European workshop explores spectrum occupancy measurements

At a time of increased demand, regulators and industry are looking for more sophisticated technical approaches to increase spectrum efficiency to support the development of the fast-changing telecommunications market, and other services that use the spectrum.

The Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) hosted a workshop on 15 January 2014 at the German BundesnetzAgentur/Federal Network Agency in Mainz to discuss how spectrum occupancy measurements may be used to bring about more efficiency in spectrum management. The workshop brought together senior spectrum managers and technical experts from across Europe and the world to explore some of the latest innovations in spectrum management.

To manage spectrum more effectively and increase usage efficiency, frequency regulators and users want to know how the different frequency bands are being used and to gain more knowledge of which are being underused or left vacant. It is also valuable to get data from ‘on the ground’ about real or alleged hotspots of congestion. This has always been a key policy objective for the ECC. It is also a strategic objective for the EU with a spectrum inventory process highlighted as one of the ‘concrete actions’ in the Radio Spectrum Policy Programme recently adopted by the European Parliament and the Council.

The workshop explored the ways in which spectrum occupancy measurements can help the spectrum management process. A series of presentations set out the experiences of a range of public and private sector bodies which run and develop measurement campaigns. This highlighted the challenges - and opportunities - of drawing meaningful conclusions. In addition to fixed and mobile measurement approaches, it also identified interesting new approaches such as ‘crowd sourcing’ of information which, with more development of the techniques, may improve the understanding of spectrum usage for some types of service.

ECC’s spectrum monitoring project team (PT FM22) will now review the presentations and discussions and develop an analysis and conclusions. This will be taken forward by Working Group FM and then the ECC itself, with the intention to produce a statement by the ECC in March.

You can visit the event’s web page to see the presentations and get more information here.

The Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) brings together 48 countries to develop common policies and regulations in electronic communications for Europe and to provide a focal point for information on spectrum use. Its primary objective is to harmonise the efficient use of the radio spectrum, satellite orbits and numbering resources across Europe.