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2023
TAC - 2023
- FCC Seeks Nominations by September 22, 2023 for Membership on the TAC [Acrobat]
- Documents and White Paper Releases
- Technological Advisory Council Charter [Acrobat]
- August 17, 2023 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
2022
TAC - 2022
The FCC’s Technological Advisory Council met on the following dates in 2022.
- December 8, 2022 from 10:00am to 3:00pm [Video]
- February 28, 2022 from 10:00am to 1:00pm [Video]
- June 9, 2022 at 10:00am [Video]
- September 15, 2022 at 10:00am [Video]
- December 8, 2022 at 10:00am [Video]
Documents and White Paper Releases
- Documents and White Paper Releases
- Technological Advisory Council Charter [link to current charter]
- Technological Advisory Council Working Group Charter [Acrobat]
- December 8, 2022 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- September 15, 2022 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- June 9, 2022 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- February 28, 2022 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
2021
TAC - 2021
Documents and White Paper Releases
- Technological Advisory Council Charter [Acrobat]
- Technological Advisory Council Working Group Charter [Acrobat]
- January 14, 2021 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Online Format [Video]
- July 23, 2021 - FCC Announces Intent to Re-Establish the TAC and Solicits Nominations [Public Notice]
2020
TAC - 2020
Documents and White Paper Releases
- Technological Advisory Council Charter [Acrobat]
- Technological Advisory Council Working Group Charter [Acrobat]
- December 1, 2020 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Online Format [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- September 22, 2020 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Online Format [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- June 4, 2020 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Online Format [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- March 24, 2020 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Online Format [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
2019
TAC - 2019
- FCC Requests Nominations by April 10, 2019 for Membership on the TAC [HTML]
- Documents and White Paper Releases
- December 4, 2019 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- September 18, 2019 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- June 21, 2019 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
2018
TAC - 2018
- FCC Requests Nominations by April 10, 2019 for Membership on the TAC [HTML]
- Documents and White Paper Releases
- Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Mobile Device Theft Prevention (MDTP) Working Group
- 5G Edge Computing Whitepaper
- 5G Network Slicing Whitepaper
- Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Topics for 2018 [Acrobat]
- March 26, 2019 -- Meeting rescheduled from December 5th [Video]
- September 20, 2018 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- June 12, 2018 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- April 12, 2018 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
2017
TAC - 2017
- Documents and White Paper Releases
- December 6, 2017 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- September 19, 2017 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- June 8, 2017 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
Mobile Device Theft Prevention (MDTP) Work Group:
The MDTP Work Group has focused on analyzing the theft of mobile devices in the United States; working with industry and law enforcement to increase the security of mobile devices, facilitate coordination of theft related data between industry, law enforcement and the consumer, and track trends in the theft of mobile devices. Prior work has led to alignment of theft prevention features among smartphone manufacturers and initial development of an industry information portal to coordinate theft data among stakeholders. The work group is tasked in 2017 to build on this early work. It will focus on working with law enforcement in assessing the benefits of the information portal to relevant stakeholders, make recommendations for the continuing involvement of law enforcement in industry theft prevention efforts, and analyzing the ongoing effectiveness of past efforts in combatting device theft. In addition, the work group will study future mobile device threats in an evolving ecosystem and make further recommendations on actions to combat theft. It will also develop baseline statistics on device theft based on data from directed consumer surveys and law enforcement data to help track long term progress and identify theft scenarios.
Recommendations for Removing Obsolete or Unnecessary Technical Rules:
The rapid pace of technology evolution often makes rules that were adopted years ago unnecessary or irrelevant. This work group is tasked to review the FCC technical rules to identify and prioritize those that should be eliminated. In making recommendations the work group is to consider the benefits and costs of doing so, particularly relative to any potential risks of detrimental impact or unintended consequences to existing stakeholders and how those risks can be mitigated. The work group is also tasked with identifying alternative processes for streamlining the introduction of new technologies as an alternative to the Commission’s traditional approach of considering technical matters through rule making. The Commission has largely left it to industry to develop standards for new technologies. Would it be feasible to use standards bodies for development of standards for such things as transmitter power limits and out of band emissions? Are there processes that exist or can be developed that bring stakeholders together to develop consensus recommendations on technical matters, including whether it is necessary to embody specific elements in regulations?
Implications of Next Generation TV Broadcasting Technology:
TV broadcasting is poised to introduce its next generation standard ATSC 3.0. The new standard differs from the traditional TV broadcasting standard in several important ways. It has the capacity to carry not only what can be characterized as traditional content (in a high definition format), but also provides substantial additional capacity to offer new services. The task of the work group is to consider how the new standard might fit into the overall communications landscape of the future. For example, to what extent will this new service compete or integrate with services that are offered by commercial wireless services? To what extent might the implementation of ATSC 3.0 raise issues such as expanded deployment of distributed transmission systems that could face issues such as tower siting? What are the ways that ATSC 3.0 is likely to be deployed that could intersect with other communications facilities and devices such as the use of gateways that could rely on Wi-Fi to distribute multiple video signals throughout a dwelling? If a gateway and Wi-Fi were used, how would they interplay with wireless routers used for other services in the same dwelling? What other synergies or interfaces might exist between broadcast data services and commercial wireless services? The intention is specifically not to address the topics raised in the Commission’s planned rulemaking to facilitate ATSC 3.0 but rather to look ahead to how implementation may impact the future of communications generally.
Broadband Deployment Technological Challenges:
This group would bring together technical experts from a broad cross section of the communications industry - e.g., wireline and mobile, cable, satellite, broadcast - to study and provide information on available technologies, their limitations, and any technical rules or policies that impede broadband deployment. This group's work may also provide a ready resource for technical support for the FCC's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC)
Satellite Communications Plan:
The commercialization of space together with the evolution of satellite technology is changing the operational nature of satellite launches. Launch ventures once restricted to companies with hundreds of millions of dollars of capitalization are now in reach of innovative startups using small satellite technologies. On the other extreme, well-funded companies are planning to launch thousands of small satellites providing broadband communications across the globe. Declining costs for launch vehicles are also accelerating both the number of satellites proposed to be launched as well as the frequency of launches. Within a decade, the number of operational satellites may increase by more than an order of magnitude. Processes designed to support singular launch ventures don’t scale to these numbers nor do they support innovative and disruptive startup ventures. Dedicated frequency assignments per satellite will not serve an environment of many thousands of satellites. This work group will look at recommendations for processes and communication solutions to support both startup venture satellite operations as well as massively scaled satellite operations. The work group will assess the challenges faced by these new satellite ventures in the context of current and planned communication/telemetry solutions. The work group will focus on streamlining the regulatory process, the impact on current satellite operations from expected scaling of operations in both frequency and number, the effect of possible interference from satellites operation in MEO and LEO orbits, and proposals that would allow for higher spectral efficiency and lower costs for satellite communication needs.
2016
TAC - 2016
- Documents and White Paper Releases
- Future Game Changing Technologies (FGCT) Working Group Report on 5G Adoption [Acrobat]
- Future Game Changing Technology: Programmable Network Report [Acrobat]
- December 2016 - Security BCP Recommendations for SDN/NFV [Acrobat]
- December 2016 - Cybersecurity Subcommittee Working Group White Paper: Software Configurable Radios (SCR) [Acrobat]
- 5G Cybersecurity Subcommittee Recommendations [Acrobat]
- Cyber Mobile Device Security [Acrobat]
- Smart Phone Security Wizard Requirements [Acrobat]
- January 2016 - White Paper: Considerations for Securing Software Defined Network (SDN)/Network Function Virtualization (NFV) [Acrobat]
- December 7, 2016 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- September 20, 2016 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- June 9, 2016 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
- March 9, 2016 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Video]
2015
TAC - 2015
- Technical Considerations White Paper: Applying Security to Consumer IoT Devices [Acrobat]
- December 9, 2015 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [HTML]
- View the meeting video for the December 9, 2015 TAC meeting: [Video]
- Summary of meeting [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- Report of Technological Advisory Council (TAC) Subcommittee on Mobile Device Theft Prevention (MDTP) Analysis and Recommendations for 2015 [Acrobat]
- A Case Study of Risk-Informed Interference Assessment: MetSat/LTE CoExistence in 1695–1710 MHz [Acrobat]
- White Paper: Basic Principles for Assessing Compatibility of New Spectrum Allocations [Acrobat]
- September 24, 2015 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [HTML]
- June 11, 2015 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- View the meeting video for the June 11, 2015 TAC meeting: [Video]
- Summary of meeting [Acrobat]
- Chairman Challenges Industry to Adopt Theft-Prevention Technologies [News Release]
- Download the meeting agenda [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentations [Acrobat]
- April 1, 2015 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
2014
TAC - 2014
- December 4, 2014 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- View the meeting video for the December 4, 2014 TAC meeting: [Video]
- Summary of meeting [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentation [Acrobat]
- Supporting the Transition to IP Reference Architecture for Future Broadband Networks (Extended Presentation) [Powerpoint]
- Supporting the Transition to IP Deep Dive and Stake Holders Interviews and Observations (Extended Presentation) [Powerpoint]
- FCC-TAC IOT Working group position statements [Word]
- FCC-TAC IOT Working group forecast data [Excel]
- FCC-TAC IOT Working group standards [Excel]
- FCC-TAC IOT Working group taxonomy [Excel]
- Smartphone Theft Prevention Report & Recommendations [Acrobat]
- Mobile Device Theft: Aspirational View of Events [Acrobat]
- September 23, 2014 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- June 10, 2014 - Meeting and presentation to FCC staff and TAC members
- The impact of emerging receiver technologies on changing standards and spectrum allocations [Acrobat]
- TAC Seeks Members for Mobile Device Theft Prevention Working Group [HTML]
- June 10, 2014 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- View the meeting video for the June 10th 2013 TAC meeting: [Video]
- Download the meeting presentation [Acrobat]
- Summary of meeting [Acrobat]
- White Paper: "Introduction to Interference Resolution, Enforcement and Radio Noise" [Acrobat]
- Recommended Charter: “Multi-stakeholder Organization to Develop Interference Limits Policies” [ Acrobat]
- March 10, 2014 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- March 5, 2014 - Spectrum & Receiver Performance Working Group white paper
- Interference Limits Policy and Harm Claim Thresholds: An Introduction Version 1.0 [Acrobat]
2013
TAC - 2013
- Documents and White Paper Releases
- Working Group Paper on Resiliency [Acrobat]
- Working Group Paper on Resiliency [Acrobat]
- December 9, 2013 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- September 23, 2013 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- June 13, 2013 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- June 10, 2013 - Office of Engineering and Technology Extends Comment Period for Technological Advisory Council (TAC) White Paper and Recommendations for Improving Receiver Performance.
- March 11, 2013 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- February 6, 2013 - Receivers & Spectrum Working Group White Paper
- Interference Limits Policy -- The use of harm claim thresholds to improve the interference tolerance of wireless systems Version 1.0 [Acrobat]
2012
TAC - 2012
- December 10, 2012 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- View the meeting video for the December 10th 2012 TAC meeting: [Video]
- Summary of meeting [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentation [Acrobat]
- Download the Agenda [Acrobat]
- Download the Longer Term Anti-Malware Recommendations [Acrobat]
- Download the Consumer Education Recommendations [Acrobat]
- Download the Wi-Fi Hotspot Security Recommendations [Acrobat]
- September 24, 2012 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- June 27, 2012 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) [Acrobat]
- May 9, 2012 - TAC work group VI questions. [Acrobat]
- May 9, 2012 - TAC work group VI descriptions and potential member assignment. [Acrobat]
- March 20, 2012 - FCC Announces the next Technological Advisory Committee Meeting on March 28, 2012. [Acrobat]
2011
TAC - 2011
On April 22, 2011, the TAC submitted to FCC Chairman Genachowski a Technological Advisory Council Chairman’s Report that included eight recommendations based on the working groups efforts for near term opportunities for promoting innovation, competition, and job creation in the technology sector. The report noted that each recommendation is an opportunity for the FCC to unleash new private sector innovation and job creation, without working through traditional regulatory processes. By acting on these recommendations, the TAC stated that the FCC can promote competition, foster industry best practices, and encourage executive action in order to help innovators, small businesses, and local governments pursue new economic development and job growth.
Recommendations – Technological Advisory Council Chairman’s Report (April 22, 2011)
- Municipal Race-to-the-Top program. The FCC should sponsor a Race-to-the-Top-style awards/recognition program to identify a list of cities with the best practices in terms of broadband infrastructure deployment. The “Broadband City USA” contest could provide top rankings for cities and towns based on being the most broadband-friendly in terms of infrastructure planning, accommodation, and permitting/approvals processes. Cities and towns would have an incentive to compete for this designation, making it a tool to further new investment and economic development. The FCC could also use this program as an opportunity to highlight a host of best identified practices for broadband infrastructure deployment, including model city “rights of way” codes.
- Broadband Infrastructure Executive Order. The FCC should formally request that the President issue an Executive Order on broadband infrastructure deployment on federal land and in federal buildings. The Executive Order would mandate the following for Federal rights of way and antenna siting approvals:
*Single document format for permitting
*Single federal agency to coordinate the permit approval process
*Sixty day time frame for approvals
Such an Executive Order would place the Federal government in a position to advance network deployment and resiliency in communities with Federal buildings, especially urban areas where network congestion is most acute. In addition, this Executive Order could advance the development of micro cells, distributed antenna systems (DAS), and other innovative broadband infrastructure, demonstrating a path for growth in this market. - Advocacy for Rapid Tower Siting. The FCC should propose that states and municipalities employ a shortened “shot clock” for co-locations on existing structures or permit co-location “by right” - absent special circumstances. The TAC has identified several impediments to tower siting processes which could be overcome through updates to state and local procedures, including:
*Inconsistent and non-concurrent time frames for environmental assessments
*Redundant requirements for co-location applications
*Repetitive rejection of incomplete applications without identification of deficiencies
Expediting the process for tower siting could have an important impact on the development of local broadband access in communities, boosting their marketability to new employers and network access for local entrepreneurs. If states and municipalities do not agree to expedite co-location approvals, the Commission should express its willingness to proceed with a new, shorter “shot clock” rule for co-locations. - Best Practices/Technology Outreach to State and Local Governments. The FCC should begin a dialogue with states and municipalities about proven new technologies for efficiently deploying broadband (e.g., micro-trenching, DAS equipment on city light poles, directional boring). The Commission should host a “road show” or series of workshops highlighting best identified practices with new technologies. This road show, in combination with leadership on the federal level through the Executive Order (See recommendation #1), can help accelerate the development of this new market for network infrastructure.
- Model an Online Deployment Coordination System. The TAC believes that timely access to underground facilities has a direct bearing on infrastructure costs and deployment. The FCC should develop a “white label,” web-based communication tool that can be adopted and labeled as their own by localities to provide advance notification of planned infrastructure projects. Such a web-based capacity would allow all those who must excavate rights-of-way to coordinate openings (i.e., “dig once”) and thus speed deployment and reduce costs and civic disruption. Any state or municipality could voluntarily use the FCC model to implement its own “reverse one-call” system to provide notification of new infrastructure projects.
- New Metrics to Measure Broadband Network Quality. The TAC believes that, for some usage models, developing metrics beyond throughput speed to measure the quality of Internet Protocol (IP) broadband networks is important for helping the IP ecosystem flourish by enabling "extended" quality standards that can support the subset of applications that require not only fast, but precise, timely and reliable broadband networks. Simply measuring broadband networks by throughput speed does not provide a full picture nor set sufficient performance parameters to support uses with "extended" quality requirements such as healthcare monitoring, emergency services, alarms, etc. Although network services that meet such extended criteria may not be offered by all service providers, or included in all service plans, it would be beneficial to have common metrics for them.
Additionally, in transitioning to IP based networks the TAC will be identifying how reliability can be characterized in a multi-modal environment -where reliability is provided by having many alternate paths, means and/or modes of communications. The FCC should initiate the steps necessary for determining how this aspect of the transition will impact the basic architecture of emergency services. - Highlight Stranded PSTN Investments. Network providers have huge investments in existing PSTN infrastructure including copper wire, switches, pole space, and software. Although new information services are designed for IP networks, many homes and businesses still use devices that depend on specific characteristics of the PSTN (e.g., auto-dialers, alarm systems, ATMs, PoS terminals). These services and devices will have to be replaced and the accompanying construction and inspection "codes" revised. The TAC will be creating an inventory of such services. We would recommend that the FCC highlight this concern and initiate a public dialogue so that the technology and know-how for replacing such services is widely disseminated.
The TAC in the coming months will conduct a further technical analysis of the potential short term, and low cost transitions of this legacy infrastructure, including new, IP-enabled devices and the use of traditional copper lines for high speed, high quality broadband. - Promote Small Cell Deployment. Small cell deployments have the ability to greatly increase spectral efficiency to meet demands of increasing teledensity. The FCC, with the participation of other relevant agencies (e.g., General Services Administration) should convene an industry-led group (e.g., providers, vendors, standards groups, and building owners) to discuss ways to accelerate the deployment of small cell wireless devices (i.e., femtocells, DAS, Wi-Fi) in commercial and government buildings and other high teledensity venues. Accelerating this deployment would meet growing market demand for mobile broadband in dense, urban areas and potentially create new employment for design, installation, and operation of wireless systems.
Two ideas in particular that should be explored: (1) development of “universal architectures” for picocells, femtocells, etc., perhaps leveraging convergence around LTE, so that multiple providers using multiple spectrum bands could be served from a single device; and (2) creation of a new “small cell band” spectrum allocation, conceptually a hybrid between licensed and unlicensed spectrum, in which property owners and/or mobile broadband providers would have the ability to freely deploy networks to offload broadband services from other networks with assurances of interference protection from neighboring users.
- December 20, 2011 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC)
- View the meeting video for the December 20th TAC meeting. [Video]
- Summary of meeting [Acrobat]
- Download the meeting presentation [PowerPoint]
- Spectrum Efficiency Metrics: White Paper. Sharing Work Group, Version 1.0 – 20 December 2011 [Word]
- November 2, 2011 - FCC Announces Technological Advisory Council Meeting. [Acrobat]
- October 25, 2011 - Forum on indoor deployments of small cell sites [Acrobat]
- September 27, 2011 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC)
- View the meeting video for the September 27th TAC meeting. [Video]
- Summary of meeting [Word]
- Download the meeting presentation [PowerPoint]
- Document - Sun-setting the PSTN [Word]
- Document - IPv6 Working Group Benchmarking Recommendations [Word]
- Document - TAC IPV6 Concepts [Word]
- Document - Spectrum Efficiency Metrics [Word]
- September 12, 2011 - FCC announces Technological Advisory Council meeting [Acrobat]
- June 29, 2011 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC)
- June 8, 2011 - FCC announces reestablishment of the Technological Advisory Council [Acrobat]
- April 22, 2011 - Report of the Technological Advisory Council to the FCC Chairman [Acrobat]
- March 30, 2011 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC)
- March 8, 2011 - Public Notice - Announcing Next Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council [Acrobat]
- February 15, 2011 - News Release - FCC names six distinguished members to its Technical Advisory Council [Acrobat]
2010
TAC - 2010
- November 4, 2010 - Meeting of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC)
- October 25, 2010 - Public Notice - Announcing Formation of the Technological Advisory Council [Acrobat]
- October 21, 2010 - News Release - Announcing Formation of the Technological Advisory Council [Acrobat]