WASHINGTON-Edmond Thomas, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, continued his cheerleading of ultra-wideband technologies Thursday when he gave reporters a rare glimpse into the technical engineering side of his job by taking them on a tour of the FCC’s Engineering Lab.
A major theme of the tour was the work that engineers are doing with various UWB devices. Thomas announced that the Federal Communications Commission is now testing actual UWB devices. In the lab Thursday were real-life examples of ground-penetrating radar devices.
During an outdoor demonstration, Thomas and other engineers showed reporters that a handheld global positioning system satellite device did not experience interference when placed directly in the path of the UWB device. They contrasted this with the impact to the GPS receiver from a mobile TV receiver that was recently taken off the market because it interfered with GPS.
Thomas came to the FCC as the final battle for UWB authorization was being waged in late 2001. Since the limited authorization was adopted in early 2002, he has consistently downplayed the concerns of the GPS community, including some mobile-phone carriers.
Thursday’s tour was another event in his campaign to prove that UWB has great benefits and causes little harm.
