Representing Open Source and Amateur Radio at the US FCC

Do you have something on your mind concerning US regulatory work for the amateur radio service? ORI is here to listen and help you be heard.

ORI is a member of the US Federal Communications Commission Technological Advisory Council.

Open source and amateur voices deserve to be on the council. If you care about spectrum allocation and management, then I invite you to help us make sure that ORI’s voice is strong and well-informed.

I’m one of two representatives from Open Research Institute, which is a member of TAC. ARRL is also an active member of TAC, and we actively support ARRL and work with ARRL’s representative to TAC.

The current term of TAC started 1 October. and will conclude November 2027. The three working groups within TAC are AI/ML Computing, Emerging Wireless Broadband (primarily about 6 G core technology), and Spectrum Management Reform. This last group is where amateur radio and amateur satellite service have the most traction, but there’s relevant tasks for the other two groups. Read more here: https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/2025-2027%20Updated%20TAC%20WG%20Tasks%20final.pdf

Would you like to help ORI represent open source and amateur radio on the TAC? Visit our https://openresearch.institute/getting-started page and reach out about Regulatory Work.

ORI will develop our written deliverables to TAC through an open process, with reports published in our newsletter and on GitHub. People interested in defending, protecting, and expanding amateur access to the bands are who ORI wants to include.

TAC is designed to be “a diverse group of leading technology experts”. Consumers, amateurs, scientists, experimenters, cybersecurity researchers, and enthusiasts are the major pathways for future technology experts in the commercial sector. Non-commercial use of the bands is a huge part of how we ensure that our communications sector is “nationally competitive”.

Being competitive is a stated goal of the FCC. Here’s the mission statement of the FCC:

Promote innovation, investment, competition, consumer empowerment, economic growth, and U.S. competitiveness via communications technology.

Let’s work together to make sure that amateur and open source voices are fully heard.

TAC 2027 Working Groups and Tasks Announced

2025-27 FCC Technological Advisory Council Working Group Tasks:

  1. Emerging Wireless Broadband Working Group (FCC Strategic Goals 1 & 2.3)

a. U.S. role in 6G and IoT standardization: What specific technical and policy roles in standardization would benefit the U.S. to support its international leadership, promote advancement of next generation technology infrastructures, and incentivize accelerated infrastructure builds across the country?

b. What are the ecosystem, interoperability, standardization, and infrastructure needs for 6G and IoT, and how can the FCC proactively address them?

c. How are 6G and other critical emerging technology standards progressing or expected to progress at standards organizations and international fora?

d. Open RAN, AI-RAN, vRAN, etc.: What are the key points of emerging consensus or misalignment? What solutions and benefits do these capabilities offer or lack with respect to wireless network security accountability (non-repudiation), performance, scalability, and total cost of operations (TCO)?

e. Satellite and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN): How can the Commission better support multi-orbital interoperability, supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service quality, backhaul and IoT supportability, cloud integration, and resiliency for new and emerging satellite services?

f. Integrated sensing and communications: What are the applications currently being envisioned for integrated sensing communications (ISAC), and what should the FCC consider to support emerging ISAC services?

g. Terrestrial and satellite quantum communications: How will quantum systems be used for wireless and satellite communications?

  1. AI/ML and Computing Working Group (FCC Strategic Goals 2, 2.2 & 1.2)

a. AI/ML and Networks: How are neural networks models being applied to traffic pattern prediction and network resiliency, and how might such models potentially bias decision- making as it may affect network traffic management and overall system reliability?

b. AI/ML and Security/Reliability: Describe the landscape of AI Assisted Zero Trust network architecture implementations to address policy enforcement issues and adversarial device, traffic, and attack detection, and the reliability of automated AI interference detection and mitigation on wireless network management.

c. Practicality of AI/ML-based broadband performance and availability analytics to support broadband deployment: How can AI/ML solutions support competitive market analysis, cybersecurity, network resiliency, emergency preparedness, aspects of the FCC’s broadband programs and broadband networks in general?

d. AI/ML and Consumer Protection: What emerging ethical and privacy risks and vulnerabilities should the FCC be aware of related to user data being used for AI model training and optimization on networks increasingly dependent on cloud computing infrastructure?

e. f. g. Quantum Network, Computing, and Post-Quantum Cryptography:

What is the overlay requirement for quantum network integration into the Internet architecture (including the medium and all HW/SW aspects)? What are essential interoperability standards necessary for quantum protocols? Describe the practicality and scalability of quantum cryptography, and how quantum computing is envisioned to be used on AI-assisted network data and traffic routing management, and the tradeoffs versus other technologies.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems: What are the computing, infrastructure, and spectrum needs for robotics and autonomous systems for the FCC to be aware of?

Convergence of AI and IoT: How does AI/ML affect IoT architecture, applications, and how do those effects bear on the Internet protocols and security/accountability concerns, including (data velocity, volume, and veracity) challenges in real time network demand and big data computing?

  1. Spectrum Management Reform Working Group (FCC Strategic Goals 1 & 4.2)

a. Data collection and database functionalities requirements for spectrum utilization assessment: What challenges might the FCC encounter when creating a spectrum utilization assessment of market specific, localized, nationwide, global by services (mobile, satellite, etc.) regarding specific frequency bands?

b. Spectrum deployment/demand/interference forecasting: How might the FCC instill a better long-term strategic planning and phased approach to spectrum repurposing and auctions, in light of the 800 megahertz spectrum goal in the OBBB Act and beyond?

c. How can the interplay between terrestrial and satellite services be complemented in spectrum sharing models to promote more efficient spectrum use?

d. What methodologies for dynamic interference threshold calibration should the FCC consider for coexistence feasibility studies and standardization policy requirements?

e. Secure and trustworthy data exchange protocols and interfaces for federal and non-federal operations: How can the FCC develop trust in data sharing models to facilitate more efficient spectrum sharing while protecting potentially sensitive information about incumbent spectrum use?

f. How might the licensing coordination and system requirements for federal and non-federal bands (techniques involving prioritization, data sharing, international coordination for satellite) be optimized?

g. RF propagation modeling methodology and interference analysis: How might the FCC establish a baseline for frequency coordination, i.e., what methods, references, and technical parameters to apply and rely upon, etc., and other feedback mechanisms for incumbent protection? What factors and methodologies should the FCC be considering as it seeks to repurpose spectrum generally and pursuant to ongoing spectrum studies focused on spectrum bands identified for meeting the 800 megahertz goal required by the OBBB?

TAC Kicks Off with 1 October 2026 Meeting

https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2026/10/technological-advisory-council-meeting-october-1-2026

The Technological Advisory Council to the US Federal Communications Commission will have the first meeting of the 2026-2027 term on 1 October 2026, in Washington, DC.

https://www.fcc.gov/oet/electromagnetic-compatibility-division/technological-advisory-council/TAC-Member

The TAC provides technical advice to the FCC and is composed of a diverse array of experts. The TAC helps the FCC identify important areas of innovation and informs policies in order to support America’s competitiveness and job creation in the global economy. ORI is a member of TAC. Our current representative is Michelle Thompson W5NYV.

Standards Groups and Advisory Work

We have been hard at work defending #opensource and #hamradio in multiple ways by actively supporting standards committees and advisory groups.

We are a member of the United States Federal Communications Commission Technological Advisory Council, serving on the Advanced Spectrum Sharing and 6G Working Groups.

We serve on IEEE P1954 Standard for Self-Organizing Spectrum-Agile Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Communications working group.

We participated in several notices for proposed rulemaking at multiple government agencies over the past year, and expect this work to continue.

We have assisted in several successful experimental license applications for amateur radio satellite communications projects.

ORI is doing the work that helps the future of open source digital radio.

Thank you to all who support our work.