WASHINGTON: DoD issued its eagerly awaited request to industry today for prototypes that could allow private companies and the military to share the radio-frequency spectrum needed to underpin 5G cellular communications.
Industry anticipates that spectrum-sharing will allow expansion of their 5G operations and markets; DoD hopes that sharing spectrum will help lower costs and create a sustainable 5G industrial base as it battles to keep up with China.
The Request for Prototype Proposal (RPP) calls for industry input into technology development related to “dynamic spectrum sharing testbed, enhancement and applications at Hill Air Force Base (Hill AFB) and Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) in Utah,” explains the National Spectrum Consortium in a press release today.
The consortium serves as a contracting agent between DoD and its member companies. The consortium is currently under a Section 815 Prototype Other Transaction Agreement with the Army Contracting Command at Picatinny Arsenal, on behalf of the deputy assistant secretary for emerging capabilities’ prototyping office.
This is the fourth in a series of DoD RPPs related to 5G development issued over the past month. It is perhaps, as Sydney reported in October, the most highly anticipated of the lot because it is focused on high-value mid-band frequencies now dedicated solely to military uses. These frequencies provide high enough bandwidth to transmit lots of information fairly quickly, and they use wavelengths long enough to penetrate most obstacles.
“The DOD today released the latest in a series of 5G-related request for prototype proposals, this one focused on expanding mid-band spectrum sharing. This effort will demonstrate mid-band spectrum sharing critical to our national 5G plan. Sharing technology can bring spectrum to market while protecting and enhancing future military capabilities.” retired Vice Adm. Joseph Dyer, chief strategy officer at the consortium, said.
In mid-March, the Pentagon issued two 5G “Smart Warehouse” RPPs for technology development at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Ga. and Naval Base San Diego. Smart warehouses would use 5G networks to create an automated network able to track supplies and shipments via radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.
A third RPP also was issued in March for Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality prototypes at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. AR/VR systems currently are being explored by all the services for enhancing training, as well as mission planning.
According to the consortium, DoD is looking to fulfill the following requirements with the spectrum-sharing effort:
- NSC-20-2070 – 5G Prototype Testbed to design, construct and operate a localized, private full scale 5G mobile cellular network in order to evaluate the impact of the 5G network on airborne radio systems.
- NSC-20-2080 – 5G Prototype Enhancements specifically to enhance dynamic spectrum sharing and spectrum co-existence capabilities.
- NSC-20-2090 – 5G Prototype Applications to design, construct and deploy a Spectrum Coexistence and Sharing (SCS) system to identify and demonstrate deployable SCS.
Full proposals are due May 15.
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