wiki:FirstDeploymentsPlan

Version 1 (modified by hmussman@bbn.com, 12 years ago) (diff)

--

5. GENI D&P WiMAX Infrastructure Buildout

5.1 GENI WiMAX Buildout Plan

The overall GENI buildout plan is funded by an NSF contract, and is summarized in GENI D&P WiMAX Infrastructure Buildout.

It includes a map of the participating campuses:

And a list of involved researchers and IT leaders:

5.2 GENI WiMAX Usage Plans

The WiMAX Kit Project (1753) outlined the usage plans for each campus:

Each project has been reviewing and updating their plans for research, which will help drive design of kit and software. See Section 11, "WiMAX Experiments and Demos".

5.3 GENI WiMAX Kits

As part of the Spiral 1 WiMAX D&P prject, two WiMAX campus deployment kits were purchased for:

Development at Rutgers, WINLAB
Service at Rutgers, WINLAB

The following campuses/sites purchased their own kit:

NEC Labs America
Stanford

The WiMAX Kit Project (1753) is purchasing and supplying WiMAX campus deployment kits to the following campuses. In addition, it is providing a limited number of client platform kits.

Rutgers, Bush Campus
Columbia University
Polytechnic Institute of NYU
UCLA
University of Colorado at Boulder
UMass Amherst
University of Wisconsin

The following GENI-related campuses/sites are purchasing the necessary equipment to build their own WiMAX campus deployment kits, and then deploying them with aid from the GPO and Rutgers WINLAB:

BBN Technologies, Cambridge, MA
University of Wisconsin, 2nd site

The following campuses/sites have indicated an interest in obtaining their own WiMAX campus deployment kits:

University of North Texas (Prof Kamesh Namuduri on 3/16)
Florida International University
UC San Diego (Prof B. S. Manoj)
Wayne State University (Prof Hongwei Zhang)
NC State (Porf Rudra Dutta)

Ray Raycaudhuir on 3/16: Would prefer to get existing deployment underway, and then consider a 2nd round of kits beginning in 5+ mo.
New kits would be Profile C
Expect NEC would like to see orders for 40-50, if possible

5.4 GENI WiMAX Licenses

Each GENI WiMAX campus/site must have a valid FCC license to operate a WiMAX base station. In some cases, a campus/site plans to use an existing "educational license" already held by their institution. However, in most cases, the campus/site plans to apply for and use a new "experimental license" that, by and large, can be obtained just by requesting it from the FCC. This process has been successful in 6 cases for 5 campuses/sites. See Section 8.2, "Obtain FCC License".

However, in almost all situations, there is a potential overlap with the ongoing national Clearwire/Sprint WiMAX rollout. (See the list of current and planned deployments below.) This is true for several reasons.

If a GENI WiMAX campus/site plans to use an existing "educational license" already held by their institution, which has not yet been leased to Clearwire/Sprint, there is a reasonable chance that the institution may yet pursue a lease with Sprint/Clearwire, and thus the GENI WiMAX campus/site could lose their license.

In the cases where the institution has leased their "educational license" to Clearwire/Sprint (which may or may not have started service), all is not lost. A new upcoming rule apparently requires that an institution that has leased their "educational license" must retain "at least 5%" for their own use, or else forfeit their license. So, a GENI WiMAX campus/site may gain partial access to an "educational license" even if it has alreasy been leased to Clearwire/Sprint.

In the cases where a GENI WiMAX campus/site plans to apply for and use a new "experimental license", it has been found that most available spectrum has been leased to Sprint/Clearwire, although they are not yet using it in most locations (see below). So, the FCC will grant an "experimental license" that overlaps spectrum already leased (likely to Clearwire/Sprint), but they require: if the owner of the spectrum (i.e., Clearwire/Sprint) begins service, the holder of the "experimental license" must stop using the spectrum immediately.

So, what does this all mean?

1) If a GENI WiMAX campus/site uses an "educational license" already held by their institution (or "5% of one", by the upcoming rule), they are OK (unless the institution decides to lease the license).
2) If a GENI WiMAX campus/site uses an "experimental license" that does NOT overlap a license holder, they are OK.
3) If a GENI WiMAX campus/site uses an "experimental license" that DOES overlap a license holder, they are OK UNTIL that license holder (i.e., Clearwire/Sprint) decides to start using that spectrum, and then they will have to shut down their WiMAX base station. This is a significant concern in major metropolitan areas, per the deployment plans listed below.

However, this could change. An NSF effort is beginning to define a Wireless National-scale Test Bed (WiNTeB); this could possibly affect the allocation of spectrum to national testbed uses.

Another possible strategy has been identified by Tony Michel. In at least three locations, (Boston, Sussex Cty, MA; Brooklyn, Kings Ct, NY; Manhattan, NY Cty, NY) he has identified a 5-MHz slice of specturm in the educational band with no assigned licenses.

BBN technologies has applied for and been granted an experimental license for the 5-MHz slice in Sussex County.

PIs at NYU Poly and Columbia are in the process of appplying for experimental licenses for the 5-MHz slices in their counties.

Assuming that both NYU Poly and Columbia are grnated experimental licenses in their respective 5-MHz slices (smae frequencies, but geographically separated), then the NYU Poly and Columbia institutions should be able to apply for and be granted full educational licenses in the slices. What does this mean?

4) If so, NYU Poly and Columbia would be able to use full educational licenses without challenge from Sprint/Clearwire or any other commercial enterprises.

Clearwire/Sprint Deployments

See 2009 rollout
See 2010 plans

+ Currently in service (June, 2010):

  • Georgia, Atlanta and more
  • Maryland, Baltimore
  • Illinois, Chicago
  • Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Oregon, Portland and Salem
  • North Carolina, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh
  • Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui.
  • Texas: Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, Waco and Wichita Falls
  • Washington, Seattle and more
  • Idaho, Boise
  • Missouri, St. Louis and Kansas City
  • Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and more
  • Central Washington, D.C.

+ Planned for remainder of 2010:

  • Massachusetts, Boston
  • Colorado, Denver
  • Oregon, Eugene
  • New York, New York City, Syracuse and Rochester
  • California, San Francisco bay area, Los Angeles, Merced, Visalia, Modesto, and Stockton
  • Washington, Yakima
  • Minnesota, Minneapolis
  • Delaware, Wilmington
  • Michigan, Grand Rapids
  • Florida, Miami
  • Ohio, Cincinatti and Cleveland
  • Pennsylvania, Pittsburg

5.5 GENI WiMAX Buildout Issues

No Issue Who Opened Resolved Resolution Note
5.1 Who wants additional kits: We need to compile a list of GENI-related campuses and sites that want to purchase the necessary equipment to build their own WiMAX campus deployment kits. Mussman 12/09 3/16/10 BBN and 2nd for Wisconsin going ahead; U Norht Texas and FIU waiting.
5.2 How to order additional kits: We need to understand how to order the key components from NEC for a WiMAX campus deployment kit, both BofM and process. Rangarajan 2/10 3/5 Sent info to order
5.3 Research plans: Each project should review and update their plans for research, which can help drive design of kit and software. All - 3/16, ongoing See Section 11 -
5.4 Spares: Currently, there are no designated spares for hardware that could fail: ODU, NW INTFC card or CHC card. What will we do if we need a spare? Rangarajan, Mussman 2/23/10 3/1 There will be a few spares at WINLAB and NEC America
5.5 - - - - - -

Attachments (3)

Download all attachments as: .zip