Title 47
SECTION 15.255
15.255 Operation within the band 57-71 GHz.
§ 15.255 Operation within the band 57-71 GHz.(a) Operation under the provisions of this section is not permitted for the following products:
(1) Equipment used on satellites.
(2) Field disturbance sensors, including vehicle radar systems, unless the field disturbance sensors are employed for fixed operation, or used as short-range devices for interactive motion sensing. For the purposes of this section, the reference to fixed operation includes field disturbance sensors installed in fixed equipment, even if the sensor itself moves within the equipment.
(b) Operation on aircraft is permitted under the following conditions:
(1) When the aircraft is on the ground.
(2) While airborne, only in closed exclusive on-board communication networks within the aircraft, with the following exceptions:
(i) Equipment shall not be used in wireless avionics intra-communication (WAIC) applications where external structural sensors or external cameras are mounted on the outside of the aircraft structure.
(ii) Equipment shall not be used on aircraft where there is little attenuation of RF signals by the body/fuselage of the aircraft. These aircraft include, but are not limited to, toy/model aircraft, unmanned aircraft, crop-spraying aircraft, aerostats, etc.
(c) Within the 57-71 GHz band, emission levels shall not exceed the following equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP):
(1) Products other than fixed field disturbance sensors and short-range devices for interactive motion sensing shall comply with one of the following emission limits, as measured during the transmit interval:
(i) The average power of any emission shall not exceed 40 dBm and the peak power of any emission shall not exceed 43 dBm; or
(ii) For fixed point-to-point transmitters located outdoors, the average power of any emission shall not exceed 82 dBm, and shall be reduced by 2 dB for every dB that the antenna gain is less than 51 dBi. The peak power of any emission shall not exceed 85 dBm, and shall be reduced by 2 dB for every dB that the antenna gain is less than 51 dBi.
(A) The provisions in this paragraph (c) for reducing transmit power based on antenna gain shall not require that the power levels be reduced below the limits specified in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section.
(B) The provisions of § 15.204(c)(2) and (4) that permit the use of different antennas of the same type and of equal or less directional gain do not apply to intentional radiator systems operating under this provision. In lieu thereof, intentional radiator systems shall be certified using the specific antenna(s) with which the system will be marketed and operated. Compliance testing shall be performed using the highest gain and the lowest gain antennas for which certification is sought and with the intentional radiator operated at its maximum available output power level. The responsible party, as defined in § 2.909 of this chapter, shall supply a list of acceptable antennas with the application for certification.
(2) For fixed field disturbance sensors that occupy 500 MHz or less of bandwidth and that are contained wholly within the frequency band 61.0-61.5 GHz, the average power of any emission, measured during the transmit interval, shall not exceed 40 dBm, and the peak power of any emission shall not exceed 43 dBm. In addition, the average power of any emission outside of the 61.0-61.5 GHz band, measured during the transmit interval, but still within the 57-71 GHz band, shall not exceed 10 dBm, and the peak power of any emission shall not exceed 13 dBm.
(3) For fixed field disturbance sensors other than those operating under the provisions of paragraph (c)(2) of this section, and short-range devices for interactive motion sensing, the peak transmitter conducted output power shall not exceed −10 dBm and the peak EIRP level shall not exceed 10 dBm.
(4) The peak power shall be measured with an RF detector that has a detection bandwidth that encompasses the 57-71 GHz band and has a video bandwidth of at least 10 MHz. The average emission levels shall be measured over the actual time period during which transmission occurs.
(d) Limits on spurious emissions:
(1) The power density of any emissions outside the 57-71 GHz band shall consist solely of spurious emissions.
(2) Radiated emissions below 40 GHz shall not exceed the general limits in § 15.209.
(3) Between 40 GHz and 200 GHz, the level of these emissions shall not exceed 90 pW/cm 2 at a distance of 3 meters.
(4) The levels of the spurious emissions shall not exceed the level of the fundamental emission.
(e) Except as specified paragraph (e)(1) of this section, the peak transmitter conducted output power shall not exceed 500 mW. Depending on the gain of the antenna, it may be necessary to operate the intentional radiator using a lower peak transmitter output power in order to comply with the EIRP limits specified in paragraph (b) of this section.
(1) Transmitters with an emission bandwidth of less than 100 MHz must limit their peak transmitter conducted output power to the product of 500 mW times their emission bandwidth divided by 100 MHz. For the purposes of this paragraph, emission bandwidth is defined as the instantaneous frequency range occupied by a steady state radiated signal with modulation, outside which the radiated power spectral density never exceeds 6 dB below the maximum radiated power spectral density in the band, as measured with a 100 kHz resolution bandwidth spectrum analyzer. The center frequency must be stationary during the measurement interval, even if not stationary during normal operation (e.g., for frequency hopping devices).
(2) Peak transmitter conducted output power shall be measured with an RF detector that has a detection bandwidth that encompasses the 57-71 GHz band and that has a video bandwidth of at least 10 MHz.
(3) For purposes of demonstrating compliance with this paragraph, corrections to the transmitter conducted output power may be made due to the antenna and circuit loss.
(f) Frequency stability. Fundamental emissions must be contained within the frequency bands specified in this section during all conditions of operation. Equipment is presumed to operate over the temperature range −20 to + 50 degrees Celsius with an input voltage variation of 85% to 115% of rated input voltage, unless justification is presented to demonstrate otherwise.
(g) Radio frequency devices operating under the provisions of this part are subject to the radio frequency radiation exposure requirements specified in §§ 1.1307(b), 1.1310, 2.1091, and 2.1093 of this chapter, as appropriate. Applications for equipment authorization of mobile or portable devices operating under this section must contain a statement confirming compliance with these requirements. Technical information showing the basis for this statement must be submitted to the Commission upon request.
(h) Any transmitter that has received the necessary FCC equipment authorization under the rules of this chapter may be mounted in a group installation for simultaneous operation with one or more other transmitter(s) that have received the necessary FCC equipment authorization, without any additional equipment authorization. However, no transmitter operating under the provisions of this section may be equipped with external phase-locking inputs that permit beam-forming arrays to be realized.
(i) Measurement procedures that have been found to be acceptable to the Commission in accordance with § 2.947 of this chapter may be used to demonstrate compliance.
[63 FR 42279, Aug. 7, 1998, as amended at 66 FR 7409, Jan. 23, 2001; 68 FR 68547, Dec. 9, 2003; 78 FR 59850, Sept. 30, 2013; 81 FR 79936, Nov. 14, 2016; 83 FR 63, Jan. 2, 2018; 85 FR 18149, Apr. 1, 2020]