Description of Research Project

0828-EX-ST-2017 Text Documents

CCO Fiberlink, LLC

2017-06-19ELS_193917

                                                                  ELS File No. 0828-EX-ST-2017

                         DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH PROJECT

Pursuant to Sections 5.3(j) and Section 5.61 of the Federal Communications Commission’s rules,
47 C.F.R. §§ 5.3(j) and 5.61, CCO Fiberlink, LLC (“Charter”), a limited liability company and
subsidiary of Charter Communications, Inc., seeks Special Temporary Authority (“STA”) for
180 days, beginning July 1, 2017, to test and evaluate coverage, capacity, and propagation
characteristics in the 3550-3700 MHz band. The proposed operations will advance Charter’s
understanding of technology and network potential in the 3550-3700 MHz band and will
advance the deployment of fixed and mobile wireless services.

Location of Testing

Charter will conduct outdoor and indoor fixed and mobile testing within 8 miles (12.87 km) of
the provided fixed location of 35° 13' 25" N, 80° 50' 21" W in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Description of Testing

Charter will deploy the experimental fixed and mobile equipment in various configurations. The
majority of devices will be attached to Charter’s existing aerial cable strand, similar to how
numerous cable operators, including Charter, have deployed outdoor WiFi access points to date.
In addition, Charter will test some devices attached to existing buildings and poles, and some
devices indoors. Specifically, Charter will use the following deployment approaches:

    1. Strand mount deployment (Category A or B Radios)1
    2. Building/pole mount deployment (Category A or B Radios)
    3. Indoors (Category A Radios)
Other equipment will be used by Charter to receive signals from the mounted devices and
transmit back to those devices (“End User Equipment”). Charter will evaluate propagation
characteristics, conduct connectivity and throughput testing in the vicinity of each device, as well
as assess inter-cell interference, mobility characteristics, Spectrum Access System (“SAS”)
compatibility and individual performance of each vendor.

Radio Equipment Description

For the testing, Charter will use 15 different models of fixed equipment and 5 different models of
mobile End User Equipment. The below technical information provides the greatest bandwidth
and power levels that will be used for each piece of prototype equipment.

While Charter intends to install approximately 200 fixed transmitters and employ up to 10
mobile transmitters during the testing, less than 20% of the total devices will be operational at
any given time, with the remainder in a non-transmitting status.




1
  Category A and B radios are defined in Sections 96.3 and 96.41 of the FCC’s rules. See 47
C.F.R. §§ 96.3 and 96.41.
                                               1


                                                                        ELS File No. 0828-EX-ST-2017

        Fixed Equipment (15 models):

                           Tx              ERP      Mean                                Modulation
                                   EIRP                    Emission      Frequency
 Equipment     Category   Power           (watts)    or
                                  (dBm)                    Designator    Tolerance
                          (mW)                      Peak
Prototype 1       A        250     33       2       Mean   20M0W7W        0.00001     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                          QPSK
Prototype 2       B        250     50      100      Mean   20M0W7W        0.00001     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                          QPSK
Prototype 3       B        200     50      100      Peak   20M0W7W        0.00001     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                          QPSK
Prototype 4       A        250     30       1       Peak   10M0W9W         0.0005     64QAM/16QAM/
                           500     33       2              20M0W9W                        QPSK
Prototype 5       A       1000     39       4       Peak   80M0W9W         0.0005     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                          QPSK
Prototype 6       B       1000     47       50      Peak   10M0W9W         0.0005     64QAM/16QAM/
                          2000     50      100             20M0W9W                        QPSK
                          4000     53      200             40M0W9W
                          8000     56      400             80M0W9W
Prototype 7       B       2000     50      100      Peak   20M0W7D        0.00001        256 QAM/64
                                                                                        QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 8       A        250     33       2       Peak   20M0W7W         0.002      64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 9       B        500     50      100      Mean   20M0W7W        0.000005    64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 10      B       2000     50      100      Mean   20M0G7W         0.0005      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 11      A        125     33       2       Mean   20M0W7D        0.00001     64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 12      B       1000     50      100      Mean   20M0W7D        0.00001     64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 13      A        320     33       2       Mean   20M0W7D        0.00001     64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 14      B        350     50      100      Peak   18M5D7D        0.000005    64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype 15      B       1000     53      200      Mean   60M0WXW        0.000005    256QAM/64QAM/
                                                                                        16QAM/QPSK


        End User Equipment (5 models):



                           Tx              ERP      Mean                                 Modulation
                                   EIRP                    Emission       Frequency
Equipment      Category   Power           (watts)    or
                                  (dBm)                    Designator     Tolerance
                          (mW)                      Peak
Prototype       EUD        200     23       0.2     Peak   20M0W7W         0.0001     64QAM/16QAM/
16                                                                                        QPSK
Prototype       EUD        200     23       0.2     Peak   40M0W9W         0.0005     64QAM/16QAM/
17                                                                                        QPSK
                                                      2


                                                                         ELS File No. 0828-EX-ST-2017

Prototype       EUD       200       23       0.2     Peak    40M0W9W         0.0005      64QAM/16QAM/
18                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype       EUD       200       23       0.2     Peak    40M0W9W         0.0005      64QAM/16QAM/
19                                                                                            QPSK
Prototype       EUD       200       23       0.2     Mean    20M0W7D        0.00001      64 QAM/16QAM/
20                                                                                            QPSK

        All testing will be conducted within Charter’s existing service areas, and employ power and
        backhaul from Charter’s existing cable distribution plant. The fixed devices will be mounted on
        Charter’s existing strand, as well as select street furniture and/or building facades, with
        equipment attached directly to the device or incorporated within the radio housing.

        Based on the height of these facilities, the devices may be more than 6 meters above ground
        level. However, there is no risk of physical interference because all devices will be mounted on
        existing facilities, and will not extend above those facilities.

        Protection Against Interference

        Charter requests use of the 3550-3700 MHz band. Charter understands that it must accept
        interference from any federal and non-federal incumbent users of this band and that all Charter
        operations will be on a secondary basis.

        Charter is conducting this testing in cooperation with Federated Wireless (“Federated”), and will
        employ Federated’s developmental SAS. The Charlotte test area is not located within the coastal
        exclusion zone. However, the following methods will be used to prevent harmful interference:

               Primary: Via the design process of a fully functional SAS, with the SAS commanding
                the test CBRS devices to non-interfering channels.
               Secondary: Federated will manually command the SAS to command CBRS test devices
                to shift to non-interfering channels.
               Tertiary: Charter has established a point of contact, available 24/7 during all testing
                identified below with “kill switch” authority should any interference occur to primary
                licensed services. Should interference occur, Charter will take immediate steps to resolve
                the interference, including, as appropriate, channel shifting or discontinuing operations.

        Charter confirmed there are no Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) earth stations operating in the 3600-
        3650 MHz band in the areas in which Charter seeks to conduct testing.

        Charter will coordinate all testing with other grandfathered Wireless Broadband Licensees with
        registered locations in the requested testing areas, and intends to employ Federated’s
        developmental SAS to coordinate channel assignments. Where the SAS is not capable of doing
        so, Charter will manually coordinate operations.

        Finally, given the low EIRP transmit levels of the proposed radios, coupled with their low
        installed elevation, we expect limited RF propagation distances as well as limited and localized
        aggregative contribution to the RF noise floor.


                                                        3


                                                                  ELS File No. 0828-EX-ST-2017

Restrictions on Operation

Charter does not seek authority to perform a market study under the requested license and will
retain control over the equipment in the testing at all times.

Contact Information

Point of contact for FCC licensing issues:

       Colleen King
       Vice President, Regulatory Affairs
       (202) 621-1921
       colleen.king@charter.com

Point of contact for questions about testing operations:

       Greg McLaughlin
       Sr. Director of Wireless Operations, R&D
       (720) 482-4290
       greg.mclaughlin@charter.com

The following individual will be available 24/7 during all testing, and has authority and ability to
immediately cease all operations:

       Todd Herring
       Director of Wireless Operations
       (303) 345-7907
       todd.herring@charter.com
       Wireless Ops Hotline: (720) 536-9205




                                                 4



Document Created: 2017-06-19 15:26:12
Document Modified: 2017-06-19 15:26:12

© 2024 FCC.report
This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the FCC