The Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC)

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The Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee
(IRAC)

• Karl B. Nebbia
• Associate Administrator
• Office of Spectrum Management
• National Telecommunications
• and Information Administration
• (202)-482-0536
• knebbia_at_ntia.doc.gov

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• What is the IRAC?
• Who Participates?
• What are its primary components?
• How does the IRAC operate?

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What is the IRAC?

• IRAC is an ADVISORY committee that provides to
  NTIA the views of the federal agency spectrum
  managers
• Existed since 1922
• Work is considered executive branch
  pre-decisional and not releasable
• IRAC Subcommittees general areas
• Ad Hoc groups individual topics
• A collegial body - almost all work by consensus
• Experienced spectrum management professionals

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Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee
BBG
Air Force
Transportation
DHS
VA
U.S. Postal Service
State
Energy
Navy
Chairman (NTIA)

FCC (Liaison)
NASA
NSF
Agriculture
Commerce
Interior
FAA
Justice
Coast Guard
Treasury
Army
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NTIA/FCC MOU

• A/S and FCC Chairman to meet
• NTIA/OSM and FCC Office of Engineering
  Technology meet
• 15 day turnaround to comment on each others
  actions
• No veto authority over each others decisions

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IRAC (MAIN COMMITTEE) ACTIVITY

• Most activity has been in response to FCC actions
• Rulemakings
• Petitions for rule changes or waivers
• Allocations resulting from WRCs
• Changes to the NTIA Manual
• Process
• Policies

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FCC/NTIA Administrative Procedures Document
Input Flow
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IRAC
Chaired By
SECRETARIAT
NTIA
SSS
SPACE
SYSTEMS
SUBCOMMITTEE
RCS
SPS
TSC
EPS
FAS
EMERGENCY
SPECTRUM
RADIO
TECHNICAL
FREQUENCY
PLANNING
PLANNING
CONFERENCE
SUBCOMMITTEE
ASSIGNMENT
SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE
Ad Hoc GROUPS 170 Mexico 181 Canada 206
WRC Implementation 213 Management 214 Public
Safety
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IRAC STRUCTURE

• Main Committee policy and committee management
  (Eddie Davison edavison_at_ntia.doc.gov 482-5526)
• Frequency Assignment Subcommittee (FAS)
  coordination of assignments (Tom Woods
  twoods_at_ntia.doc.gov 482-2802)
• Spectrum Planning Subcommittee (SPS) review of
  new federal systems (Steve Butcher
  sbutcher_at_ntia.doc.gov 482-4163)
• Space Systems Subcommittee (SSS) satellite
  coordination (Scott Kotler skotler_at_ntia.doc.gov
  482-7983)
• Emergency Planning Subcommittee (EPS) emergency
  planning and readiness (Steve Veader
  sveader_at_ntia.doc.gov 482-4417)
• Technical Subcommittee (TSC) standards (Ed
  Drocella edrocella_at_ntia.doc.gov 482-2068)
• Radio Conference Subcommittee (RCS) WRC
  preparation (Darlene Drazenovich
  ddrazenovich_at_ntia.doc.gov 482-3480)
• Ad Hoc Groups

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SPS and SPECTRUM CERTIFICATION

• PURPOSE To evaluate and mitigate risk in the
  development and deployment of Federal
  spectrum-dependent radiocommunications systems
• DIRECTION Office of Management and Budget
  Circular A-11 requires NTIA
  certification of spectrum support for major
  systems prior to expenditure of funds
• PROCESS Spectrum Planning Subcommittee reviews
  certification requests -- Engineering
  support provided by Systems Review Branch of NTIA
• Systems are evaluated for conformance with
  frequency allocations, adherence to technical
  standards, compliance with policy applicable to
  Federal systems
• Potential electromagnetic compatibility problems
  are identified and interference mitigation
  strategies are developed
• OUTCOME Certification provides guidance to
  developers and operators of
  systems, based upon SPS advice to NTIA
  regarding technical and operating
  constraints needed to mitigate interference risk
• TIMELINE Typically requires 2-4 months to
  process routine requests complex reviews
  often take longer
• Similar in some ways to FCC Equipment
  Authorization process
• FCC participates in the review process through a
  liaison representative that attends monthly
  meetings of the subcommittee

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FAS and Frequency Assignment

• PURPOSE Assign frequencies to, and amend,
  modify, and revoke frequency
• assignments for radio stations belonging to
  and operated by United States, establish policies
  concerning spectrum assignment and provide
  agencies with guidance.
• PROCESS Frequency Assignment Subcommittee
  reviews radio frequency requests for both federal
  agencies and shared bands with the FCC.
• Performs Interference analysis, evaluates for
  conformance with frequency allocations, and
  compliance with policy
• Process 350-400 applications per day of which
  about 8500 are FCC in a year.
• TIMELINE Typically records are approved by the
  NTIA in 9 workdays
• Special Temporary
  Assignments are approved in 5 workdays
• WEBSITES NTIA posts status of FCC request during
  processing on
• 
  http//ntiacsd.ntia.doc.gov/webcoord/status.cfm
  
• NTIA post status of
  FAA coordination of FCC request on
• 
  http//ntiacsd.ntia.doc.gov/webcoord/fcc_faa.cfm
• FCC participates in the review process as a
  representative that attends monthly meetings of
  the subcommittee. The FAS process is similar to
  the FCC ULS and OET process.