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9. Ultra Wide Band Devices
9.1 Introduction
Ultra Wide Band transmitters are defined in a draft ITU-R document as having a bandwidth of greater than 500MHz or greater than 20% of the centre frequency. This wide bandwidth greatly exceeds that of other radio transmitters which are generally confined to a frequency band allocated for a specific service. UWB use their wide bandwidths at very power levels to enable them to share spectrum with traditionally licensed services.
9.2 Overview
Key drivers in the application of UWB are imaging applications, short range, very high capacity communications and vehicular radar for collision avoidance. The applications for communications and vehicular radar in particular could involve ubiquitous use of equipment operating across bands currently used by a variety of other services. The interference potential of large numbers of such equipment is the subject of ongoing study by a number of forums.
The ITU-R Task Group 1/8 is currently preparing documents to cover "Spectrum Management Framework for UWB" and "Characteristics of UWB Technology".
The US permits the use of UWB under the FCC Part 15 regulations. The 3 main applications are permitted as shown in the following table. Note that there are significant conditions of use which are detailed in Parts 15.501 to 15.525.
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Table 17 - Summary of USA Allocations for UWB |
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Application
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Freq band
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e.i.r.p. dam
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Comment
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Imaging
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0 to 10,600MHz
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-71.3dBW/MHz above 1990MHz
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Restricted use
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Indoor and hand held systems
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3100 to 10,600MHz
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-71.3dBW/MHz
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Expected to be dominated by communication uses
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Vehicular radar
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22 to 29GHz
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-71.3dBW/MHz
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Vehicle collision avoidance systems
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European ETSI specifications for UWB applications are currently under development. At this stage UWB is not permitted in EU countries.
9.3 Conclusion
It would appear too early for the Ministry to make any decisions on the future use of UWB technology in New Zealand. However because of the significant implications which UWB will have on spectrum management in the future it is important that the outcomes from international investigations and standards are closely monitored.
Proposal 9.a
The Ministry proposes to monitor the developments of spectrum allocation for UWB.
Comment is invited on the future spectrum demand for applications using Ultra Wideband technologies and the implications of permitting allocations similar to those issued by the FCC in USA.
