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COMMITIEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, 
AND TRANSPORTATION 
C~YOAAON("' COlORAOO .,ARvPf•[JIS MCH+GA"l 
s·E' u•"" M1 r.i1.a.• • .t, WASHINGTON, DC 20510-6125 
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The Honorable Anthony Foxx 
Secretary 
U.S. Department of Transportation 
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE 
Washington, DC 20590 
The Honorable Penny Pritzker 
Secretary 
U.S. Department of Commerce 
1401 Constitution A venue, NW 
Washington, DC 20230 
The Honorable Tom Wheeler 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 12th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
September 9, 2015 
Dear Secretary Foxx, Secretary Pritzker, and Chairman Wheeler: 
As members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, we are 
dedicated to making spectrum available for private sector deployment and promoting efforts to 
increase safety on our nation's roadways. The demand for spectrum resources continues to 
expand, requiring the federal government to work harder to find ways to utilize limited spectrum 
resources more effectively and efficiently. At the same time, new technologies hold tremendous 
promise for improving vehicle safety and significantly reducing the number of fatalities. 
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has allocated the 5.850-5.925 GHz band for 
Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) uses such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and 
vehicle-to-infrastructure (V21) communication. The FCC permits Intelligent Transportation 
Systems (ITS) to operate in this band for automotive safety and efficiency purposes. The Middle 
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 directed the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration to study the possibility of allowing unlicensed operations to operate 
in the 5.9 GHz band. There currently is a pending proceeding where the FCC is considering 
permitting unlicensed technologies such as Wi-Fi to share this spectrum, so long as these 
technologies do not cause harmful interference to incumbent systems. 
1007
We are committed to finding the best path forward to protect the development and deployment of 
advanced automotive safety systems while also considering the need for additional unlicensed 
spectrum to meet the increasing demand for wireless broadband Internet services. There is broad 
support from interested parties, including the undersigned, for conducting tests tl1at are fairly 
administered and can determine whether various sl1aring proposals do or do not cause harmful 
interference to incumbents, including primary incumbent satellite services operating in the 5.9 
GHz band. Therefore, we strongly encourage your respective agencies to work together to 
facilitate testing that is built on the following principles and goals: 
• The FCC, in close coordination with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and 
Department of Commerce (DOC), should take the lead to ensure that requisite spectrum 
testing and modelling is conducted so tl1e government has all the information it needs to 
determine how best to proceed in terms of interference-avoidance and allocation of 
spectrum use rights in the 5.9 GHz band. DO"f should continue to take the lead, in close 
coordination with the FCC and DOC, with respect to overseeing the development of5.9 
GHz DSRC technology, vehicle safety testing, and 5.9 GHz DSRC capabilities testing. 
• With respect to its spectrmn allocation and interference-avoidance analysis in the 5.9 
GHz band, the FCC should take input from all relevant public and private sector 
stakeholders, including but not limited to DOT, DOC, the satellite industry, the ITS 
industry, the automobile i11dustry, the telecommunications industry, and the Wi-Fi 
industry. 
• Engineers shottld be responsible for the 5.9 GHz interference testing and for addressing 
5.9 GHz compatibility issues. 
• The testing should examine all reasonable options and mechanisms for sharing in the 5.9 
GHz band and for the avoidance of harmful interference from unlicensed to authorized 
users and licensees in the 5.9 GHz band. 
• Tl1e testing of various 5.9 GHz unlicensed sharing proposals should be conducted in a 
way that allows test proposals, results, at1d underlying data to be meaningfully compared 
and evaluated. Public and private participants in 5.9 GHz interference testing should 
coordinate with the FCC on their proposals. 
• Ifa private sector party wants its 5.9 GHz unlicensed sharing proposal to be considered, 
the burden is on it to develop and present tl1e proposal with sufficient specificity for 
consideration and testing and to make relevant test equipment and prototype devices 
available for testing. Similarly, DSRC devices to be protected should be made available 
for testing against unlicensed proposals. 
• The FCC is free to foster or propose its own options for consideratio11, consistent witl1 
existing law. 
• To the extent feasible, and with confidentiality mechanisms in place to protect trade 
secrets and commercially sensitive information if necessary, results and underlying data 
from any testing of 5.9 GHz unlicensed sharing proposals to be considered by the FCC 
should be made available to the public by placing such information in the FCC's open 
docket; the data and results from tests of DSRC systems cited in comments filed with the 
FCC or conducted previously using federal funds and resources should also be published, 
where feasible. 
• To the extent practicable, 5.9 GHz interference testing should be completed by December 
31, 2016. 
We understand a broad coalition of automakers, unlicensed spectrum advocates, and technology 
companies also submitted a letter today that endorses these principles and goals. We commend 
their efforts on this issue. 
Thank you for your continued efforts to responsibly manage the nation' s spectrum resources and 
promote safety on America' s roads. We look forward to working closely with you as this matter 
moves forward. 
Sincerely, 
MARCO RUBIO 
U.S. Senator 
> 
U.S. Senator