Description of Research Project

1515-EX-ST-2018 Text Documents

CCO Fiberlink, LLC

2018-08-28ELS_214979

                         DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH PROJECT

Pursuant to Sections 5.3(j) and 5.61 of the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC’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 September 17, 2018, to test and evaluate coverage, capacity, and
propagation characteristics in the 3550-3700 MHz band. The proposed operations will occur
only in the 3650-3700 MHz portion of the band, where Charter is an existing Wireless
Broadband Licensee (call sign WQVB849), 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 potential 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 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; and
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 Charter’s own 3650 MHz
devices deployed in the Tampa test area.

Radio Equipment Description

For the testing, Charter will use 5 different models of fixed equipment and 6 different models of
mobile End User Equipment. The technical information below provides the greatest bandwidth
and power levels that will be used for each piece of prototype equipment.




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


            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 state.

            Fixed Equipment (5 models):


Equipment        Category     Tx        EIRP     ERP        Mean or   Emission        Frequency    Modulation
                              Power     (dBm)    (Watts)    Peak      Designator      Tolerance
                              (mW)
Prototype 1      A            500       30       .61        Peak      20M0W7D         0.00001%     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 2      A            500       30       .61        Peak      20M0W7D         0.00001%     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 3      A            125       33       1.2        Mean      20M0W7W         0.00001%     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 4      B            1260      40       6.1        Peak      18M5D7D         0.000005     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                      %            QPSK
Prototype 5      B            2000      50       61         Peak      20M0W7D         0.00001%     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK


            End User Equipment (6 models):

                                Tx                 ERP       Mean                                      Modulation
                                         EIRP                           Emission      Frequency
  Equipment          Category Power               (Watts)   or Peak
                                        (dBm)                           Designator    Tolerance
                               (mW)
Prototype 6          EUD      200       23       0.12       Peak      20M0W7W         0.0001%      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK/BPSK
Prototype 7          EUD     200        23       0.12       Peak      20M0W9W         0.0005%      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK/BPSK
Prototype 8          EUD     200        23       0.12       Peak      20M0W9W         0.0005%      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK/BPSK
Prototype 9          EUD     200        23       0.12       Peak      20M0W9W         0.0005%      64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK/BPSK
Prototype 10         EUD     200        23       0.12       Mean      20M0W7D         0.00001%     64 QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK
Prototype 11         EUD     200        23       0.12       Peak      20M0W9D         0.00001%     64QAM/16QAM/
                                                                                                   QPSK/BPSK


            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.

            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.
                                                              2


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 use 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, identified below, available 24/7
        during all testing 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
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 has 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, Charter expects 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

                                                3


       (202) 621-1921
       colleen.king@charter.com

Point of contact for questions about testing operations:

       Manoj Das
       Principal Engineer
       (425) 635-8769
       Manoj.Das@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: 2018-08-28 12:43:40
Document Modified: 2018-08-28 12:43:40

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