Paris hosted last 20-21 November 2013 the 29th meeting of project team 44 (PT44) on satellite communications of the Frequency Management working group (WG FM). The gathering chaired by the United Kingdom was attended by 21 participants on behalf of nine administrations, as well as representatives from industry, namely the International Maritime Satellite Organisation (INMARSAT), the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (EUTELSAT), O3b Networks, Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space and the European Communications Office (ECO).
Various issues were dealt with, of which the following agenda points stand out:
- revisions of ERC/ECC decisions under FM44's responsibility;
- earth stations installed on board mobile platforms communicating with non-geostationary satellite orbit networks (NGSO ESOMP);
- analysis of 17.7-19.7 GHz frequency band usage.
Regarding the revision of ERC/ECC decisions, a decision was made to propose that WG FM retain Decision ERC/DEC/(95)01 as it is still applicable to terminals pertaining to the mobile terrestrial satellite data communication system (EUTELTRACS) and to INMARSAT C and M, revise Decisions ECC/DEC/(05)09 and 10 in 2016, revise Decision ECC/DEC/(05)11 in 2014 and, lastly, retain Decisions ECC/DEC/(04)09, (06)02, (06)03 and (09)04 until 2019.
The project team otherwise examined and discussed contributions received in the scope of the aforementioned agenda points. The associated documents were updated based on results of those discussions.
A highlight was the work concerning NGSO ESOMPs. The response to the liaison statement for project team SE40 (PT SE40) of the Spectrum Engineering working group (WG SE) was debated. It concerns questions raised by FM44 about the equivalent power flux density (e.p.f.d.) limits established in provision 22.5 of the Radio Regulation (RR) and especially the lack of any limits in the 28.6-29.1 GHz frequency band.
Note on the other hand, regarding the study of frequency usage in the 17.7-19.7 GHz frequency band, that the response to the liaison statement for FM53 was received, informing FM44 that the studies on database usage would not be finished before the end of 2014 and that no information about that aspect could be provided to FM44 before that agenda item is completed. The working document thus only included a summary of the questionnaire sent to the CEPT administrations regarding use of the so-called ‘duplex gap’ in the 17.7-19.7 GHz frequency band.
This was the last meeting overseen by the current chair (Mr Azzarelli), who was recently appointed head of project team A (PTA) of the Conference Preparatory Group (CPG). The upcoming 30th meeting of WG FM PT44 should take place on 18-19 March 2014 in the Netherlands, chaired by Mr Sadiani of France.
