Opportunities in the 900 MHz band David Donachie Technical - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

PROMOTING CHOICE • SECURING STANDARDS • PREVENTING HARM

Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

David Donachie – Technical Regulatory Specialist - SRD programme manager 16 May 2019

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

(DECISION No 243/2012/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 14 March 2012 establishing a multiannual radio spectrum policy programme)

• “Member States and the Commission shall seek to ensure spectrum

availability for radio-frequency identification (RFID) and other ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) wireless communication technologies and shall cooperate to foster the development of standards and the harmonisation of spectrum allocation for IoT communication across Member States” High level EU spectrum objectives for RFID and IoT according to RSPP

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

• “The Commission specifically asked the CEPT in July 2014 to examine the possibility of

introducing short-range devices in the 870-876 MHz and 915-921 MHz bands while allowing national administrations some flexibility and protecting existing use of spectrum for public order and public security purposes and defence (such as unmanned aeronautical and ground vehicles, remote control and telemetry, tactical radio relays, tactical communication systems and data links) and railways.”

• “The technical conditions for using the 863-870 MHz frequency range for IoT including

for RFID are covered by Decision 2006/771/EC, which sets the general harmonised technical conditions for using a wide variety of short-range devices which, as a result, are subject to no more than a general authorisation under national law.”

• “However, the sharing environment in the 874-876 MHz and 915-921 MHz bands

deviates from this approach to spectrum for short-range devices and therefore calls for a specific regulatory regime.”

EC Decision 2018/1538/EU on the harmonisation of radio spectrum for use by short-range devices within the 874-876 and 915-921 MHz frequency bands

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

“The radio frequency identification (RFID) device category covers tag/interrogator based radio communications systems, consisting of radio devices (tags) attached to animate or inanimate items and of transmitter/receiver units (interrogators) which activate the tags and receive data back. Typical uses include the tracking and identification of items, such as for electronic article surveillance (EAS), and collecting and transmitting data relating to the items to which tags are attached, which may be either battery-less, battery assisted or battery

• powered. The responses from a tag are validated by its interrogator and passed to its host

system.”

• RFID in 916.1 – 918.9 MHz @ up to 4W (for interrogator transmissions) within 3 x 400

kHz sub-bands defined in the EC Decision

What is the specific regulatory regime set out in the 2018 EC Decision?

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

“The non-specific short-range device category covers all kinds of radio devices, regardless of the application or the purpose. Typical uses include telemetry, telecommand, alarms, data transmissions in general and other applications.”

• Non-specific SRD in 874 - 874.4 MHz @ up to 500 mW with APC or equivalent,

bandwidth up to 200 kHz, DC up to 10 % for NAPs or up to 2.5 % otherwise

• Wideband SRD in 917.4 - 919.4 MHz @ up to 25 mW with APC or equivalent, bandwidth

up to 1 MHz, DC up to 10 % for NAPs or up to 2.5 % otherwise

• Non-specific SRD in 917.3 - 918.9 MHz @ up to 500 mW within the top 2 of the 3 x 400

kHz sub-bands defined in the EC Decision for RFID interrogator transmission, with APC or equivalent, bandwidth up to 200 kHz, DC up to 10 % for NAPs or up to 2.5 % otherwise

• THIS IS ONLY AVILABLE FOR DATA NETWORKS
• Networked SRD must be UNDER THE CONTROL OF NETWORK ACCESS POINTS (NAPs)

What is the specific regulatory regime set out in the 2018 EC Decision?

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

The Decision allows flexibility in national implementations, which may include:

• Not implementing an entry partially or entirely (where parts, or all, of the frequency

range is used for public order and public security purposes and defence and coordination is not possible)

• Limiting installation and operation of SRD data networks to professional users
• Licensing SRD data networks by individual authorisations, e.g. to manage

geographical sharing and / or the application of mitigation techniques

• Implementing national rules, such as local coordination, to avoid interference to radio

services operating in adjacent bands, for example due to intermodulation or blocking

What is the specific regulatory regime set out in the 2018 EC Decision?

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

• CEPT have proposed an update to the Recommendation 70-03 but…

No consensus after CEPT public enquiry on whether NAP control applies only in the EU harmonised minimum core band 874 - 874.4 MHz or across the wider CEPT harmonised band 870-874.4 MHz. * WG FM to decide on this on 3-7 June

• ETSI have requested guidance from CEPT on the meaning of ‘under control of a NAP’

but… Current CEPT guidance gives an interpretation that could be detrimental to certain networked technologies if implemented in harmonised standards, depending on the network discovery method and whether devices are battery or mains powered. * A joint meeting is planned between ETSI (TG28) and CEPT (SRDMG) to discuss on 11 June

Current key related issues…

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

• CEPT (SE24) are studying possibilities for use of higher power networked SRD in the

first RFID interrogator channel (centred on 916.3 MHz)

• CEPT (WG SE) are also to confirm that SE24 can also study possibilities for higher

power networked SRD use in between the RFID interrogator channels in 917.3 – 918.9 MHz

Further opportunities…

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

• Ofcom intends propose fully implementing the harmonised technical conditions set
• ut in Decision 2018/1538/EU on a licence exempt basis
• We will be launching a Public Consultation on this soon
• You can subscribe to the Ofcom website to receive updates by email: https://

www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/email-updates

UK implementation…

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Opportunities in the 900 MHz band

Thanks for listening! Q & A