Full Stream Ahead: Qualcomm Pushes Forward on FCC Spectrum Auction
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APEX Insight: As demand for in-flight connectivity increases, more and more spectrum will be needed to provide bandwidth for passenger, crew and operational needs. In Tuesday morning’s APEX TECH keynote presentation, John Kuzin, senior director and regulatory counsel for Qualcomm Inc., outlined the company’s proposal to augment current air-to-ground mobile bandwidth services.
The 14 GHz proposal would enable high throughput services to each passenger, such as video streaming and rich multimedia. The Continental US system would utilize between 150 and 200 phased-array steerable-antenna base stations, with beams oriented north. This solves interference problems with current services connected to the geostationary satellite arc that all have south-pointing dishes. Aircraft would be equipped with two phased-array steerable antennas, forward and aft on the belly of the plane. “The antennas would have a narrow beam width, and are about the size of a carton of eggs,” says Kuzin. “The base stations would hand-off as planes fly across the US.”
The entire network capacity would be 300 Gbps, with each base station providing 2 Gbps throughput. As is the case with the ground-based mobile cell system, more base stations could be added to increase capability. “In high-traffic areas, you would split a service cell, and by doing that, the base stations could actually operate at less power,” says Kuzin.
“We’re confident that we’ll provide a very robust service.” – John Kruzin, Qualcomm
The performance of the prototype equipment has exceeded expectation, explained Kuzin. “We’re confident that we’ll provide a very robust service.” Qualcomm’s petition is before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), as part of the upcoming auction for 500 MHz of spectrum in the 14 GHz band. Michael Childers, APEX Technology Committee Chair, added that “APEX endorses the spectrum auction, supporting the proposal to increase bandwidth and connectivity to aircraft.”