Amazon wants FCC approval to test mysterious wireless communications system

[martidav]

Oh boy... Attack of the drones.

Amazon wants FCC approval to test mysterious wireless communications system - GeekWire

 

[Thunderknight]

Those look like cellular bands. Perhaps airborne cell repeaters.

 

[mmckenna]

I agree.

Wouldn't surprise me if they were testing their own wireless internet services, cell phones, or even the drones.

Actually, once you start seeing these experimental requests on the FCC pages, there's a ton of stuff like this. Lots of companies testing out new technologies all the time. Some of the stuff the big military contractors due is pretty interesting. Very high power stuff in weird portions of the microwave bands.

 

[bchappuie]

I would say they are experimenting with using commercial Frequencies for control of drones.Using the commercial LTE network, only makes since to obtain coverage. I am suprised they didn't ask for some 24-26 GHZ to test some 5G connectivity.

 

[martidav]

I agree.

Wouldn't surprise me if they were testing their own wireless internet services, cell phones, or even the drones.

Actually, once you start seeing these experimental requests on the FCC pages, there's a ton of stuff like this. Lots of companies testing out new technologies all the time. Some of the stuff the big military contractors due is pretty interesting. Very high power stuff in weird portions of the microwave bands.

And what receiving goodies might an entity of Amazon's means employ to "monitor other licensees and users before commenting operations to avoid interference..."??

I'm not a HAM operator yet so I'm not in tune with brands/equip. Tough open ended question I'm sure.


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[Thunderknight]

I would say they are experimenting with using commercial Frequencies for control of drones.Using the commercial LTE network, only makes since to obtain coverage. I am suprised they didn't ask for some 24-26 GHZ to test some 5G connectivity.

If they were operating on the commercial LTE network, they wouldn't need an authorization as they would be operating as a customer of the cellular license. Just like you don't need a license for your cell phone.

And what receiving goodies might an entity of Amazon's means employ to "monitor other licensees and users before commenting operations to avoid interference..."??

A spectrum analyzer maybe. It's a common practice. It doesn't mean intercept the contents of the traffic...it simply means not transmitting if there is already a carrier on the frequency.

 

[mmckenna]

If they were operating on the commercial LTE network, they wouldn't need an authorization as they would be operating as a customer of the cellular license. Just like you don't need a license for your cell phone.

I suspect they might be running their own cell site. Maybe LTE, maybe 5G, who knows.