
20 |
Updates on research opportunities with these frequency bands will be made available at https://advancedwireless.org.