SE43 held its 6th meeting on 15 – 17 June 2010 in Mainz (Germany).
SE43 continued their work on the draft ECC Report dealing with “Technical and operational requirements for the operation of cognitive radio systems in the ‘white spaces’ of the frequency band 470-790 MHz” Annex 3 to the Minutes). The main progress reached during this 6th meeting is the following:
1) Protection of DTT (Chapter 4).
1.1) WSD emission limits for the protection of DTT.
Two main approaches with the allowed WSD emission limits were introduced within section dealing with WSD power levels (section 4.3) which are:
· location specific output power approach: the allowed output power can be calculated for each database pixel and for each device type/class;
· fixed output power: there may be a few device types (such as portable and fixed) for which the key main characteristics are defined, and fixed output power limits are allowed for them outside the protected areas. The limits may be different for use of adjacent channels and for other channels.
The studies reported in section 4.3 mainly focus on the location specific output power approach.
Based on its studies, SE43 reached the conclusion that the operation of a stand-alone WSD (autonomous operation) without access to a database appears to be not viable and reliable enough to guarantee a correct identification of available channels at a given location. The use of a geo-location database appears, therefore, necessary for the protection of DTT.
SE43 discussed the use of safety margin (SM) and multiple interference margin (MI) and included in the draft report examples of calculations using the methodology described in Section 4.3.1 with various sets of parameters.
1.2) Based on the methodology developed during the 5th SE43 meeting, examples of calculations of the sensing detection threshold (section 4.2) were included by summarising additional scenarios for indoor and outdoor WSD operation.
2) Protection of PMSE: the relevant chapter 5 dealing with the protection of PMSE systems was slightly amended by the specific aspects to be taken into account for the geolocation database and by elements related to the sensing operational requirements. SE43 had a general discussion on the protection of PMSE where the need for further technical studies was highlighted. Thus, it was decided to dedicate two conference-call to that matter before the next SE43 meeting. In addition, the concept of ‘safe harbour’ channels was found appropriate and would need to be further developed in the Report.
3) Chapter 6 dealing with the protection of radioastronomy service (RAS) operating in the band 608-614 MHz (TV Channel 38) was updated based on a study which dealt with adjacent channel protection of RAS against WSDs operating at the frequencies adjacent to this band (TV Channels 37 and 39). Therefore, this part is complete from a technical point of view and preliminary conclusions subject to confirmation have been drawn.
4) Chapter 7 dealing with the protection of aeronautical radionavigation (ARNS) was not addressed at this meeting.
5) Chapter 8 was added to the draft ECC Report dealing with the protection of Mobile/Fixed services in the bands adjacent to the band 470-790 MHz from emissions of cognitive radio devices operating in ‘white spaces’ in the band 470-790 MHz. The request to add this study case to the draft ECC Report was endorsed at the WGSE meeting (May 2010). Initial results of a study on the protection of Mobile Services/IMT systems operating in the band 790-862 MHz was included into the draft ECC Report.
6) The section 9.3 on geolocation database was rearranged in the following way:
- the additional consideration was added on the determination of the location and the location accuracy;
- clarification was brought to identify the geo-location requirements of WSD which are minimal and those which are optional;
- the potential WSD master/slave configuration was further developed and specific requirements were specified in the context of geo-location;
- considerations out of SE43 scope (e.g. details on database management) were removed from the Report
- an example of a translation process for the protection of DTT was added.
7) Section 9.4 dealing with combined sensing and geolocation was amended with the inclusion of two potential approaches proposed by Philips and EBU respectively.
8) Chapter 10 dealing with estimated amount of ‘white space’ spectrum in the band 470-790 MHz potentially available for cognitive radio devices was not modified at this meeting.
9) A liaison statement to WGRA and WGFM will be discussed by correspondence. This would address issues related to enforcement and database management
10) The draft ECC Report is expected to be completed at the next SE43 meeting (1-3 September 2010).
