ATLIS would bring public safety, utilities and other private radio together in multiple bands on shared systems
LMS Wireless, Berkeley, Calif., wants the FCC to change the use of the 902–928 MHz band and make corresponding changes to the 217–225 MHz and 4.9 GHz bands to improve communications for public safety, homeland security, critical infrastructure (utilities) and private enterprise.
LMS Wireless, a trade name of Warren C. Havens and Telesaurus Holdings GB, would have the FCC designate the collective frequency allocation, technical and operational changes that it proposes as the Advanced-Technology Land Infrastructure and Safety Service.
Havens sent Mobile Radio Technology and a variety and current and former government officials a preliminary copy of the ATLIS proposal on Aug. 28, saying that after he received feedback, he would file a final version with the FCC Spectrum Task Force sometime in September.
Havens previously sent the FCC a petition asking it to reconsider its decision in PR Docket No. 92-257 to auction Automated Marine Telecommunications Service spectrum and instead to set it aside for public safety agencies and critical infrastructure companies.
Havens stated that he owns a controlling interest in Telesaurus. As an individual and through Telesaurus, Havens stated that he holds various AMTS licenses, 220 MHz Service licenses, Location and Monitoring Service multilateration licenses and VHF Public Coast Service licenses.
“This spectrum is available now, or soon—sooner than the 700 MHz band would be cleared of TV broadcast stations. There would be no cost to public safety and critical infrastructure companies, and direct and indirect financial subsidies to public safety for deployment and operation. The licensing and use of this spectrum could be coordinated with the 4.9 GHz band,” Havens said.
He said that coordination might also be included for the 5.9 GHz ITS band, which could serve public safety, critical infrastructure and for-profit functions, along with Intelligent Transportation Systems DSRC roadway and roadside applications.
“These networks could be test beds for, and major users of, the DARPA XG technology, at least for second-generation equipment, commencing with appropriate adaptations of the best current technologies, such as Project 25, Tetrapol and W-OFDMA,” Havens said.
He pointed out that for large emergencies, public safety agencies need many times their day-to-day capacity. Instead of it paying to build and operate networks with enough capacity for large emergencies, which Havens said is “virtually cost-prohibitive,” the ATLIS proposal would allow public safety agencies to “call up the reserves” and use the capacity of adjacent for-profit systems.
“The proposed service would also provide ideal wide-area networks for public and private Intelligent Transportation System functions, for environmental monitoring including hazardous materials releases, whether by accident or an act of terrorism; point-source pollution and ecosystem health indicators. Also ATLIS could provide a basis for solving the interference issues in 800 MHz,” Havens said.
The ATLIS proposal offers additional exclusive spectrum, interoperability and advanced wireless networks. It proposes network sharing among multiple public safety agencies, critical infrastructure companies and private enterprises via secure virtual private networks. Private enterprise would provide ATLIS at cost, and with priority preemption to public safety agencies and critical infrastructure companies during large-scale emergencies.
ATLIS would draw spectrum as needed from multiple bands, each with RF propagation characteristics and spectrum amounts requirements from rural coverage and basic wide-area voice and data, to urban coverage, “hot-spot” broadband, and point-to-point links.
The proposal from LMS Wireless said that ATLIS would justify federal and state funding of the public safety and homeland security component in part because of its ability to use advanced, cost-effective components and technology from the GSM/UMTS 900 MHz band.
New exclusive nationwide spectrum allocations for public safety agencies and critical infrastructure companies would include one-quarter, or 6.5 MHz, of the 902–928 MHz band to each group with priority access to the other half. The other half would be licensed to for-profit entities. Similar arrangements would apply to the 217–225 MHz band and 4.9 GHz bands.
These bands form the main pool for ATLIS as proposed by LMS Wireless, but the company has identified additional frequencies in the VHF band licensed to railroads and public coast stations that could be included. The company also suggested that the 75 MHz-wide 5.9 GHz band allocated for intelligent transportation systems could be used for ATLIS on a non-interfering basis.
The ATLIS spectrum wish-list isn’t short—it also includes possible use of mobile satellite service spectrum at 2 GHz for its multi-band shared networks. Sharing would “often, but not always,” include sharing in the building and operating secure digital network infrastructure for virtual private networks and in the use of all or several of the frequency bands for integrated technology, networks and multiband end-user devices.
ATLIS licensees would be permitted to lease or otherwise use their spectrum and network capacity without limit to serve each other.
LMS Wireless pointed out that the core 902–928 MHz spectrum that would probably carry most of the traffic is in the GMS 900 band, which has about half of all mobile phones in the world. ATLIS would use technology and components developed for GSM.
The company envisions that direct and indirect financial support would be provided to public safety agencies for construction and operation by the critical infrastructure company licensees and users via their shared networks, antenna sites, fiber, power, right of way and maintenance services at cost basis or at an otherwise attractive rate. Similarly, public safety agencies would provide its facilities for use of the shared networks.
Additional support would flow from private enterprise licensees and users in the form of no-cost priority access and the payment of ATLIS spectrum auction money from private enterprise bidders to public safety agencies toward their ATLIS capital and operating costs.
Public safety agencies would receive monthly fees charged to users of CMRS devices for the safety capabilities of mandated ATLIS RF-chips in all CMRS devices to be used for E911, basic ITS vehicular functions and other critical safety functions.
LMS Wireless also expects the federal government to provide funding for ATLIS.
In exchange for their contributions to ATLIS in favor of public safety agencies and critical infrastructure companies, private enterprise licensees would receive rights to use, at no additional cost, the common network infrastructure, including antenna systems, backhaul, switches, nodes and power provided by public safety agencies and critical infrastructure companies.
LMS Wireless envisions a one nationwide homeland security authority for public safety spectrum assignments, technology selection, system deployments and network sharing arrangements with the other participants, and a corresponding nationwide authority for critical infrastructure companies.
LMS Wireless sees its ATLIS proposal as being closely aligned with the key published goals of the FCC Spectrum Task Force and statements by FCC Chairman Michael Powell on spectrum policy priorities and with the demands of current communication applications and technology.
Because of increasing complexity, magnitude and cost of the technology, it calls for larger, higher-capacity networks that LMS Wireless said would require either large public access networks or—as its ATLIS proposal would have it—large networks for non-public use shared by multiple entities in secure VPN mode. LMS Wireless also sees advantage in deploying multiple various frequency bands suitable for the coverage and applications involved.
The ATLIS proposal represents a change in direction for federal spectrum regulation on a scale that makes its adoption by the FCC seem implausible at best.
As though recognizing that the proposal in its entirely might prove difficult to bring to fruition, LMW Wireless said that even its core 902–928 MHz component would substantially fulfill the critical needs for new wireless spectrum, applications, technology and systems for public safety agencies and critical infrastructure companies and provide practical private enterprise wireless for private businesses and ITS.
