Ericsson and CommScope have successfully completed interoperability testing of their equipment for the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band.
CommScope is in the running to offer a Spectrum Access System (SAS), the same kind of systems that Google and Federated Wireless are developing. SAS administrators will coordinate the different tiers of users in the 3.5 GHz Band, making the band available for commercial use on a shared basis with existing federal and non-federal incumbents.
“CommScope’s team of architects, developers and engineers have been building an industry-leading SAS for nearly two years,” said Tom Gravely, vice president of research and development, Network Solutions at CommScope, in a press release. “Completion of interoperability testing with a major radio equipment provider such as Ericsson validates our SAS design and readies us for commercial deployment.”
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The interoperability test confirmed that CommScope’s SAS and Ericsson’s radio infrastructure will work together as part of a CBRS network. All of the elements of the CBRS infrastructure need to work together in order to make the band a success, something the FCC has been overseeing.
The FCC already conditionally certified CommScope, Google, Federated Wireless and Key Bridge Wireless for Environmental Sensing Capabilities (ESC) for the CBRS band. An ESC works with the SAS to identify the wireless signals of incumbent users to avoid interference from Citizens Broadband Radio Service Devices (CBSDs).
CommScope and Ericsson said their testing is one of the first successful interoperability tests using the Wireless Innovation Forum’s release 1.2 specifications. The SAS/CBSD interoperability testing used a battery of scenarios to verify that products from both companies meet governmental requirements and industry protocols.
The CBRS band is made up of 150 MHz of 3.5 GHz shared spectrum, which until now has been primarily used by the federal government for radar systems.