FINAL REPORT - Stakeholders - Ofcom

may not be the case for UK airspace, and a similar study should be undertaken to identify
whether it is possible to move all DME into the 960-1164 MHz band. Note that the
introduction of UAT in Europe would put further pressure on the band 10 – at present, this
does not seem likely before 2012.
MLS – decisions should be taken on the operational requirement for the further uptake of
MLS. If no firm operational or business need for further installations is foreseen in the UK,
the upper end of the allocated C-band could be re-examined, with a view to more
efficiently allocating present secondary services through the removal of the ARNS
constraints. Possible opportunities therefore include:
• Identifying future requirements for MLS in the UK – from the point of view of
safety, and for pure capacity requirements – then, if possible, review upper MLS
band allocations.
GNSS – the carrier frequencies of GNSS are fixed internationally, and are likely to remain
in place in the long term. Channelisation and bandwidth are reasonably fixed. However,
some debate exists on the power of the individual signals, and their effects on existing
ARNS. Due to aviation’s specified future reliance on GNSS-based navigation solutions, it
may be unwise to impose too many limits on the signals. Temporary PFD limits may be
acceptable to allow the transition from point-to-point navigation aids to GNSS-based
RNAV environments. Whatever decisions are taken will be at an international level; as
such, Ofcom’s role would be as a participant representing UK interests in the discussion.
10 Further information on UAT can be found in the SSR section above (3.3.8)
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