Telcordia/Adaptrum Get Nod to Provide TV Spectrum Database

By Doug Lung
published


The FCC Office of Engineering Technology has allowed Telcordia Technologies, Inc. to begin providing TV band database service to the public in Nottoway County, Va.

"The Nottoway County project will use a recently certificated Adaptrum TV bands radio system together with the Telcordia database to provide high-speed broadband service at 20 sites that serve rural schools and households," the FCC said in Public Notice (DA-12-620). The Adaptrum "ACRS" device was granted certification on April 19, 2012 with FCC ID 'A2UACRS10'."

The OET said Telcordia could not provide service to the public until the FCC's system for registering venues "where large numbers of unlicensed wireless microphones are used is operational and affected parties have an opportunity to register their venues to obtain protection." The FCC, however, has allowed Telcordia to provide service in limited geographic areas. In these areas, the FCC would collect any requests for registration for venues where large numbers of unlicensed microphones are used and forward them to Telcordia. Telcordia would then create a registration record for the venue.

Parties seeking protection for venues with large numbers of wireless microphones need to follow FCC procedures outlined in the FCC Rules, 47 C.F.R. Section 15.713(h)(9) and repeated in the Public Notice.

Adaptrum issued a press release on Monday describing the Virginia system.

The units operate with an EIRP of nearly 4 Watts EIRP (more than 0.5 Watt conducted output power, with as much as 10 dBi of antenna gain). Adaptrum said the ACRS 1.0 radios are "upon Adaptrum's innovative cognitive radio technology with an Adaptive OFDM engine offering superior flexibility, (throughput/range) performance and interference resilience." It said the output signal meets the stringent FCC TV band device emission requirements while operating with a bandwidth of greater than 5.5 MHz per 6 MHz TV channel.

Adaptrum and Telcordia have partnered with Stratcom in the commercial TV white space trial in Nottoway County. Stratcom is the local partner in the trial, representing the county and state. Stratcom will be responsible for service deployment and project management. A total of 20 sites (three base stations and 17 clients) is planned. The trial will focus on education-related applications.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.