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FP7 RadioNet Report WP5 Spectrum Management Reporting Period Aug. 2010-Aug. 2011 A. Jessner, MPIfR, 30.8.2011
1. Work progress and achievements during the period
• Support of CRAF : CRAF has met twice times during the reporting period in accordance with the description of work and WP5 has partially supported the travel of members to these meetings and paid the expenses to local organizers hosting the CRAF meetings. Travel support was granted in twenty-five cases to participants of CRAF meetings.
1. The 51st CRAF meeting was held on 4-5 November 2010 in Madrid (Spain) at the National Astronomical Observatory. Summary: ESF situation Given the potential restructuring of ESF, due to a merger with EuroHORCS (European Heads of Research Councils), there may be implications on various specialist committees such as CRAF. With a small office being established in Brussels, the ESF General Assembly will be requested to agree to hold another meeting in April at which a decision will be made regarding the continuation of the merger process. Possible outcomes include the following:
a. Dissolution of the ESF by 2012 - CRAF finds a new umbrella organisation; b. Strasbourg office retained, but old activities faded out until 2015 and new policy office in Brussels.
New CRAF Frequency Manager All members with voting rights agreed to the employment of Harry Smith as FM manager. Harry Smith presented himself to CRAF, and recommended that the FM attends fewer meetings, with greater electronic attendance through input of documents. He also urged greater communication between the FM and CRAF members, and that CRAF's presence and influence should be increased within the greater telecommunications industry. Following the various problems experienced with the previous FM's contract and what was expected of the FM's role within CRAF, it was proposed that a performance agreement is drafted for the FM. It appeared that more detailed requirements should be considered following a review of the FM job description, but should avoid overly cumbersome administrative and bureaucratic process.
CRAF Strategy 2011: Cooperation of Passive Services and EC Spectrum Group JESSNER reported that he has entered into discussions with the passive services community, represented by Edoardo Marelli and Phillipe Tristant, to discuss strategies for combining forces and resources in terms of representation at various radio spectrum committee meetings. The current challenge faced by the passive services community is not the lack of people and enthusiasm, but rather the lack of real terms of reference for representation. This results in a lack of active participation in meeting. CRAF has identified a need to join forces, and so this will be a subject of on-going discussions within the community. CRAF members reported from their observatories and about their interaction with regulatory authorities.
2. The 52nd CRAF meeting was held on 23-24 May 2011 in Granada (Spain) at the Vincci Hotel. During the afternoon of the 24th, the Pico Veleta Observatory is visited by interested participants. Summary: a) ESF situation The European Science Foundation is in the process of dissolution and the Strasbourg office will soon cease to exist. A new organisation is being formed by European research funding and research performing agencies. It will have its headquarters in Brussels and is to represent the voice of European science in the political arena. The new organisation will have no funding role and all the previous programmes and commitments of the ESF will be wound down within the next three years. The outcome of the evaluation process for expert boards and committees will be decisive for the future within the new organisation for committees like CRAF and the evaluation process has been re-orientated towards that goal. CRAF sees some legal and procedural hurdles for the transfer of the MoU between ten observatories and the ESF covering CRAF's activity and funding, to the future organisation. CRAF has urged that an efficient information flow is needed between policy makers in the new European science organisation and expert committees like CRAF. Therefore expert committees should be represented on the board that makes policy decisions and hierarchies should be flat within the new organisation. b) Expert Panel on RFI and EMI issues for SKA Craf chairman Axel Jessner has been chosen as member of the Expert Panel on RFI and EMI issues established by the SKA Science and Engineering Committee (SSEC) as a part of the process of site selection for the SKA to carry out the evaluation of reports on RFI as measured at the two candidate sites in Australia and South Africa. The measurement campaign is being conducted with identical equipment in both countries. c) Meeting Reports and WRC-12 Conference Preparation Meeting SMITH reports on the issues of concern to the RAS dealt with by CRAF over the past six months at CEPT and ITU-R meetings. A summary of these is shown in the table below: CEPT Group Issue Freqs Affected Comment FM45 Broadcast developments near 1427MHz 1400-1427MHz RAS concerns registered in public consultation phase. No feedback as yet PTB RAS 275GHz - 3000GHz
275GHz
RAS requirements accepted PTB Metaids Allocation ~9kHz Support for WMO initiative for new passive allocation PTB Possible extension to 6.67GHz band 6.7GHz To be discussed PTD AI 1.20 – HAPS 6.7GHz See CPM-11 report PTD AI 1.25 - MSS allocations 10.6GHz, 15.4GHz See CPM-11 report PTA AI 1.19 - Cognitive Radio All? See CPM-11 report PTA AI 1.22 - Short Range devices <10.6GHz? See CPM-11 report SE19 HAPS 6.7GHz Likely that there will be no allocations in Europe. SE24/SRD-MG Location/tracking UWB: LAES/LT2/LTA 6.7GHz LAES/LT2 probably acceptable. Many issues for RAS around LTA. Ongoing SE24/SRD-MG 77GHz Short range radar 77GHz Initial response to proposed new SRR applications has been made. Ongoing SE24/SRD-MG Automotive SRR 24GHz Proposed delayed move out of 24/26 GHz band under consideration. Ongoing SE40/FM44 Indoor & Outdoor pseudolites 1.6GHz ECC Report & decision on indoor pseudolites completed and ready for public consultation with RAS concerns registered. Work starting on outdoor pseudolites SE40/FM44 IRIDIUM emissions 1.6GHz New report backing RAS claims of significant interference now in CEPT approval stages. Ongoing SE7 Interference to geodetic VLBI from proposed broadband wireless services 2.3GHz Contribution to SE7 to be made registering RAS concerns. Ongoing
Other
WP7D Revision of RA.1513 N/A Abandoned. New Recommendation on time variable RFI to be developed CRAF Wind farms
New CRAF report now being considered by various agencies ITU/SB Power line transmission (PLT) <300MHz Major threat below 30MHz, but no CRAF resources available to progress the issue In addition, SMITH attended the WRC-12 Conference Preparation Meeting (CPM-11) January; a detailed report was produced and is available on the CRAF website. d) FM report SMITH described the FM report, which is divided in 4 main sections: background, activities in the period November 2010 to April 2011, forward look (May 2011 to November 2011), and finally a financial report. The FM report was approved by the plenary session, and members expressed great satisfaction with the work of SMITH. e) Industrial Interference An input document entitled “Estimate of Emission Limits for Interference to Radio Astronomy from Industrial Equipment” was presented by JESSNER. Industrial electronic equipment has radio emission limits specified by CISPR / EN standards. These serve to protect the devices themselves, other adjacent equipment and ordinary radio equipment. For radio astronomy the interference potential is much more severe and additional shielding or large separation distances are required for frequencies up to several GHz. Better harmonisation between CISPR and ITU emission limits is required as victim receivers discriminate interference perhaps by signal strength, but rarely by their origin in the CISPR or ITU realms. f) IRIDIUM Baan gave a presentation about progress on the IRIDIUM interference issue that has been following CRAF for more than ten years. Measurements of the IRIDIUM interference in the radio astronomical band 1610.6-1613.8 MHz using radio astronomical equipment and techniques for observation and calibration were made by Jessner and Baan at the Leeheim satellite monitoring station by invitation of the ECC . The station is capable of tracking individual satellites and for the first time we obtained sensitive calibrated spectra and incontrovertible proof of the IRIDIUM out of band emission interfering in the radio astronomical bands. The data and data reduction methods were made public and IRIDIUM representatives were closely involved in all stages of the measurements and consultations. A new report (ECC 171) stating that IRIDIUM interference leads to radio astronomical data loss between 90 and 100% for deep (2000 second spectra) and 5-44% for short (30 second) observations has been approved by the ECC committees and has now passed the public consultation stage. The report not only supports the interference reports made by many observatories, which however cannot track and unambiguously identify the satellites, as four are typically visible all the time, but also reproduces the theoretical interference estimates of ITU-R SM. 1633 and the pre-operational measurements carried out on fully-loaded satellites in 1998. CRAF provided evidence that the interference is caused by non-linearity in the satellite transmitting elements, the effects of which increase with the 7th power of the output power. ECC Report 171 officially confirms all previous claims by radio astronomers about IRIDIUM interference and marks a major breakthrough in the long conflict between IRIDIUM and radio astronomers world-wide. Discussions are now commencing in the ECC and between CRAF and IRIDIUM on how to find a practical solution to the problem and to avoid its repetition with the next generation of satellites. Radionet travel support played an essential role and enabled CRAF members to attend the many CEPT meetings that were necessary to achieve that result. (see below).
• Engaging agencies and international bodies that allocate frequencies and manage standards: Under WP5, RadioNet has supported the attendance of CRAF members at five conferences on European (CEPT) and Global (ITU) levels.
1. CEPT ECC SE24/SE21/SRD meetings in Montegrotto (IT) 30.08.2010 - 5.09.2010: A joint paper with EUMETNET on compatibility of radars and radio astronomy was presented and findings were incorporated into the committtee report. Spurious emission from meteorological radars have an impact the RAS at 5.6 GHz, and that effective required separation distances are significant. As an aside, Jessner reported that the car industry have not agreed amongst themselves as to the frequency and technology to be used for short range radar. Developers of the new WLAM (wideband low activity mode radar) application have taken significant steps to ensure very low power emissions (within the European car industry). There appears to be a willingness to move out of the protected 23GHz band.
2. CEPT SE40 in Copenhagen (DK) 20.-22.10.2010: mobile satellite (IRIDIUM) matters CEPT SE40 meeting in Copenhagen. Measurements using a Fast Fourier Spectrometer from the MPIfR at the Leeheim Satellite monitoring station proved that Iridium interference exceeded the ITU-R RA 769 threshold in more than 60% of all channels within the RAS band. Re-analysis of calibration procedures on Cyg A indicated an uncertainty of no more than 0.26dB. A document from submitted by The Netherlands was analysed the Leeheim measurements according to the EPFD methodology which considers the probability distribution in the sky of interference in selected channels and found that the data loss exceeded 90%, whereas only 2% are permissible. Iridium submitted a response, which was retracted retracted during the SE40 meeting. IRIDIUM has placed an order worth 3 GEURO with Thales (FR) for new satellites. CRAF has emphasized that the design and operation new satellites ought to ensure interference-free operation for radio astronomy. 3. CEPT SE19 meeting in Biel 24.-25.11.2010 (Chr. Monstein) the draft ECC Report on HAPS is presented. This report has significant support from the German administration. It is currently believed that a significant proportion of participants within the process are not supportive of HAPS, which requires a path loss of 156dB between ground stations and radio astronomy facilities. This could imply a separation distance of between 30km and 268km (depending on density of ground stations). 4. CEPT SE40 in Paris (FR) 3.2.2011 (Jessner, Baan): mobile satellite (IRIDIUM) matters , Editorial work on ECC Report 171.
Representatives from EUMETNET and the EU Spectrum Group as well as CORF accepted the invitation to CRAF meetings.
• Education and Global Collaboration (covering the full period 2009-2011) two CRAF newsletters per year are sent to Institutes, administrations and agencies. They are available on the CRAF website under http://www.craf.eu/newsltr.htm and contain information about current issues in radio astronomical spectrum management and technical aspects of rfi assessment and protection. Spectrum Policy Conference: The CRAF chairman gave a presentation titled 'Natural Limits To Flexibility' at the 2009 Public Sector Spectrum Conference in Brussels (April 21-22). The conference agenda is available at: http://www.policytracker.com/conferences/the-public-sector-spectrum-conference/public-sector-conference-agenda • The International Spectrum Management Summer school was initially planned for the summer of 2009. However the South Korean Organizer cancelled the event at short notice and the summer school was finally held in Japan (31.5.-4.6.2010). WP5 supported the attendance of two European lecturers and three students at the summer school. The following CRAF members gave presentations: THOMASSON (one presentation on CRAF, one presentation on RFID); BAAN (one presentation on UWB devices). The presentations are available on http://www.iucaf.org/SSS2010/. Although the summer school went well, there was a lack of students with a student to staff ratio of 1:1 • RadioNet Board meetings in Amsterdam and Calgari: The CRAF chair and his deputy gave presentations about Spectrum matters and CRAF at the last two RadioNet board meetings. Details are in the minutes of the RadioNet Board meetings. • CRAF chairman Axel Jessner gave a presentation about radio astronomical spectrum management and the role of CRAF at the ESF general assembly in Strasbourg (18.11.2010, funded by ESF). • The CRAF chairman was invited by URSI commission E (spectrum management) to give a presentation on 'Conservation of spectrum for scientific services,- the radio astronomical perspective' at the URSI General Assembly in Istanbul Turkey, August 13-20, 2011. It is hoped, that in future URSI will a greater role in providing a forum of radio scientists and spectrum managers to discuss current problems and future issues. The URSI meeting also provided an opportunity to hold a formal meeting of radio astronomers involved in spectrum management world-wide (IUCAF) to discuss our policies for the incumbent World Radio Conference. Several CRAF members were at the URSI meeting and an informal CRAF member meeting was also arranged where the question of a future umbrella organisation for CRAF and maybe for all pan-european radio astronomical activities was freely discussed. • Regular consultations by correspondence or teleconferences are held with representatives of IUCAF, RAFCAP and CORF on spectrum matters. • Common monitoring and assessment schemes A group of CRAF members is involved and work is in progress. The topic is an agenda item on each CRAF meeting. A common standard and a a freely accessible web-page have been implemented at present and are available at http://laser3.ca.astro.it/rfidb/submit.php and http://laser3.ca.astro.it/rfidb/query.php) . An overview of the database is also described in CRAF Newsletter 21. Test measurements using a simple and inexpensive monitoring equipment have been undertaken in the Czech republic. A report has been finished and will be published in the next CRAF newsletter (in press). Guidelines for radio compatibility assessments of wind power devices near radio observatories are being developed.
2. Envisaged Activities until the end of 2011.
1. CEPT/ECC committee SE24 meeting in Biel (Switzerland) 5.-7.9.2011 on ultra-wide-band (UWB) devices on board of commercial aircraft. This meeting is meant to finalise a report about the potential impact of airborne UWB devices on radio astronomy in the methanol (6.7 GHz) band. Jessner will participate, estimated cost about EUR 900,-
2. 53rd CRAF meeting in Cambridge U.K. in Cambridge (UK) on 22-23 September 2011. Seven CRAF members have asked for travel support. The accommodation for all participants and catering will be handled by Churchill College Cambridge on behalf of the local organising committee. About twenty people will need to have accommodation at Churchill college. The total estimated cost is about EUR 9700 (depending on GBP exchange rate).
3. Interference monitoring and assessment: Windpower devices (Windmills) for electricity generation are now planned in the vicinity of radio observatories in several European countries. They pose a potential risk of interference to radio astronomical observatories. They can generate radio transmissions and reflect transmissions that would otherwise not reach the radio telescope. However, the reflection coefficients of large wind power generators are largely unknown. CRAF has suggested that specialists at ASTRON undertake a study to provide estimates for windmill radio reflectivities on radio astronomical frequencies. Manpower costs are estimated to be around EUR 9700,- and the study is to be finished at the end of November.
3. Envisaged Activities beyond 2011,- deliverables not attained within the given period 2009 - 2011 . The World Radio Conference (WRC-12) of the ITU was meant to happen in Geneva in 2010, but has been postponed by the ITU until 23 January-17 February 2012. There are about 20 regulatory issues of vital interest for radio astronomy and final decisions will be taken at the WRC-12. The issues will be dealt with in parallel sessions which require more than one person to attend the WRC-12 at any time to ensure the representation and constructive intervention on behalf of European radio astronomy. The CRAF FM will attend and coordinate CRAF activities, out of the separate FM funding, but needs to be supported by additional CRAF members during the conference. However travel and in particular accommodation for several weeks in Geneva at such a peak time, will involve a considerable expense (about EUR 1500-2000 per week), being a heavy burden on individual observatories. This expense is for the common representation of radio astronomy at the WRC-12 and it is therefore natural that it is to be met by radionet funding. Had the WRC-12 been held as planned, funding would have been available within the allocated time window. However, for reasons beyond our control, this is not the case and the meeting is scheduled just outside the time window, but still inside the accounting frame of the current period. CRAF therefore asks for travel support for CRAF members at the WRC-12 to the order of the WP5 funds that remain at the end of 2011. 4. Financial Report with projections until the end of 2011.
1. Overview:
Projected Expenditure for CRAF /Radionet 2009-2011
per semester
Total amount granted
86.737,00 €
10% reserve
8.673,70 €
1445,62 Interference monitoring
10.000,00 €
Travel support for Summerschool
12.000,00 €
CRAF meetings 6 7500 45.000,00 €
7500,00 Participation of CRAF members at meetings 10.000,00 €
1666,67
max. semester expenditure
10612,28
Initial Projected Balance at the end of 2011 1.063,30 €
Sum of expenditures 2009 15.948,79 €
Sum of expenditures 2010 25.277,85 €
Sum of expenditures 2011 21.914,06 €
Summerschool 2010
8.886,61 €
Interference Monitoring & Assessment 10.033,20 €
Total
82.060,51 €
Expected balance at the end of 2011 4.676,49 €
Expenses until the end of the year (expenses beyond current date 30.8.2011 are estimated)
CRAF Expenditure 2011
Date Title
Debit Credit
01.01.2011 Annual allocation for 2011
19.102,11 € 01.01.2011 balance from 2010
-131,19 € 01.01.2011 reserve from 2010
2.891,23 €
Travel support for CRAF members participating in European and ITU Conferences
03.02.2011 SE40 Paris (Jessner)
524,4
SE40 Paris (Baan)
550
URSI (Jessner)
1400
SE24 Biel (Jessner)
823
Total for CRAF Representation at conferences 3297,40
CRAF - 52 Granada
LOC Granda
2000
M. Lindquist
860
Monstein
502,81
Bolli
682,6
Jirika
362
Hase
500,12
Thomasson
406,95
Jessner
661
Seiradakis
745
McCauley
524,96
Baan
856,31
Marel
814,91
CRAF 52
authorised 8916,66
CRAF 53 Cambridge
LOC catering during meeting 650
LOC accomodation and conference dinner 5700
Bachiller
520
Urban
300
Jirica
550
Monstein
500
Bolli
450
Jessner
450
Lindquist
580
CRAF 53 expenditures authorized 9700,00
Sum of expenditures
21914,06
Saldo 2011
-51,91 €
4. Deliverables and milestones tables
Deliverables (excluding the periodic and final reports)
Please list all the deliverables of the WP due in this reporting period, as indicated in Annex I of the Grant Agreement. Deliverables that are of a nature other than written “reports”, such as “prototypes”, “demonstrators” or “others”, should also be accompanied by a short report, so that the European Commission has a record of their existence. If a deliverable has been cancelled or regrouped with another one, please indicate this in the column “Comments”. If a new deliverable is proposed, please indicate this in the column “Comments”.
Deliverables (brief description) N.B. unlike most other RadioNet FP7 Network Activities, the deliverables generated by WP5 are largely restricted in terms of their distribution. This reflects the environment in which CRAF and WP5 must operate – experience shows that the need for caution (especially when dealing with commercial, regulatory and licensing entities) should not be ignored. The main deliverables of WP5 are: 1. CRAF meeting reports – Months: 6, 12,17, 25, 30 2. International Regulatory reports (and similar international meetings) - Months: 7, 15, 26, 32 3. Spectrum Management Summer School – Month: 10. 4. ITU WRC report 2010 – Month 24 (see above). 5. Feasibility Study for Common monitoring scheme – Month 36.
Table 1. Deliverables
Del. no. Deliverable name WP no. Lead beneficiary
Nature Dissemination level Delivery date from Annex I (proj month) Delivered Yes/No Actual / Forecast delivery date Comments 1 CRAF meeting report 5
6 yes 18.6/30.6. Given in activity reports
2 International reg. rep. 5
7 yes 18.6/31.7. Given in activity reports.
1 CRAF meeting report 5
12 yes 14.12/31.12 Given in activity rep.
2 International reg. rep. 5
15 yes
Given in activity rep.
3 International Summerschool 5
10 yes 30.10.2009 4.6.2009 Was postponed for eight months to find a new host Report included in activity report
1 CRAF meeting report 5
17 yes 31.7
Given in activity rep.
2 Int. regulation report 5
17 yes 31.7 Given in activity rep.
