Helsinki hosted last 20-22 March a meeting of project team PT SE42, which covers technical issues associated with introduction of flexible spectrum use in certain frequency bands. The group's current objective is to respond to the European Commission (EC) mandate of 5 July 2006, framed within the EC's new flexible spectrum use policy. Bearing in mind the need to avoid interference, the mandate requires definition of the minimum technical conditions to be applied to the frequency bands indicated by the EC's Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC), per the concept of the wireless access policy for electronic communication services (WAPECS) of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG).
The meeting saw progress towards the definition of simulation scenarios for each of the bands.
To that end, the following steps were taken:
- The network topologies deemed to be most likely for the WAPECS bands were defined;
- Possible cases of interference were identified outside and inside the bands;
- Regarding the models for limiting interference between bands and/or frequency blocs, it was agreed that in a first phase only spectral masks based on BEM (block/band edge mask) are to be considered.
As the mandate's calendar is rather ambitious and difficult to comply with by 29 July 2007, agreement was reached with the EC representative to set priorities for analysing each one of the bands. The 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands were deemed to have the most priority. Regarding the UHF band, it was held to have the least priority for the time being, as studies were under way on the digital dividend in the ECC TG4 group, with possible impact on the work of PT SE42.
The aim of the next meeting will be to finalise definition of the scenarios for each of the bands and to thus be able to start the respective simulations. Results of the simulations will be used to obtain conclusions vis-à-vis the choice of the technical parameters and conditions assumed for the WAPECs bands.
