WWC snapshot of http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/bluebook/p-31.html taken on Sat Jun 10 22:33:58 1995

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION SERVICES (PCS)

The expected importance of PCS as a major new segment of the telecommunications industry has encouraged ITS to rapidly expand its research and development activities related to many areas of PCS. An active program is now underway using internal funding, Other Agency government funding, and Industry support under the Federal Technology Transfer Act (FTTA). Current ITS activity includes:

Propagation Research - Radio propagation research for short indoor and outdoor 1-30 GHz radio paths will give improved understanding of the factors to be considered in the design of short-range systems like PCS and wireless LANs. The models developed from such experiments will help policy-makers determine the most suitable frequency bands for particular services, as well as assisting system designers with realistic and convenient short-path design tools. Present ITS propagation research includes:

  1. Development of multipath and path loss measurement techniques and instrumentation.
  2. Propagation loss statistics measured over 1-30 GHz and varied environments.
  3. Multipath delay-spread measurements using pseudo- noise probes (up to 500 MHz chip rate).
  4. Measurements of spacial coherence, using coherent cw mobile recording.
  5. Theoretical modeling of EM wave propagation within walls and roadways.
  6. Comparison of measured data and theoretical results.
Spectrum Measurements and Sharing Models - Signal occupancy measurements have been made in potential PCS bands, to provide information needed to recommend particular radio bands for sharing with PCS. Other sharing measurements and analysis have been reviewed.

Radio and Network Standards for PCS - Initial work in this area includes participation in several standards committees charged with the development of technical standards for proposed PCS systems and for recommendation of frequency band allocations used with PCS.