The third meeting of the Frequency Management working group (WG FM) project team (PT) 47 was held last 16-17 December in Paris, chaired by Emmanuel Faussurier. PT 47 was set up at the 65th WG FM meeting held on 13 February 2009 in Cascais, Portugal, to deal with issues involving UWB (ultra wide band) technology. This project team is in charge of responding to the second European Commission (EC) mandate on short range radars (SRR), comprising two parts, and to the fourth EC mandate on UWB technology-based radio applications.
The CEPT final report in response to part 1 of the second EC mandate on SRR (draft CEPT Report 36), which concludes that the existing regulatory solution for 24 GHz SRR should not be amended and that 79 GHz SRR should continue to be viewed as a long term solution, was under public consultation until 4 January 2010.
Work continues on the SRR Impact Assessment (IA) report, mainly on phase 6 (Assess the Impacts and Choose the Best Option), based on the various contributions received. This report will be used to ground the response to part 2 of the second EC mandate on SRR, which proposes the study of alternative bands/technologies for SRR. Given that ECC working group WG SE PT 24 has not yet finished the studies (SRR 26G & NB-24G with WLAM - Wide Band Low Activity Mode and affected radiocommunication services), it was not possible to complete the IA report and draw the respective conclusions. Note that new SRR emission limits were proposed in 26 GHz. The IA report will be included in the proposed CEPT report in response to part 2 of the second EC SRR mandate, which is being developed by PT 47.
Regarding the new specific UWB applications being studied by PT 47 (regulatory solution) and PT 24 (compatibility studies), the group was informed about progress on the compatibility studies, which are not yet finished. There was no development to report vis-à-vis the regulatory solution.
Regarding the specific UWB applications known as LT2 (location tracking applications), they were subject to more in-depth discussion, highlighting various possible problems involving compatibility with existing radiocommunication services, given that these applications operate in outside spaces. The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) reported that the frequency bands requisitioned for such devices may eventually be changed to range only from 3.1 to 4.8 GHz. A correspondence group will produce a report on this item.
