Moves in the UK to open tranches of the 1.8 GHz, 3.8-4.2 GHz, and upper 6 GHz bands for dynamic spectrum assignment (DSA) in the UK, akin to the popular CBRS scheme at 3.55-3.7 GHz in the US, busy with fixed-wireless access (FWA), private enterprise 4G/5G, and neutral-host network initiatives, is gathering some pace, it seems. Queen Mary University of London is leading a UK government-funded research project with UK ‘community’ mobile operator Telet, US spectrum access (SAS) specialist Federated Wireless, and UK telecoms strategists from Aetha Consulting at three sites in London.
A hat-tip, here, to the team at Policy Tracker, which has written about this already, cloistered behind a paywall. But its original headline, and a couple of searches adds some rapid colour, which are worth relating: sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT), the quartet have been running ‘sandbox’ trials since the mid/later last year to demonstrate the value of automated dynamic spectrum assignment (DSA) for chunks of the 1800 MHz (‘Band 3’) and 3800-4200 MHz (n77) bands, plus potentially the higher-end of the 6GHz band at 6425-7125 MHz.
Testbeds have been established at Queen Mary campuses in Whitechapel, Charterhouse Square, and Mile End – all in central-east / east London. The university is ‘prime contractor’. Telet, which presents itself as the UK’s ‘fifth’ (and ‘smallest and most agile’) operator, focused on filling ‘blackspot’ coverage for private 5G and neutral host schemes, is in charge of ‘project management’, plus setup and measurement. Federated Wireless, which has talked about transposing its AI-geared SAS software to Europe for years (probably since CBRS took flight in 2020), is handling some of the setup, plus ‘experiment design’.
This includes scalability and impact modelling. The firm, in receipt of a new $6 million deal with the military in the US, will lean heavily on its machine learning-based SAS software in the US to optimise and validate the automated licensing. Aetha Consulting is in charge of ‘economic assessment and regulatory considerations’ on the project. The plan, as with CBRS in the US, is for operators, enterprises, and other groups to connect devices on PAL/GAA-style licensed spectrum “in seconds, not months” (“six-to-12 months down to sub-2 minutes”).
A full scope of work, from a July 2024 workshop presentation, can be found here. There is no schedule attached, enquiries have been made and updates should be forthcoming.
In the meantime, Aetha Consulting wrote in a blog post last year: “DSA has been implemented in the USA in two key bands – the CBRS band and the 6GHz band, where it is used to licence higher-power uses, ensuring that any transmissions do not interfere with existing users or each other… Europe to-date has a limited history of DSA. The use of TV White Spaces (TVWS) was explored but the power limits and need for new equipment for this band meant it was not commercially viable. This set-back should not discourage European regulators from introducing DSA.
“It is vital that European competence and expertise is built up in the supporting technologies. Otherwise, it risks being left behind, as it has in the cloud services market. Europe needs its own service providers, and it needs to act now, before DSA really takes off, if it is going to benefit. Whilst the USA is ahead, it is not too late for Europe to catch-up… It is important that European companies obtain the knowledge, experience and learnings from this new approach to ensure that once DSA goes “mainstream”, as it inevitably will, Europe is at the forefront.”
