The Wireless Innovation Forum announced today member approval and public availability of its Spectrum Sharing Committee’s (SSC) highly anticipated signaling protocols and procedures to be used in the U.S. 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band for the Spectrum Access System (SAS) – Citizens Radio Broadband Service Device (CBSD) and “Spectrum Access System (SAS) – SAS” Interfaces.
These standards are the first of their kind addressing the new FCC Part 96 rules for CBRS. Publication of these standards represents a major milestone for enabling U.S. commercialization of the band. Access to spectrum under the Part 96 rules is managed in the CBRS band through the use of a Spectrum Access System (SAS), which protects incumbents from interference from lower tier priority access license (PAL) and general authorized access (GAA) users, and protects PAL users from interference from other PAL users and GAA users.
This achievement by the Wireless Innovation Forum’s Spectrum Sharing Committee is the result of an extensive collaboration among diverse stakeholders working diligently for the past two years. These new standards and solutions will enable the rapid development of a robust CBRS ecosystem, protect incumbent operations, and benefit all potential stakeholders in the band. These documents will also lay the foundation for all deployments in the CBRS band and possibly other shared bands in the future.
In addition to providing definitions, references, and history, elements included in the SAS-SAS Protocol include:
- SAS-SAS Prerequisites
- SAS-SAS Procedures
- SAS-SAS Synchronization
- Message Encoding and Transport
- Parameters of SAS-SAS Messages
The SAS-CBSD Protocol document also includes references, definitions and history as well as:
- Architecture of SAS-CBSD Interfaces
- Description of SAS-CBSD Message Exchanges
- CBSD States and State Transitions
- SAS-CBSD Procedures
- Message Encoding and Transport
- Parameters of SAS-CBSD Messages
Foundational documents published in the past year include: “Interim SAS to CBSD Protocol Technical Report B”; “Interim SAS to SAS Protocol Technical Report B”; “Interim SAS to SAS Protocol Technical Report-A”; and “Interim SAS to CBSD Protocol Technical Report-A”. The newly approved specifications as well as all foundational documents are available here.
Announced in February 2015, the SSC supports five working groups, each collaborating working on separate aspects of a common goal: to ensure that the 3.5 GHz band can be successfully commercialized. The SSC working groups are:
- Operational and Functional Requirements (Interoperability Focus)
- Security Requirements
- Protocol Specifications
- Testing and Certification
- Operations
Wireless Innovation Forum’s Spectrum Sharing Committee was specifically formed to develop the solutions and standards that will encourage rapid development of the CBRS ecosystem, protect incumbent operations, and benefit all potential stakeholders in the band. The SSC benefits from participation of a broad-based group that includes wireless carriers, network equipment manufacturers, potential SAS Administrators, satellite operators, existing 3650-3700 MHz band licensees, and other parties with an interest in the 3550 MHz band. The committee has formed multiple sub-groups/task groups, including a Joint WG1/WG3 architecture group and an FSS Incumbent Protection Subgroup under WG1. Participation in the committee’s multiple sub-groups/task groups currently encompasses some 277 participants from over 60 different organizations. Work products from the committee can be found here: http://www.wirelessinnovation.org/work-products-and-public-files.
The Wireless Innovation Forum welcomes all interested organizations to participate in our committees.
To learn more about membership options or to apply for membership in the group please visit: http://www.wirelessinnovation.org/join.
