Decision 2009/343 - 2009/343/EC: Commission Decision of 21 April 2009 amending Decision 2007/131/EC on allowing the use of the radio spectrum for equipment using ultra-wideband technology in a harmonised manner in the EC (notified under document number C(2009) 2787) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 105/9

Commission Decision 2007/131/EC of 21 February 2007 on allowing the use of the radio spectrum for equipment using ultra-wideband technology in a harmonised manner in the Community (2) harmonises the technical conditions for radio equipment using ultra-wideband technology in the Community, ensuring that the radio spectrum is available across the European Community pursuant to harmonised conditions, eliminating barriers to the uptake of ultra-wideband technology and creating an effective single market for such systems with consequent economies of scale and benefits to the consumer.

Rapid changes in technology and in the use of the radio spectrum need to be adequately reflected in the regulation of ultra-wide band technology, in order for European society to benefit from the introduction of innovative applications based on this technology, whilst ensuring that other spectrum users are not adversely affected. Decision 2007/131/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

For this reason, the Commission issued additional mandates pursuant to Decision No 676/2002/EC to the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), to undertake further compatibility studies of ultra-wideband technology with radio-communication services.

In its reports submitted in response to these mandates, the CEPT advised the Commission to amend a number of technical aspects in Decision 2007/131/EC.

The additional studies by CEPT clarified the technical conditions under which specific mitigation techniques, notably detect and avoid (DAA) and low duty cycle (LDC), enable ultra-wide band equipment to be operated with higher transmission powers while offering equivalent protection comparable to the existing ultra-wide band generic limits.

The CEPT studies also demonstrated that ultra-wide band equipment may be used under more stringent conditions than the generic limits in automotive and railway vehicles. Such conditions may be relaxed as long as mitigation techniques, such as those mentioned above, are used in these vehicles.

Building material analysis (BMA) imaging systems can provide a host of innovative applications in detecting or taking images of pipes, wires and of other intra-wall structures in residential or commercial constructions. A common set of spectrum-access conditions for BMA equipment should assist those undertakings which want to provide related professional services using these applications across borders in the Community.

CEPT has advised the Commission that more relaxed conditions of use than the generic limits are to be feasible for BMA systems, given that their modes of operation, combined with their very low deployment densities and activity factors, further mitigate the possibility of harmful interference to radio-communication services.

The CEPT technical studies under the Commission mandates on BMA applications assume use in structures that are dense and thick enough to absorb most signals transmitted by the...