The 64th meeting of the Short Range Devices/Maintenance Group (SRD/MG) Working Group was held last 15-17 April in the Italian town of Ispra, chaired by Thomas Weber and attended by 39 delegates from various Administrations and bodies, including the European Communications Office (ECO), as well as industry.
SRD/MG handles issues associated to short range devices and among other issues is responsible for updating Recommendation ERC/REC 70-03, for responding to the European Commission (EC) permanent mandate on short range devices with a view to updating the EC decision on low power short range devices (SRD) and for issues associated to ultra wide band (UWB) technology and identification of new spectrum opportunities for SRD introduction.
At the 82nd meeting of the Frequency Management working group (WG FM) in February 2015 several documents proposed by SRD/MG were approved for public consultation. Their respective comments were considered at this SRD/MG meeting, with the following standing out:
- revision of appendix 2 of Recommendation 70-03, with a proposal for a new entry to regulate wireless industrial automation (WIA) applications in the 5.8 GHz (5725-5875 MHz) band. The comments received were considered and resolved, with addition of the possibility of recording and/or notifying such applications;
- revision of appendix 5 of Recommendation 70-03, with a proposal to revise the definition for radars, which excludes their use in flying vehicles. No comments were received in the scope of the public consultation;
- revision of appendix 6 of Recommendation 70-03, with insertion of references to enhance visibility of the existing regulatory solutions in Recommendation (11)09, for UWB location tracking 2 (LT2) applications, and in Recommendation (11)10, for location tracking application for emergency and disaster situations (LAES) applications, with the aim of increasing their implementation at national level by the administrations. No comments were received during the public consultation;
- new proposed ECC report 230, describing solutions concerning use of the 174-216 MHz band by assistive listening devices (ALDs). The comments received were all considered and resolved. The possibility that such applications may be licensed was notably included;
- new proposed decision for the 446-446.2 MHz harmonised frequency band for professional mobile radio (PMR) 446 analogue and digital systems, including technical characteristics, individual licence exemption and free circulation and use. With approval of this decision the revocation of Decisions ECC/DEC/(98)25 and ECC/DEC/(05)12 is proposed. All the comments received were considered and resolved;
- proposed revision of Recommendation (11)09 for UWB LT2 applications, in an attempt to increase their degree of implementation, which was not promoted in most CEPT administrations. A regulatory solution alternative to the existing one is proposed, specifically by means of individual licensing (but without right to protection) for large installations. The comments received, with editing proposals, were all considered and resolved.
These documents will now be forwarded to the 83rd WG FM meeting (May 2015) for approval.
At its 81st meeting (October 2014) WG FM approved for public consultation the revision of Decision ECC/DEC/(08)01 (5875-5925 MHz band) and Recommendation ECC/REC/(08)01 (5855-5875 MHz band) with a view to permitting the implementation of additional rules for stations with intelligent transport systems (ITS) in order to complement existing regulations just for mobile stations, namely by henceforth including ITS stations in infrastructures and in portable ITS stations. SRD/MG dealt with the comments received in the public consultation at its 63rd meeting (December 2014), submitting the respective documents to the 82nd WG FM meeting (February 2015) for approval and submission to the 39th ECC meeting (March 2015) for final approval and publication. This did not happen as no consensus was reached about mitigation techniques to be implemented to protect other systems in adjacent bands. At this meeting SRD/MG drafted an alternative proposal meant to resolve the identified problems, which will be sent to the 83rd WG
FM meeting (May 2015) for approval.
SRD/MG will submit a proposed revision of appendix 10 of Recommendation 70-03 to the 83rd WG FM meeting (May 2015) so it can be approved for public consultation. The proposal contains a new entry meant to authorise ALD systems in the 173.965-216 MHz band following the approval of ECC report 230.
Regarding the EC’s permanent mandate on SRD, the group continues to work toward the sixth update of the EC decision in that area; a CEPT report is therefore being developed in response to the mandate. The possibility of inserting various applications in the EC decision is being discussed, such as medical body area networks (MBANS), the new mask for radio frequency identification (RFID) equipment in the 13.56 MHz and 870-876 MHz/915-921 MHz bands. This meeting also served to consider responses to the questionnaire sent by WG FM at its last meeting to investigate cognitive techniques, whose analysis will continue by correspondence.
The responses to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) questionnaire on the classification of SRD applications were also considered. CEPT will propose that the Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) develop a recommendation on that topic.
Regarding the 5805-5815 MHz band, there is a proposal for the development of new applications, including tachographs; the group drew up a document which describes some requirements of those new applications. The document should be considered by WG FM at its next meeting, which must make a decision on the need to ask the Spectrum Engineering working group (WG SE) to develop compatibility studies.
A new proposed decision was drawn up concerning “the harmonised frequency range 76-77 GHz, technical characteristics, exemption from individual licensing and free carriage and use of obstacle detection radars for helicopter use”. It should be completed by correspondence and submitted to the 40th ECC meeting (June/July 2015) so it can be adopted for public consultation.
Decision ECC/DEC/(09)01 on harmonised use of the 63-64 GHz frequency band for intelligent transport systems (ITS) was also revised by the group and will be submitted to the 83rd WG FM meeting (May 2015) so it can be adopted for public consultation. This proposed revision opens the scope of ITS applications to include other ITS applications beyond those associated to road traffic.
SRD/MG completed a first analysis regarding radio local area networks (RLAN) in 5 GHz in vehicles and will present the analysis at the next WG FM meeting for the group’s consideration.
