Amazon wants government permission to run mystery wireless tests in rural Washington
Amazon wants government permission to run mystery
wireless tests in rural Washington
By Eugene Kim Jan. 13, 2017, 5:12 PM
Amazon is preparing to test experimental wireless
communications technology, including mobile devices and fixed-base stations, in
rural Washington and Seattle, the company disclosed in government filings this
week.
The filings do not specify what the tests would be for,
but they hint at a new type of technology or wireless service, noting that the
project would involve prototypes designed to support "innovative
communications capabilities and functionalities."
Even more intriguing is that Amazon listed Neil Woodward
as the main contact on the filings. Woodward, a retired NASA astronaut who
joined Amazon in 2008, is now a senior manager for Prime Air, the team in
charge of Amazon's drone-delivery effort, according to his LinkedIn page.
That suggests the tests could involve some kind of
communications system to control Amazon's delivery drones. But the details in
the filings could also point to a wireless service designed to work with mobile
handsets, such as Amazon's Kindle tablets, or perhaps the Echo home speakers
that Amazon sells.
All over the spectrum
The first tests would take place indoors at Amazon's
Seattle headquarters and would then expand outdoors, to around the company's
customer service facility in Kennewick, 220 miles from Seattle.
According to the documents, which Amazon filed with the
Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, the tests would involve
"low-power, temporary fixed-base transmitters and associated mobile units
indoors at and near its company facilities in Seattle, Washington."
Each location would feature three fixed transmitters and
10 mobile units, the documents show.
The testing would be limited to Amazon employees, and
Amazon said it would retrieve and recover all devices that didn't meet FCC
regulations.
"The temporary base stations will typically transmit
on average for only five minutes per hour per day per week on any specific
channel or band," the documents say.
The tests, which Amazon said it hopes would be done under
the FCC's experimental authority, would use a variety of frequencies, which are
listed in this chart:
Amazon declined to comment for this story.
The area for the outdoor tests in Kennewick would be
limited to a 5-kilometer radius of any temporary fixed site, the company said
in its filings.
"Amazon has specified a 120-kilometer radius of
operation for the location at Kennewick only to provide it flexibility to
select a location within that area to meet its criteria for adequately
evaluating the functionality and reliability of prototype equipment," the
documents say.
Internet companies such as Google and Facebook have in
recent years begun conducting numerous wireless tests under the FCC's
experimental authority as they've expanded into things such as self-driving
cars and internet-beaming drones and balloons. While Amazon has started selling
more hardware, the company has not been as active as its peers when it comes to
testing wireless communications technologies.
But Amazon is getting serious about creating drones
capable of delivering packages to customers. Developing a system to communicate
with and control the drones could be key. US regulators require drone tests to
be operated by a certified pilot with a line of sight to the remotely operated
vehicles.
The company has drone development centers in several
countries, including the US, the UK, Austria, and Israel. Last month, it made
its first official delivery by drone, in a rural area in England.
Amazon won approval in March 2015 to test delivery drones
in the US. By August 2015, according to Geekwire, Amazon was running a drone
testing site in Snoqualmie, a rural area 30 minutes from Seattle.
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