Following up the recent reports regarding radio frequency usage I thought it was a good time to fill in some gaps in the background information regarding regulation. If you haven't travelled much you might be surprised to find out that all frequencies are not used for the same things throughout the world. That means radio equipment for one usage when moved to another country might not be usable for its purpose in another country. In fact, it may even be illegal to attempt to use it in another country. Since radio frequencies are generally difficult to confine, it is beneficial for countries to co-operate by not using frequencies in ways that interfere with other countries. So it's no surprise to find that there is worldwide co-operation in organizing frequency usage.
The primary world wide body is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This is a voluntary treat founded organization that determines the general worldwide assignments of frequencies. Within the frequency ranges set out by the ITU, local governments make more specific regulations. Enforcement of the regulations is local. The ITU does not show up at your home to confiscate your radio. Your local law enforcement does that.
I've already mentioned the Canadian regulatory body -- the CRTC. In
the US, the two main bodies that regulate frequency usage are the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which generally regulates
commercial usage and the National Telecommunications & Information
Administration (NTIA) which regulates government usage. The
following are the relevant URLs:
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
US Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
US National Telecommunications &
Information Administration
[1996/02/03]
June 7, 1997, Aviation Week reported on June 2 that the US FCC
granded an operating license to Lockheed Martin Telecommunications
to operate a Ka-band geosynchronous satellite data communications
system.
[1997/06/13]
May 6, 1997, Canada NewsWire reports that the US FCC has
approved an application by Sky Station International, Inc.
to use 47GHz frequency for high speed (1.5 Mbps "T1") wireless
Internet acess direct to end user computers. Based on a
geostationary satellite the signals are accessible using
PCMCIA cards.
[1997/05/10]
Mar. 2, 1997, Terry Sweeney wrote for "Telepath" a large somewhat
rambling article on Wireless with outlooks on 850MHz digital cellular,
the auction of of the 2.3GHz band in the US and developments integrating
850MHz and 1.9GHz using the IS-136 standard.
[1997/03/02]
I mentioned this last week, but I've recently found out that there is
more information about the new "Unlicenced National Information
Infrastructure" frequency bands at:
http://www.research.apple.com/research/proj/niiband/
According to PR Newswire Jan. 28, 1997, "Apple petitioned for Rulemaking
with the FCC in May of 1995, asking the FCC to create an 'NII Band.'"
From that wording, I would understand this as Apple's initiative.
[1997/02/02]
Jan. 9, 1997 TechWeb repored the US Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to "free 300 megahertz of spectrum in the 5 gigahertz range for unlicensed National Information Infrastructure devices." According to Dick Smith of the FCC's office of engineering and technology, performance would be in the range of "20 megabits per second over areas as large as six miles in diameter." These should make wireless LANs affordable on very low budgets.
Some Specs:
Low band 5.15 - 5.25 GHz - 200 milliwatts (for indoor use)
Middle band 5.25 - 5.35 GHz - 1 Watt (small neighbourhood)
High band 5.725 - 7.825 GHz - 4 Watt (up to about 6 miles)
[1997/01/26]