Description of Research Project

0833-EX-ST-2017 Text Documents

CCO Fiberlink, LLC

2017-06-19ELS_193931

                                                                  ELS File No. 0833-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. While the proposed operations will occur only in
the 3650-3700 MHz portion of the band, to avoid Naval radar interference, the testing will
advance Charter’s understanding of technology and network potential in the full 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 27° 58' 47" N, 82° 27' 18" W in Tampa, Florida.

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. Additionally, Charter will assess
Citizens Broadband Radio Service (“CBRS”) device co-existence with our own 3650 MHz
devices deployed in the Tampa test area.

Radio Equipment Description

For the testing, Charter will use 16 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. 0833-EX-ST-2017


        Fixed Equipment (16 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      36       2       Peak   40M0W9W          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

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       1000      53      100      Mean   40M0WXW         0.000005   256QAM/64QAM/
                                                                                         16QAM/QPSK
Prototype 15      B        350      50      100      Peak    18M5D7D        0.000005   64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                             QPSK
Prototype 16      A       1000      30       1       Peak     3K00N         0.00015          None2




        2
         This device is a continuous wave device, which will be used to measure signal strength at a
        given position.
                                                      2


                                                                               ELS File No. 0833-EX-ST-2017

         End User Equipment (5 models):

                               Tx                ERP      Mean                                   Modulation
                                        EIRP                      Emission       Frequency
Equipment          Category   Power             (watts)    or
                                       (dBm)                      Designator     Tolerance
                              (mW)                        Peak
Prototype 17        EUD        200       23      0.2      Peak    20M0W7W         0.0001      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 18        EUD        200       23      0.2      Peak    40M0W9W         0.0005      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 19        EUD        200       23      0.2      Peak    40M0W9W         0.0005      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 20        EUD        200       23      0.2      Peak    40M0W9W         0.0005      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 21        EUD        200       23      0.2      Mean    20M0W7D         0.00001     64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   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 3650-3700 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 database. Although Tampa is located within NTIA’s
         coastal exclusion zone, this authorization seeks authority only to test in the 3650-3700 MHz
         frequencies. The following methods will be used to prevent harmful interference:

                    Primary: Via the design process of a fully functional SAS combination, with the SAS
                     commanding 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.

         In the 3650-3700 MHz band, Charter is an existing Wireless Broadband Licensee (call sign
         WQVB849) with four registered locations within the Tampa test area. Charter will coordinate
         all testing with other grandfathered Wireless Broadband Licensees with registered locations in
                                                         3


                                                                  ELS File No. 0833-EX-ST-2017

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.

Charter confirmed there are no Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) earth stations operating in the 3650-
3700 MHz band in the areas in which Charter seeks to conduct testing.

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.

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




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Document Created: 2017-06-19 16:01:20
Document Modified: 2017-06-19 16:01:20

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