ACP/WGF12 - WP/24

ACP WORKING GROUP F MEETING

(Montreal, Canada, Aug 23-27, 2004)

Agenda Item #5:Future use of 5 GHz band

Aviation Use of the 5091-5150 MHz Band

(Presented by the United States of America)

SUMMARY

Studies in the United States regarding Agenda Item 1.6 of WRC-07 have included consideration of the 5091-5150 MHz band. The purpose of this paper is to report on those studies, and to indicate further work expected to be accomplished.

1.0Background

1.1Agenda Item 1.6 for the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) offers the possibility of new aviation allocations in the 108-6000 MHz band. In particular, Resolution 414 (WRC-03) includes the further resolves that the ITU-R be invited

to investigate how to accommodate the requirements for aeronautical systems in the band 5091-5150MHz.

1.2Studies leading into the 2003 WRC included concept systems such as the Airport Network and Location Equipment (ANLE) and Airport Vehicle Positioning System (AVPS). Since that Conference, additional work has been accomplished in the United States to further those concept systems.

2.0Discussion

2.1In 2003, at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration, the MITRE Corporation performed a technology survey and developed a simulation tool to determine the feasibility of developing an airport wireless local area network (LAN) in the 5 GHz band. The former task reflected the desire to build on existing technology to speed introduction of such a system, while the latter allowed for modeling of “excursions” from the basic off-the-shelf technology as that equipment was not designed for an airport application. Considered approaches included: 802.11a, 802.11b, cdma2000 and Wideband CDMA (WCDMA).

2.2Initial work has been completed, and the final report is available at:

While couched as preliminary, the Report concludes that all of the technologies might be technically capable of performing the desired applications. In particular, a design based on the 802.11a approach seemed most promising, however in the absence of detailed system requirements it is premature to designate any of the technologies as “best.” A number of next-steps including refining simulation models, testing and field measurements to better characterize the airport environment, and developing a more comprehensive set of system requirements were also identified. Follow-on work is currently being defined, and will be coordinated with parallel work being performed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

3.0Recommendation

3.1The working group is invited to note the information in this paper.