The 54th meeting of project team 44 (PT44) on satellite communications of WG FM was held last 18-20 September in Athens, Greece, chaired by France and attended by 34 participants encompassing a total of 13 administrations as well as various representatives of industry and the European Communications Office (ECO).
Various issues were considered at this meeting, with the following agenda points standing out:
- ECC draft decision on aircraft earth stations operation in the 12.75-13.25 GHz band;
- ECC draft decision on operations via satellite for machine-to-machine/internet of things (M2M/IoT);
- ECC draft recommendation on the authorisation to operate earth stations with equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) levels above those established in ECC Report 272;
- Use of the 2483.5-2500 MHz frequency band of the Globalstar system by earth stations;
- Mobile satellite service (MSS) systems operating below 1 GHz.
Also discussed were results of the public consultation on the proposals for a new ECC decision (on aircraft earth stations operating in the 12.75-13.25 GHz band) and the ECC report (on operations via satellite for M2M/IoT). The revised ECC decision was approved and will be submitted to WG FM so it can be adopted and then forwarded to the ECC for final approval and publication. The revised ECC report was approved and will be submitted to WG FM for final approval and publication.
Also finalised was the ECC draft recommendation on the authorisation to operate earth stations with equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) levels above those established in ECC Report 272, which will be submitted to WG FM for final approval and publication.
The presentation of a new terrestrial system that will use the downlink frequency of the Globalstar system is also noteworthy. FM44 urged Globalstar to take part in the next WG SE meeting and to present this contribution as an information document and provide the WG SE administrations with a better understanding of its intentions.
Finally, the new working item concerning protection of Galileo’s band E6 was notably revised in accordance with the request of WG FM.
The next physical meeting of PT44 should be held in January 2020.
