FINAL REPORT - Stakeholders - Ofcom

following categories are amongst those covered, telecommand and telecontrol, telemetry,
alarms and speech and video.
For CEPT countries that have implemented the R&TTE Directive, Article 12 (CE-marking)
and Article 7.2 on putting into service of radio equipment apply. The latter Article states
that ”member states may restrict the putting into service of radio equipment only for
reasons related to the effective and appropriate use of the radio spectrum, avoidance of
harmful interference or matters relating to public health.” For Short Range Devices an
individual licence is normally not required.
But, for particular applications an individual licence may be required, for example where
national frequency bands are chosen within broad tuning ranges.
Let us take an example where Norway has adopted a ship-borne system for remote
operation and registering of door locks, operating on 869.850 MHz. There are no specific
technical standards for such systems, but the equipment should at least fulfil relevant
EMC requirements, e.g. those specified in IEC standard 60945. Additionally, the radiated
output power is required to be less than 5 mW. No protection is given to short range
systems and these systems should not interfere with other radio systems on board. If
Annex 1 of CEPT Recommendation T/R 70-03 is studied it can be seen that the
frequency 869.850 MHz falls within sub-band k) allocated for 5mW systems in CEPT
countries. To test whether the device is likely to be permitted in US ports, the band plan in
the United States has been studied. The band 869 – 894 MHz is paired with 824 – 849
MHz and is used for the Cellular Radiotelephone Service and is designated as the subband
for mobile receivers. Thus base stations in the vicinity of the port may block the
SRD and the SRD could cause interference to the cellular handsets of persons visiting
the ship. Conversely in Europe, spectrum below 862 MHz is widely used for television
broadcasting, which is why the band plans for broadcasting and mobile applications in the
850/900 MHz area vary considerably between the two continents.
One classification of frequency band, often used for low power devices might however be
a candidate for global SRD devices and indeed some sub-bands are already being used
for just such applications e.g. IEEE 802.11 and Bluetooth devices at 2450 MHz. Some of
the frequencies allocated for Industrial, Scientific or Medical (ISM) applications are listed
in the Radio Regulations and are available on a global basis. It is these frequencies that
might be considered in the first instance for maritime SRD applications. Many of the
bands are also included in Recommendation T/R 70-03. In particular the ISM bands
centred on 13.56 MHz, 40.68 MHz, 2450 MHz, 5.8 GHz, 24.125 GHz and 26.953 - 27.287
MHz may be candidates. It should be noted that the CEPT and ITU Region 1 ISM band at
433.92 MHz and the ITU Region 2 ISM band at 915 MHz are not available on a global
basis.
If a solution based on globally available ISM bands does not meet all maritime
requirements, the next best alternative would be to harmonise solutions capable of being
implemented on a regional basis. In this regard it may be appropriate to specifically
identify SRD bands appropriate for maritime applications in CEPT Recommendation T/R
70-03. Such a course of action might be considered by the UK.
Recommendation 6.1: If a frequency solution for Short Range Devices (SRDs)
based on globally available ISM bands does not meet all maritime requirements, the next
best alternative would be to harmonise solutions capable of being implemented on a
regional basis. In this regard it may be appropriate to specifically identify SRD bands
appropriate for maritime applications in CEPT Recommendation T/R 70-03. It is
recommended that such a course of action might be considered by the UK in WG FM of
CEPT ECC.
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