Harmonisation for short range devices and ultra-wideband

An ITU Workshop to facilitate the harmonisation process for the global use of short range devices (SRDs) and ultra-wideband (UWB) technologies attracted key players last week from the radio communication industry, regulators, operators, manufacturers and research institutions.

Discussions during the workshop, organised in response to an initiative from the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), centred on the need for regional and worldwide harmonisation, in particular the identification of suitable frequency ranges for these devices and new technologies along with international and national regulations to govern the conditions for their use.

Presentations on the status and developments of SRD and UWB systems were made by a number of experts, including those from regulatory bodies, academia and industry. They included representatives from CEPT, the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC), Airbus Industries, i4C Innovations, and UWB Communication Systems and Solutions (URAXS).

“The explosive growth of short range devices and ultra-wideband technologies in recent years has indicated an urgent need for worldwide harmonisation to facilitate global adoption of these technologies,” said ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré. “This is especially relevant where applications such as telemedicine or airborne SRD cross national borders.”

“The development of worldwide systems using emerging SRD and UWB technologies has an enormous potential to affect our daily lives,” noted François Rancy, director of ITU’s radiocommunication bureau. “Medical health systems, machine-to-machine solutions, transport and telematics systems, the aviation industry and wireless power transmission can all benefit as these technologies evolve.”

UWB technology is an energy-efficient and robust solution for ‘short’ distance communications. Short range devices allow implementation of a wide range of communication systems from medical telemetry systems, implant communications and health monitoring products to home automation, automotive communications, smart grids and Metropolitan Mesh Machine Networks (M3N) applications.

The global harmonisation of the regulatory framework for SRDs and UWB is the key prerequisite for the use of existing and emerging technologies within the civil aviation sector as well.

Interest was expressed regarding global harmonisation needs for SRDs in some particular frequency ranges such as in part of the UHF band and around 60 GHz and 77 GHz. The ITU‑R development of less stringent spectrum masks, which could be more specific to different types of UWB applications, was recognised as a means to facilitate the global introduction of UWB technology.