Travel Grant for the 2015 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Wireless Model City Workshop

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

In July 2014, the National Telecommunication Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) issued a Joint Public Notice (PN) to seek public comment on the creation of an urban test city to support rapid experimentation and development of policies, underlying technologies, and system capabilities for advanced, dynamic spectrum sharing by wireless devices. Based on the responses received from this comments process, the FCC and NTIA are seeking inputs to support the development of a framework for the model test city. The framework for the Model City would include consideration of several aspects including, technical, collaborative, funding and governance aspects. The FCC is sponsoring a workshop on April 15-16, 2015, to facilitate this process. The workshop aims to bring together a group of 100 experts in the field from a variety of sectors and backgrounds, including from government, industry and academia, at the local, state, national and even international levels. This project will support the travel of 20 attendees from academia and 10 from the public safety sector who would otherwise be unable to attend. Travel support will be used to promote participation of attendees who can contribute to the sharing of ideas between academia and industry and federal agencies. It is expected that this workshop will develop a strategic plan for new approaches that will allow commercial interests to share currently underutilized bandwidth without jeopardizing functionality and safety in emergency situations. The workshop will also contribute valuable insights to the growing acceptance that wireless spectrum is becoming an integral part of so-called "Critical Infrastructure" and therefore requiring of Critical Infrastructure Protection.