The FCBA Engineering and Technical Committee sponsor a CLE on Wednesday, April 12 from 3:00 – 5:30 p.m. ET entitled Spectrum 101: Allocation, Coordination & Policymaking.  This program will be held virtually via the Zoom platform.

Spectrum makes make wireless work.  But understanding the engineering fundamentals that drive wireless and satellite networks can prove challenging.  The FCBA Engineering and Technical Committee is here to help.  The Committee’s upcoming Continuing Legal Education course entitled “Spectrum 101: Allocation, Coordination & Policymaking” will help separate fact from fiction and provide you with the tools you need to serve as a better advocate for efficient, cost-effective spectrum policy.  The session’s first panel will walk you through spectrum engineering basics, and the second panel will offer an in-depth discussion of some of the most important spectrum policy decisions facing regulators in the U.S. and around the world today.

The FCBA will apply for 2.0 hours of MCLE credit from the VA Bar.  This program has not yet been approved.

If you have any issues, please contact Elizabeth Hagerty at elizabeth@fcba.org.

AGENDA

3:00 – 3:05 p.m.         Welcome and Introductions

3:05 – 4:00 p.m.         Basic Building Blocks
The first panel will review radiofrequency communications and interference. Panelists will start by revisiting the building blocks of spectrum engineering, including signals, waves, modulation, transmission, propagation, reception, spreading, absorption, refraction, reflection, diffraction, and, ultimately, interference.  Panelists will review the components and system architectures of various radio access networks and explain how these systems have changed over time.  After analyzing the historical antecedents of today’s networks, including broadcasting and multiple generations of cellular wireless communications networks, the panel will then explain how new wireless technologies, such as 5G NR and Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax), function and how engineers have optimized radiofrequency performance to suit the frequency bands in which these systems operate.

Speakers:
Michael Ha, Chief, Policy and Rules Division, Federal Communications Commission, Office of Engineering and Technology
Tom Peters, Senior Technical Advisor, Jenner & Block LLP
Additional speakers TBA

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.         Advanced Policy Making
The second panel will explore how evolving wireless technologies, performance characteristics, and global technical specifications have created new tools—and new challenges—for spectrum allocations, assignments, and sharing.  The panel will discuss how and why global standards for a new radio access technology, including 5G NR and a next-generation network architecture called 5G NextGen, have begun to influence domestic and international spectrum policy.   Panelists will also consider how a new suite of IEEE unlicensed standards including Wi-Fi 5 (IEEE 802.11ac), Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax), and, most recently, Wi-Fi 6E, have begun to influence spectrum allocation decisions in the U.S. and around the world.  Panelists will then analyze how terrestrial and satellite wireless broadband system design and performance characteristics promise to inform future divisions of spectrum resources among licensed, unlicensed, and managed spectrum and assignments now and in the future and whether new and emerging technologies warrant new systems of spectrum allocation and assignment.

Speakers:
Becky Tangren, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
Additional speakers TBA

COST: $135.00 for Private Sector Members; $50.00 for Government/Academic/Transitional/Retired Members; $95.00 for Non-Profit 501c3 Members; No charge for Law Student Members; $205.00 for Non-Members

Cancellations due no later than 24 hours prior to the program start time.