CommScope moved one step closer to commercial deployment of its 3.5GHz spectrum access system after completing interoperability testing with equipment vendor Ericsson.

Like competitors Google and Federated Wireless, CommScope developed the system to manage access to the 3.5GHz spectrum band, which is earmarked as a shared frequency for federal and non-federal users in the US. The band is also known at the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS.

The trials, which paired CommScope’s system with radio infrastructure from Ericsson, proved the access system and radio equipment could manage interference and successfully work together in a variety of scenarios to send the right signals from the core network to user devices.

Tom Gravely, CommScope’s VP of research and development, said in a statement the company’s engineers have been working on the access system for nearly two years. He added the tests validate CommScope’s design and “readies us for commercial deployment”.

CommScope is one of four companies the Federal Communications Commission conditionally approved to provide both a spectrum access system and environmental sensing capabilities. The former manages frequency and transmit power assignments, while the latter detects incumbent users to help avoid interference (pictured, above).

Google and Federated Wireless, two of the other companies approved to offer both capabilities, as well as Ericsson teamed up with Verizon on a separate set of intensive end-to-end CBRS testing. Verizon said it plans to begin commercial 3.5GHz deployments and offer CBRS-capable devices later this year.