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This activity was supported by the U.S. Department of Defense Chief Information Officer with the assistance of the Air Force Research Laboratory under award number FA955016D0001/FA8650-21-F-9309. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2023. Analysis of Potential Interference Issues Related to FCC Order 20-48. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26611.
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Committee to Review FCC Order 20-48 Authorizing Operation of a Terrestrial Radio Network Near the GPS Frequency Bands
J. MICHAEL McQUADE, Carnegie Mellon University, Chair
JENNIFER L. ALVAREZ, Aurora Insight, Inc.
KRISTINE M. LARSON (NAS), University of Colorado Boulder
JOHN L. MANFERDELLI, VMware
PRESTON F. MARSHALL, Google, LLC
MARK L. PSIAKI, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
RICHARD L. REASER, JR., Independent Consultant
JEFFREY H. REED, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
NAMBIRAJAN SESHADRI (NAE), University of California, San Diego
J. SCOTT STADLER, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory
STEPHEN J. STAFFORD, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Staff
JON EISENBERG, Senior Director, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
RYAN MURPHY, Program Officer, Air Force Studies Board
GREGORY MACK, Senior Program Officer, Board on Physics and Astronomy (through January 2022)
SHENAE BRADLEY, Administrative Assistant, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
KATIRIA ORTIZ, Associate Program Officer, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
LAURA HAAS (NAE), University of Massachusetts Amherst, Chair
DAVID CULLER (NAE), University of California, Berkeley
ERIC HORVITZ (NAE), Microsoft Research
CHARLES ISBELL, Georgia Institute of Technology
ELIZABETH MYNATT, Georgia Institute of Technology
CRAIG PARTRIDGE, Colorado State University
DANIELA RUS (NAE), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MARGO SELTZER (NAE), University of British Columbia
NAMBIRAJAN SESHADRI (NAE), University of California, San Diego
MOSHE Y. VARDI (NAS/NAE), Rice University
Staff
JON K. EISENBERG, Senior Board Director
SHENAE A. BRADLEY, Administrative Assistant
RENEE HAWKINS, Finance Business Partner
THƠ NGUYỄN, Senior Program Officer
KATIRIA ORTIZ, Associate Program Officer
BRENDAN ROACH, Program Officer
Preface
Section 1663 of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act called on the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to enter into an agreement with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to carry out “an independent technical review of the order and authorization adopted by the Federal Communications Commission on April 19, 2020 (FCC 20-48), to the extent that such Order and Authorization affects the devices, operations, or activities of the Department of Defense.” The Office of the Secretary of Defense, Chief Information Officer, with the assistance of the Air Force Research Laboratory, entered into a contract with the National Academies, and the National Academies appointed the Committee to Review FCC Order 20-48 Authorizing Operation of a Terrestrial Radio Network Near the GPS Frequency Bands (committee member biographical information can be found in Appendix D) to carry out the study per the statement of task in Appendix A.
The committee met on a nearly weekly basis from September 2021 to April 2022 to plan the study; receive briefings from experts and stakeholders (Appendix B); and review relevant reports, technical literature, and written submissions to the committee (Appendix C). Materials submitted to the committee can be obtained from the National Academies’ Public Access Records Office.1 In addition, a cleared subset of the committee received a set of classified briefings that informed a classified annex to this report.
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1 Complete the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine “Request for Information from the Public Access Records Office” form for this project at https://www8.nationalacademies.org/pa/managerequest.aspx?key=DEPS-CSTB-21-02.
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Reviewers
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by STEVEN J. BATTEL (NAE), Battel Engineering, and AROGYASWAMI J. PAULRAJ (NAE), Stanford University. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
Contents
2 ANALYSIS REGARDING THE THREE STUDY TASKS
2.1 Task 1: Approaches to Evaluating Harmful Interference Concerns
2.2 Task 2: Harmful Interference to GPS and Mobile Satellite Services
2.3 Task 3: Feasibility, Practicality, and Effectiveness of Mitigation Measures in the FCC Order
3.1 Toward a Better Means of Assessing Harmful Interference
3.2 Ways to Manage Potential Future Controversies
B PRESENTATIONS TO THE COMMITTEE
C ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS THAT PROVIDED WRITTEN INPUT TO THE COMMITTEE