Source: http://adam.curry.com/art/1399007235_MQ6sQgfu.html
Timestamp: 2019-05-24 02:58:00
Document Index: 580003609

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', 'art 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', 'art 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', 'arts 2', '§ 15', 'art 2', '§ 2', 'art 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15', '§ 15']

Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) Devices in the 5 GHz Band [Printable]
Effective June 2, 2014 except for § 15.407(j), which contains information collection requirements that have not been approved by OMB. The Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date.
1. In 2013, the Commission issued the Notice of Proposed Rule Making,78 FR 21320, April 10, 2013, that initiated this proceeding, with the goal of supporting the growing needs of businesses and consumers for fixed and mobile broadband communications using Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices in the 5.15-5.35 GHz and 5.47-5.85 GHz bands. At the same time, it recognized the need to modify its rules to better ensure that these devices do not cause harmful interference to authorized Federal and non-Federal users in these bands. U-NII devices are unlicensed intentional radiators, which use wideband digital modulation techniques to provide a wide array of high-data-rate mobile and fixed communications used by individuals, businesses, and institutions, particularly for wireless local area networking—including Wi-Fi—and broadband access.
6. The Commission consolidated the provisions in § 15.247 of the rules (applicable to digitally modulated devices for this band) with the rules in § 15.407 (applicable to U-NII devices) so that all the digitally modulated devices operating in the 5 GHz band will operate under the combined rules and be subject to the new device security requirement. This change addresses a major cause of harmful interference to the TDWR: in which users have illegally modified devices certified to operate under § 15.247 to operate in the 5.47-5.725 GHz band without implementing Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS). This rule consolidation also will reduce complexity and costs in authorizing technically similar devices under different rules.
13. Second, for outdoor U-NII-3 band systems installed prior to the effective date of the rules adopted are not able to comply with the new EIRP requirement,, the Commission suggested the kind of information that could be submitted to expedite consideration and grant of a waiver of the new antenna rules for existing devices. The Commission determined that providing the following about the waiver petitioner's existing deployments will be important to its ability to assess waiver requests: the number of devices installed, general location of each deployment, ability to reprogram the devices, and ability to adjust operating power from a central network management system. The Commission concluded that waiver requests meeting these parameters and made within 30 days of the effective date of its rules are likely to serve the public interest because granting them is highly unlikely to create any risk of harmful interference, given the small numbers involved and the limited departure from the new technical requirements for the U-NII-1 band. Moreover, having such waiver petitioners provide information about the numbers of installed devices that would be covered by the grant, as well as their general location, will help the Commission monitor the accuracy of its predictions in these regards and allow the Commission to alter course or take effective corrective action if necessary. The Commission has specifically delegated to the Office of Engineering and Technology the authority to grant waivers under these favorable conditions. Following the 30-day window, operators and manufacturers may continue to file petitions for waiver, but the Commission will decide such petitions without the assurances of good cause provided by the described approach.
22. The Commission reiterated its observation in the NPRM that some radios are designed so that they can communicate directly with each other, rather than through a control point, and thus they could function as either a “master” that initiates a network or as a “client” device within the network. The Commission also believes that it is important to ensure that client devices cannot be unlawfully reprogrammed to perform the functions of an access point. Thus, the Commission concludes that all devices that operate under the U-NII rules must be subject to the device security requirements.
30. The Commission notes that although it is not adopting a database requirement, WISPA maintains a database accessible to the public which contains TDWR system locations and the Commission actions in this First R&O will not prevent the use of any voluntary databases such as the one implemented by WISPA.
33. The Commission declined to adopt the proposals in the NPRM that would have required reductions in out-of-band emissions below the levels currently allowed under § 15.407. In the harmful interference cases that it has investigated, it has not seen evidence that problems are being caused by unwanted emissions from properly certified and properly functioning equipment. Instead, the majority of cases have been caused by devices that have been modified to operate in frequency bands in which they are not certified to operate, or by devices in which DFS had been disabled. Consolidating the technical rules in the U-NII-3 band, along with enhancing the software security requirements of all U-NII devices, would have prevented most of the harmful interference cases that has been observed to date. Accordingly, the Commission agrees with commenters that a reduction in unwanted emissions from properly certified and properly functioning equipment would be overly restrictive and would not provide any long-term interference mitigation and that the benefits of applying reduced emission limits would be speculative, while the costs imposed on manufacturers and users are real and would result in decreased equipment capabilities.
Other U-NII-2 Rules and Measurement Procedures Back to Top
37. Channel Spreading. With the support of all commenters addressing the issue, the Commission modified its rules, as proposed in the NPRM, to eliminate the last portion of § 15.407(h)(2) that requires that the DFS process provide a uniform spreading of the loading over all of the available channels, and directed OET to update the 2006 DFS Compliance Measurement Procedures to remove the channel spreading requirement. The Uniform Channel Spreading requirement on DFS is outdated and does not reflect the current state and trajectory of wireless technology, which is turning toward U-NII devices which operate with ever wider bandwidths such as contained in the new 802.11ac standard. Operation over wider bandwidths causes U-NII energy to be spread throughout the frequency band in which the device is operating, rather than concentrated in a narrow bandwidth, reducing the utility of uniform channel-spreading requirement. This rule modification will give U-NII equipment manufacturers significant flexibility to design and develop radar avoidance methods, while increasing effective use of the spectrum.
39. The Commission's rules permit the certification of devices that operate in 5.725-5.85 GHz band under two different rule sections. Section 15.247 was originally adopted in 1985 to govern spread spectrum operations. The U-NII rules were adopted in 1997 and were designed to accommodate new digital modulation technologies. In 2002, the Commission modified the original spread spectrum rules to allow digitally-modulated devices under § 15.247, but were not fully aligned with the U-NII rules. The differences in these rules has persisted and led to the situation where devices were authorized under the frequencies permitted under § 15.247 and then illegally modified to operate on frequencies permitted only for U-NII devices without complying with the rules designed to prevent interference to other radio services, resulting in harmful interference to TDWRs.
41. First, the Commission extended the upper edge of the U-NII-3 band from 5.825 GHz to 5.85 GHz to match the amount of spectrum available for digitally-modulated devices under § 15.247. Second, it consolidated § 15.247 technical rules for digitally-modulated devices in the 5.725-5.85 GHz band with § 15.407 U-NII rules, while maintaining many of the technical rules that currently make equipment authorization under § 15.247 more attractive for equipment manufacturers. It removed the 5.725-5.85 GHz band for digital modulation devices from § 15.247 to ensure that all digitally modulated equipment that are technically similar operate under a single set of technical rules in this band.
43. The Commission adopted its proposal to consolidate the provisions for operation in the 5.725-5.85 GHz band into the U-NII rules under § 15.407. It expects this rule change to decrease unnecessary complexity in the equipment authorization process and eliminate the incentives for gaming the rules. More importantly, this change, combined with the software security changes the Commission adopted, should help eliminate potential harmful interference from unlicensed devices to other spectrum users.
44. Section 15.247 allows 1 Watt of total peak conducted power whereas § 15.407 limits maximum conducted output power to the lesser of 1 Watt or 17 dBm + 10 log B (where B is bandwidth in MHz). In addition to the 1 Watt power limit, there are different PSD limits in §§ 15.247 and 15.407 such that 1 Watt of total power is available only when the 6-dB bandwidth is 500 kilohertz or more under § 15.247 and when the 26-dB bandwidth is 20 megahertz or more under § 15.407. Because the Commission is trying to accommodate digitally modulated devices that are currently permitted under both rules, it proposed in the NPRM to remove the bandwidth dependent term (i.e., remove 17 + 10 log B) from § 15.407, so that the power limit would be 1 Watt.
45. The Commission modified its rules to remove the bandwidth-dependent term from § 15.407(a)(3) of its rules, as proposed. As the Commission initially suggested and the majority of commenters agreed, utilizing the 1 Watt power limit will not increase the potential for harmful interference because unlicensed devices are already allowed to operate without the bandwidth-dependent term under § 15.247.
46. Section 15.247(e) permits a maximum PSD of 8 dBm/3 kHz (33 dBm/MHz), whereas § 15.407(a)(3) permits a maximum PSD of 17 dBm/MHz. The difference between these two PSD limits is the bandwidth at which the device reaches the 1-Watt total power limit. Specifically, § 15.247(e) allows a higher PSD when the device emission bandwidth is between 0.5 and 20 megahertz. Whenever devices use an emission bandwidth above 20 megahertz, the 1 Watt power limit becomes the limiting parameter, and the effective PSD at which the device operates is the same under both § 15.247 and 15.407. A PSD of 8dBm/3kHz (33dBm/MHz) is equivalent to a PSD that is higher than a total power limit of 1 Watt (30dBm).
47. The Commission did not adopt the proposed PSD limit of 33dBm/MHz because it would exceed the conducted power limit of 1 Watt specified in § 15.247(b)(3), which it is incorporating into the consolidated rule; the Commission instead calculates a PSD limit that can be practically measured and would not be higher than the conducted power limit of 30 dBm. The Commission adjusts the 33 dBm/MHz proposed in the NPRM by simply converting the PSD into a smaller bandwidth such that the power allowed in that bandwidth does not exceed 30 dBm. The Commission modifies the PSD limit by decreasing the power by 3 dB, and at the same time reduces the bandwidth by half, making the PSD that it adopted 30 dBm/500 kHz. Assuming that emission levels are evenly distributed throughout the bandwidth, this is equivalent to the 8 dBm/3 kHz (33 dBm/MHz) that was proposed in the NPRM.
48. The Commission continues to believe that the 3 kilohertz measurement bandwidth is unnecessary, as it creates an exceedingly long time for labs to complete the measurements for devices that use 20 megahertz or even wider channels. With the introduction of 80 and 160 megahertz channels with the IEEE 802.11 ac standard, the time to complete a single measure would increase significantly. Because the Commission adopted a PSD limit in a 500 kHz bandwidth, it modified the measurement procedures to correspondingly be performed using a 500 kHz reference bandwidth. Likewise, the Commission modified § 15.407(a)(5) to specify a 500 kHz reference bandwidth for the U-NII-3 band. This will allow measurements of unlicensed devices being certified for operation in the U-NII-3 band to be performed in a timely manner, resulting in efficiencies and cost savings for manufacturers, test facilities, and ultimately to consumers.
50. The Commission concludes that using a minimum 6 dB bandwidth of 500 kilohertz will continue to provide sufficient flexibility to foster development, frequency sharing and frequency reuse in the band, and it modified § 15.407 to include that minimum-bandwidth requirement, in order to help ensure that the band does not become congested with narrow-bandwidth applications for which other spectrum could be available.
51. Under the antenna gain requirements in § 15.247, a 1 dB reduction in power is required for every 1 dB that the antenna gain exceeds 6 dBi, except for fixed point-to-point systems, for which no power reduction is required. Under § 15.407, a 1 dB reduction in power is similarly required for every 1 dB that the antenna gain exceeds 6 dBi, but for fixed point-to-point systems, a 1 dB reduction in power is required for every 1 dB that the antenna gain exceeds 23 dBi.
52. The Commission declined to adopt its initial proposal to conform to the provisions of § 15.407 which restrict require reduced power for high-gain antennas, and instead will conform the rules for U-NII-3 devices to those presently in § 15.247 to continue to permit the use of unlicensed high-gain point-to-point antennas. This will allow service providers to deploy cost-effective wireless links in what would otherwise be considered high cost areas, and allow for the quick setup and transitioning of unlicensed and licensed microwave links.
54. Section 15.247(d) requires 20 dB of attenuation (30 dB if the alternate measurement procedure detailed in § 15.247(b)(3) is used) for unwanted emissions. In restricted bands, emissions must meet the § 15.209 general emission limits. Section 15.407 requires unwanted emissions to be below −17 dBm/MHz within 10 megahertz of the band edge, and below −27 dBm/MHz beyond 10 megahertz of the band edge. Also, all emissions below 1 GHz must comply with the § 15.209 general emission limits. These unwanted emission limits are somewhat more restrictive than those in § 15.247.
55. The Commission adopted the more restrictive unwanted emissions limits in § 15.407 for the combined new rule, rather than the more lenient unwanted emissions limit currently in § 15.247 for several reasons. The more stringent unwanted emissions requirement will ensure that there is no increase in the potential for harmful interference from unlicensed devices operating under the new combined rule parts. Additionally, this decision is consistent with the determination to apply the § 15.407 out-of-band emission levels in the U-NII-2 bands, and having a single limit for devices that operate in any U-NII band will provide clarity and simplicity. The record shows broad support for adopting the tighter unwanted-emissions limits of § 15.407 limits. The Commission recognizes that high gain point-to-point system certified under § 15.247 may have to be modified to comply with the lower out-of-band emissions limit from § 15.407. Manufacturers have the flexibility to determine how they should meet the lower out-of-band emissions limit.
56. Section 15.407 contains a requirement to maintain a peak-to-average power ratio of no more than 13 dB across any 1 megahertz band, whereas § 15.247 contain no peak-to-average ratio requirement. The Commission did not adopt the proposal in the NPRM to keep the peak-to-average ratio requirement, agreeing with commenters that this measurement is no longer necessary.
57. The Commission will continue to authorize under § 15.247 frequency hopping spread spectrum devices and the frequency hopping spread spectrum portion of hybrid devices in the 5725-5850 MHz band. The digitally modulated portion of hybrid devices will have to meet the modified U-NII rules for this band.
Adoption of Miscellaneous Rule Modifications Back to Top
58. The NPRM proposed several rule modifications to simplify and clarify various Part 15 rules. The Commission determines that several sections of the rules referenced procedures or provisions that are no longer in use and therefore, are no longer necessary and others with inconsistent terminology. In § 15.403(m) the Commission replaced “Peak Power Spectral Density” with “Maximum Power Spectral Density.” In addition, the Commission deleted “peak or” from § 15.403(o) for clarity. It also deleted “peak or” from § 15.403(o) for clarity. The Commission also deleted § 15.247(b)(4)(i) through (b)(4)(ii) to eliminate repetitive language that was found in § 15.247(c)(1)(i) through (c)(1)(iii).
59. In § 15.407 the Commission deleted the second sentence in paragraph (a)(4) because it contains language that is no longer relevant. It also corrected the wording in paragraphs (a)(2) and (a)(5) by replacing “peak” with “maximum.” The Commission also corrected the wording in paragraph (b)(8) by replacing “block edges” with “band edges.” The Commission also clarified rule § 15.215(c) to allow the operation of a U-NII device over multiple channels/bands. U-NII Band straddling in the 5 GHz region of U-NII spectrum is allowed and applies to 802.11ac bonded 80 megahertz and 160 megahertz channels. It also modified § 15.407(h)(2) to clarify the language for DFS requirements once the emission bandwidth of a U-NII device is straddled across multiple U-NII bands.
60. The Commission adopted its proposal to require that 12 months after the effective date of this First R&O, applications for certification of devices must meet the new and modified rules adopted. The manufacture, marketing, sale and importation into the United States of devices that do not meet the new or modified rules adopted must cease two years after the effective date of this First R&O. While the Commission is sympathetic to the arguments that the more restrictive unwanted emission limits for digital modulation devices may present design challenges for some manufacturers, the Commission finds that it is in the public interest to implement the changes as soon as possible to eliminate the potential of harmful interference to incumbents.
61. Grandfathered devices must continue to employ DFS as required in § 15.407(h)(2). Devices operating in the U-NII-2A or U-NII-2C bands that do not have DFS or that have DFS turned off are not compliant with the part 15 rules, and any operators who use such devices may be subject to a f forfeiture. Large numbers of 5 GHz U-NII devices are already in the marketplace and pose no threat of harmful interference unless they are modified in violation of the Commission's rules. However, should these devices be modified and cause harmful interference to TDWR or any other incumbent systems, the FCC Enforcement Bureau will continue its aggressive approach to ensuring compliance with the Commission's rules.
64. The Commission will continue to allow digital modulation equipment and the digital modulation portion of hybrid devices, i.e., those that can function as either spread spectrum or digitally modulated systems, operating in the 5.725-5.85 GHz band to be certified to meet the § 15.247 requirements for 12 months after the effective date of the new rules. After 12 months, digital modulation devices and the digital modulation portion of hybrid devices must meet the new § 15.407 U-NII-3 rules in order to be FCC certified. The frequency hopping spread spectrum portion of hybrid devices will continue to be certified under the § 15.247 spread spectrum rules. The manufacture, marketing, sale and importation into the United States of digitally modulated and hybrid devices certified under § 15.247 operating in the 5.725-5.85 GHz band must cease two years after the effective date of this 1st R&O. Additionally, for up to two years after the effective date of these new rules they may apply for Class II permissive changes to demonstrate compliance with the old rules. After two years, these devices must be certified to meet the new rules and Class II permissive changes may only be made if these devices meet the new rules as well.
66. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), [1] an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) was incorporated in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in ET Docket No. 13-49. [2] The Commission sought written public comment on the proposals in the NPRM, including comment on the IRFA. This present Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) conforms to the RFA.
67. The First Report and Order amends the regulations for Information Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices which operate in the 5 GHz band. [3] U-NII devices are unlicensed intentional radiators which use wideband digital modulation techniques to provide a wide array of high data rate mobile and fixed communications used by individuals, businesses, and institutions. [4] As discussed, the Commission modified certain technical requirements in its rules for all U-NII devices to ensure that these devices do not cause harmful interference to Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) systems and other radar systems that operate in the 5 GHz band. It is also extending the upper edge of the 5.725-5.825 GHz U-NII band from 5.825 GHz to 5.85 GHz and consolidating the provisions formerly applicable to digitally modulated devices under § 15.247 of the rules for this band with the U-NII rules in § 15.407. This change will eliminate a loophole in the former rules that allowed devices to be certified under the § 15.247 rules and then modified to operate as U-NII devices without complying with all of the technical requirements of the U-NII rules—a practice that was shown to be a major source of harmful interference to TDWRs. Finally, the Commission is removing the indoor only restriction and increasing the permitted power for U-NII devices in the 5.15-5.25 GHz band thus increasing the amount of spectrum available for next generation Wi-Fi services by 100 megahertz.
70. The RFA directs agencies to provide a description of, and, where feasible, an estimate of the number of small entities that may be affected by the proposed rules, if adopted. [5] The RFA defines the term “small entity” as having the same meaning as the terms “small business,” “small organization,” and “small business concern” under section 3 of the Small Business Act. [6] Under the Small Business Act, a “small business concern” is one that: (1) is independently owned and operated; (2) is not dominant in its field of operations; and (3) meets may additional criteria established by the Small Business Administration (SBA). [7]
71. The Commission's action may, over time, affect small entities that are not easily categorized at present. It therefore describes here, at the outset, three comprehensive, statutory small entity size standards that encompass entities that could be directly affected by the proposals under consideration. [8] As of 2009, small businesses represented 99.9% of the 27.5 million businesses in the United States, according to the SBA. [9] Additionally, a “small organization” is generally “any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field.” [10] Nationwide, as of 2007, there were approximately 1,621,315 small organizations. [11] Finally, the term “small governmental jurisdiction” is defined generally as “governments of cities, counties, towns, townships, villages, school districts, or special districts, with a population of less than fifty thousand.” [12] Census Bureau data for 2007 indicate that there were 89,527 governmental jurisdictions in the United States. [13] The Commission estimates that, of this total, as many as 88,761 entities may qualify as “small governmental jurisdictions.” [14] Thus, the Commission estimates that most governmental jurisdictions are small.
72. The adopted rules pertain to manufacturers of unlicensed communications devices. The appropriate small business size standard is that which the SBA has established for radio and television broadcasting and wireless communications equipment manufacturing. The Census Bureau defines this category as follows: “This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing radio and television broadcast and wireless communications equipment. Examples of products made by these establishments are: transmitting and receiving antennas, cable television equipment, GPS equipment, pagers, cellular phones, mobile communications equipment, and radio and television studio and broadcasting equipment.” [15] The SBA has developed a small business size standard for firms in this category, which is: all such firms having 750 or fewer employees. [16] According to Census Bureau data for 2007, there were a total of 939 establishments in this category that operated for part or all of the entire year. Of this total, 784 had less than 500 employees and 155 had more than 100 employees. [17] Thus, under this size standard, the majority of firms can be considered small.
74. The RFA requires an agency to describe any significant alternatives that it has considered in reaching its proposed approach, which may include the following four alternatives (among others): (1) The establishment of differing compliance or reporting requirements or timetables that take into account the resources available to small entities; (2) the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of compliance or reporting requirements under the rule for small entities; (3) the use of performance, rather than design, standards; and (4) an exemption from coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, for small entities. [18]
75. In this First Report and Order, the Commission modified its rules for Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices which operate in the 5 GHz band. [19] U-NII devices are unlicensed intentional radiators which use wideband digital modulation techniques to provide a wide array of high data rate mobile and fixed communications used by individuals, businesses, and institutions. [20] As discussed, the Commission is modifying certain technical requirements in its rules for all U-NII devices to ensure that these devices do not cause harmful interference to Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) systems and other radar systems that operate in the 5 GHz band. The Commission also extends the upper edge of the 5.725-5.825 GHz U-NII band from 5.825 GHz to 5.85 GHz and consolidates the provisions formerly applicable to digitally modulated devices under § 15.247 of the rules for this band with the U-NII rules in § 15.407. This change will eliminate a loophole in the former rules that allowed devices to be certified under the § 15.247 rules and then modified to operate as U-NII devices without complying with all of the technical requirements of the U-NII rules—a practice that was shown to be a major source of harmful interference to TDWRs. Finally, the Commission is removing the indoor only restriction and increasing the permitted power for U-NII devices in the 5.15-5.25 GHz band thus increasing the amount of spectrum available for next generation Wi-Fi services by 100 megahertz.
76. The Commission will send a copy of the Report and Order, including this FRFA, in a report to be sent to Congress pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. [21] In addition, the Commission will send a copy of the Report and Order, including this FRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the SBA. A copy of the Report and Order and FRFA (or summaries thereof) will also be published in the Federal Register. [22]
77. The Commission will send a copy of this Report and Order to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional Review Act, see5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).
78. Pursuant to sections 4(i), 301, 302, 303(e), 303(f), 303(g), and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 301, 302a, 303(e), 303(f), 303(g), and 303(r), this First Report and Order is hereby adopted and parts 2 and 15 of the Commission's rules are amended as set forth in Final rules, effective June 2, 2014, except for § 15.407(j), which contains information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13, that are not effective until approved by the Office of Management and Budget. The Federal Communications Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing OMB approval and the effective date of this rule.
1.The authority citation for part 2 continues to read as follows:
2.Section 2.1033 is amended by adding paragraph (b)(13) to read as follows:
§ 2.1033 Application for certification.
3.The authority citation for part 15 continues to read as follows:
47 U.S.C. 154, 302a, 303, 304, 307, 336, 544a, and 549.
4.Section 15.37 is amended by adding new paragraph (h) to read as follows:
5.Section 15.215 is amended by revising paragraph (c) to read as follows:
§ 15.215 Additional provisions to the general radiated emission limitations.
(c) Intentional radiators operating under the alternative provisions to the general emission limits, as contained in §§ 15.217 through 15.257 and in subpart E of this part, must be designed to ensure that the 20 dB bandwidth of the emission, or whatever bandwidth may otherwise be specified in the specific rule section under which the equipment operates, is contained within the frequency band designated in the rule section under which the equipment is operated. In the case of intentional radiators operating under the provisions of subpart E, the emission bandwidth may span across multiple contiguous frequency bands identified in that subpart. The requirement to contain the designated bandwidth of the emission within the specified frequency band includes the effects from frequency sweeping, frequency hopping and other modulation techniques that may be employed as well as the frequency stability of the transmitter over expected variations in temperature and supply voltage. If a frequency stability is not specified in the regulations, it is recommended that the fundamental emission be kept within at least the central 80% of the permitted band in order to minimize the possibility of out-of-band operation.
6.Section 15.247 is amended by removing paragraphs (b)(4)(i), (ii) and (iii), and by revising paragraph (f) to read as follows:
§ 15.247 Operation within the bands 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz.
The transition provisions found in § 15.37(h) will apply to hybrid devices beginning June 2, 2015.
7.Section 15.401 is revised to read as follows:
8.Section 15.403 is amended by revising paragraphs (m), (o) and (s) to read as follows:
9.Section 15.407 is amended by revising paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(5), (b) introductory text, (b)(1) through (b)(4), (b)(8), (e), and (h)(2), and removing paragraph (a)(6) and by adding new paragraph (i) and (j) to read as follows: