ECC monthly news summary for February 2016

This summary provides a roundup of the main outcomes of ECC Working Group and Project Team meetings which have taken place in February 2016.

Included this month:

1-5 February: WG FM approves deliverables on a broad range of frequency management topics
9-10 February: PT ES is investigating the harmonised implementation of A-GNSS for emergency calls location
22-23 February: FM 54 identifies the areas to be addressed for the future PMR use at 400 MHz 
29 February – 2 March: SE 24 progresses on compatibility studies for SRDs around 870 MHz

1-5 February 2016 – the Working Group Frequency Management (WG FM) had its 84^th meeting in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

WG FM considered the progress of its Project Teams across a range of issues and reached the following results:

CEPT Reports in response to European Commission Mandates

WG FM endorsed the following draft CEPT Reports for submission to the ECC for approval for public consultation:

• Draft CEPT Report 59 in response to EC mandate on the 6th update of the EC Decision for Short Range Devices;
• Draft CEPT Report 61 in response to the EC Mandate on video PMSE in the 2.7-2.9 GHz band.

ECC Decisions
After consideration of the responses from public consultation, WG FM endorsed the following draft ECC Decisions for submission to the ECC for final approval for publication:

• Draft new ECC Decision (16)01 on obstacle detection radars for rotorcraft use in the 76-77 GHz band;
• Draft revised ERC Decision (00)07 on 'the shared use of the band 17.7-19.7 GHz by the fixed service and earth stations of the fixed-satellite service (space-to-Earth)';
• Draft revised ECC Decision (09)01 on Intelligent Transport System (ITS) applications in the band 63-64 GHz.

In a package covering Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) applications, WG FM agreed to send to the ECC for public consultation approval:

• Draft new ECC Decision (16)02 which addresses the identification of spectrum within the 450-470 MHz and 700 MHz frequency ranges and relevant technical conditions for broadband PPDR systems;
• Draft revised ECC Decision (08)05 on the harmonisation of frequency bands for the implementation of digital PPDR radio applications in bands within the 380-470 MHz range.
  
  

In addition, WG FM approved for administration consultation the draft amended Annex 5 of the ECC Decision (01)03 dealing with the EFIS harmonised interface.

ECC Recommendations

After consideration of the responses from public consultation, WG FM approved for publication:

• the revised ERC Recommendation 01-01 on 'Cross-border coordination for mobile/fixed communications networks (MFCN) in the frequency bands 1920-1980 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz’, prepared by ECC PT1;
• the revised ECC Recommendation (15)01 on cross-border coordination for MFCN in the frequency bands 694-790 MHz, 1452-1492 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz and 3600-3800 MHz, prepared by ECC PT1;
• the revised Recommendation T/R 61-02 Annex 6 (Harmonised Amateur Radio Examination Certificate).

  WG FM also approved for public consultation:

• the draft revised Recommendation T/R 25-08 on planning criteria and co-ordination of frequencies for land mobile systems in the range 29.7-470 MHz;
• the draft revised ECC Recommendation (04)01 with regard to forbidding the placing on the market and use of Jammers in the CEPT member countries;
• the draft revised ECC Recommendation (05)06 on CEPT Novice Radio Amateur Licence;
• the draft revised Recommendation T/R 61-01 on CEPT Radio Amateur Licence;
• a revised version of ERC Recommendation 70-03 (Short Range Devices) covering in particular a new entry for 76-77 GHz obstacle detection radars for rotorcraft use in Annex 5 (Transport and Traffic Telematics), a clarification of the scope of Annex 6 (radiodetermination applications), a merger of Annex 13 (wireless audio) into Annex 10 (radiomicrophones), an update of Annex 11 (RFID) and a change of the ‘duty cycle’ definition in the Appendix 5.

ECC Reports

WG FM approved for publication the ECC Report 241 on enhanced access to spectrum for FSS uncoordinated earth stations in the 17.7-19.7 GHz band’.

WG FM approved for public consultation the draft revised ERC Report 25 which contains the European Common allocation (ECA) table.

Others

WG FM approved three questionnaires to CEPT administrations dealing with the annual interference statistics (for 2015), cases of interference caused by DECT 6.0 and the general and restricted maritime operator's certificates respectively.

WG FM agreed that a workshop on broadband PPDR (now scheduled on 29 September 2016) should be organised to promote the latest ECC deliverables after their publication scheduled in June 2016.

Details on these items and the other activities are available from the WG FM webpage.

9-10 February 2016 – The Numbering and Networks Project Team ES, responsible for emergency services, met in ECO, Copenhagen

PT ES continued its work on the feasibility study on a database to facilitate inter-PSAP (public-safety answering point) communications in Europe. A review of the initial document is now in progress and will be completed in time for the April 2016 meeting of the Working Group Numbering and Networks (WG NaN).

PT ES also continued to progress its work on an ECC Report investigating the possibility of a harmonised implementation of Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) for providing accurate location for emergency calls in Europe. The plan for this draft Report is to have a stable version for approval for public consultation at the April 2016 meeting of WG NaN.

Further details are available on the PT ES webpage.

22-23 February 2016 – The Frequency Management Project Team FM 54, dealing with Private/Professional Land Mobile Systems, had its eight meeting in London, United Kingdom

FM 54 continued the development of the draft ECC Report on ‘Current Use, Future Opportunities and Guidance to Administrations for the 400MHz PMR/PAMR frequencies’. FM 54 identified in particular the main topics to be covered, such as market requirements/operational needs for PMR, available technologies, deployment options and results of compatibility studies.

FM54 started the discussions on a new questionnaire regarding the implementation of the measures for improving the coexistence between Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway (GSM-R) and Mobile Fixed Communications Network (MFCN) as described in ECC Report 229.

More details are available on the FM 54 webpage.

SE 24 progressed on:

• two work items related to possible improvements of the technical conditions for SRD in the bands 862-870 MHz and 870-876/915-921 MHz;
• the development of a draft ECC Report regarding sharing studies related to short range radars for fixed infrastructure in the 76-77 GHz band.

Concerning the compatibility studies related to RLANs in the 5 GHz range, SE24 started to identify the relevant material which could be used by WGFM/FM55 in the development of the final response to the EC Mandate on the 5 GHz extension bands for RLAN.

Details on these items and on other activities are available on the SE 24 webpage.