From: Thad Starner To: A16.A16(rm-8653) Date: 7/24/95 6:05pm Subject: RM-8653 In Support of the NII Band July 24, 1995 Mr. William Caton Acting Secretary Federal Communications Commission 1919 M Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 RE: RM-8653 In Support of the NII Band to Promote U.S. Productivity and to Help the Disabled I am writing in support of the petition filed by Apple Computer, Inc. for an NII band for public use. I am a researcher at the MIT Media Laboratory whose specialty is wearable computing. Wearable computing involves small computing devices and peripherals that are worn as clothing. For example, my personal system involves a display imbedded in my glasses, a one-handed keyboard, a small CPU, and a network connection. Unfortunately, the network connection is through a local cellular carrier, which is not sufficient for these purposes. Not only are these types of services too expensive, but they also handle a very limited amount of bandwidth and have a tendency to handle transitions between sites badly. Additionally, the cellular carriers have been slow in adopting adequate technology for data services. Much of the research that is done in the wearable computing community assumes network connectivity. Unfortunately, while bandwidth is available for researchers, it can not be assumed for the general populace as of yet. Thus, much of our work related to helping those with low vision, augmented reality, and context sensitive "help" agents is considered to be interesting research but of little practical use. This is especially true because this research often centers around real-time video rates. With 300Mhz of bandwidth available to the public, our goals could change dramatically. Suddenly it may be practical to use such systems to allow the (legally) blind to see. Wearable computing and related technologies will significantly increase productivity in the next decade. As Prof. Malone said in the recent special issue of Scientific American, this revolution will be about communication, not production. Wearable computers will provide an unparalleled ease of interaction with both people and computers. They will also significantly increase their users' abilities to remember and associate data. However, without a cheap, high bandwidth communication medium, the potential is limited to the machinery that the user carries. Thus, I feel that an economical and open communications medium while significantly increase individual worker productivity in the next decade. An option, of course, is to license the spectrum. However, the past has shown how this can slow innovation. Only large corporations or those with complex cross-agreements can hope to start and succeed in this arena. Thus, the smaller, faster-moving innovative companies tend to look for easier markets. Similarly, researchers tend to avoid the licensed spectrum. Even the simple restrictions on the amateur bands have caused many researchers, including myself, to look elsewhere for our communications needs. However, with the adoption of Apple's proposal, equipment manufacturers will begin to offer practical communication options, which will spur more applications and research, which will spur more communications hardware, and so on. Current research programs are waiting for such an opportunity and already have in-house applications that demonstrate the need for the medium. What is required now is the bandwidth. Thad Starner