WASHINGTON-XtremeSpectrum Inc., a hopeful entrant into the ultra-wideband market, has made a proposal that it believes will answer critics’ claims that ultra-wideband technologies will cause harmful interference to the global positioning system.
Ultra-wideband, or pulse technology, uses short, low-powered and fast (up to one-trillionth of a second) pulses to transmit digital data over a range of frequencies.
XtremeSpectrum has proposed four regulatory measures designed to ensure that GPS is protected.
c An emissions mask that provides more protection than the one proposed by the Federal Communications Commission;
c A restriction to indoor-use only;
c A test designed to reduce spectral lines to the GPS band; and
c An improved measure of peak-to-average ratio.
The proposal is meant to answer a letter sent to various members of the Bush cabinet urging the administration to weigh in against UWB operations above 1 GHz and below 6 GHz. In addition, the 40 entities asked the FCC to issue a further notice of proposed rule making specifically limiting UWB to those bands.
XtremeSpectrum believes the issues presented by its critics have been answered by its proposal and are connected to the original NPRM issued in May 2000.
The company, founded in 1998, made a pitch for its regulatory proposal at a press briefing last week, where the company stressed that it is ready to license its technology to manufacturers as soon as regulatory approval is granted, which it expects before the end of the year.
A delay could be in the offing, however, since the new assistant Commerce secretary for communications and information, Nancy Jane Victory, is recused from dealing with UWB issues. Michele Farquhar, outside counsel for XtremeSpectrum, dismissed such talk and said career staffers at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration are handling UWB with political direction from the Commerce Secretary’s policy office.
