eSafety Compendium

Ultra wide-band 24 GHz short range radarRecommendation number and title:21) Take the necessary actions for removing regulatory barriers to the use of the 24 GHzband for short-range radar in Europe.22) Undertake the standardisation in ETSI for the 24 GHz UWB radar.Activity leader:21) European Commission22) Standardisation bodiesStart of activities:2003Background:Short-range radars that can detect collision dangers and automatically apply a car’s brakesshould be available by mid-2005, further to a Decision adopted 17 January 2005 by theEuropean Commission. In Europe, CEPT ECC/DEC/(02) 01 designates the band 76-77 GHz for vehicular or infrastructure radar systems. However, SRR systems require awider bandwidth than currently available to obtain the required resolution. Furthermore,the automotive industry holds that the immediate implementation of SRR systems in oraround this frequency range would not be feasible at the present time, given the statedrelative lack of maturity and cost-effectiveness of the available technology for this band.The automotive industry believes that in the short term, operation around the 24 GHzband is the only commercially viable solution, with a subsequent migration to the 77GHz or to another band after some years, by which time appropriate technologysolutions are expected to have become cost-effective and the SRR concept validated inthe market.Status:The Commission decision, which allocates a specific radio frequency band to short-rangeradar devices, is the result of a two-year drive by the Commission and EU radiospectrum and road safety experts. According to the European Road Safety ActionProgramme, the number of road accident victims is to be halved in the EU by 2010. Allnew SRR devices would have to use the 77 GHz band (or any other designatedpermanent band) while the operation of existing SRR systems would remain authorisedin the temporary band to the end of their operational lifetime. The Radio SpectrumDecision of 2002 allows the Commission, with the assistance of the Radio SpectrumCommittee (RSC), to adopt decisions on EC radio harmonisation measures, based onCEPT reports. The Commission issued in August 2003 a mandate to CEPT for theharmonisation of radio spectrum in both 79 and 24 GHz ranges. On the basis of theCEPT report, the Commission will bring a decision concerning this spectrum range tothe RSC in 2004. The 79 GHz range band has been identified by CEPT as the mostsuitable band for long term development and deployment of SRR.Page 95 of 490