In a story posted by Monica Allevenby at the FierceWireless infosite on June 12, apparently Qualcomm has applied with the FCC for Special Temporary Authority (STA) to conduct limited antenna pattern testing of satellite antennas designed for use in the 12.2 to 12.7 GHz range.
According to her article, Monica reports that the application states that the testing requires a large separation distance to gather far field data due to the frequencies and antenna aperture size and can’t be done in Qualcomm’s anechoic chamber. So, they want to do them outside a Qualcomm facility in San Diego.
The plan calls for a single, low-power continuous wave (CW) form measurement signal to be transmitted from one site at a fixed orientation. The equipment under test is a receive antenna located on another building, with the receive antenna’s orientation to be moved in a process to evaluate the antenna pattern.
The original request was for a single frequency range of 11.7-12.7 GHz, and that was granted by the FCC in March of this year, effective through September 2. For the 12.2-12.7 GHz band, the FCC directed Qualcomm to work with Broadcast-Satellite Service (BSS) operators to obtain their consent.
The June 8 application shows Qualcomm got consent from DirecTV/AT&T and Dish TV; it was waiting for consent from EchoStar when it filed the paperwork. The new request seeks a time frame of conducting tests from July 1 to Dec. 30, 2017.