16th Review Meeting
16TH FACSMAB Review Meeting
MALAYSIA HOSTED THE 16TH FACSMAB REVIEW MEETING
The 16th FACSMAB Review Meeting was hosted by Malaysia on 16th January 2015 at The Andaman, Langkawi, Malaysia. The meeting was chaired by Dato’ Sri Dr Halim Shafie, Chairman of MCMC and was attended by Hj Yahkup Hj Menudin, Chief Executive of AITI and Mr Leong Keng Thai, Deputy Chief Executive & Director-General of IDA.
During the meeting, three new work items have been confirmed. They are (i) Regulatory and Operational Aspects of Unmanned Aircraft System; (ii) M2M Communication: Spectrum Allocation and Regulatory Best Practices; and (iii) Review of SRD in 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands.
Regulatory and Operational Aspects of Unmanned Aircraft System
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“UAS”) available in the global market are mainly operating in the frequency bands allocated to GSM service, ISM applications and trunk radio system. As these frequencies are allocated for other usage, it may pose potential interference when used by UAS.
ITU-R has identified the frequency band, 5030 to 5091 MHz, for UAS limited to Control and Non-Payload Communications (“CNPC”). The International Civil Aviation (“ICAO”) Aeronautical Communications Panel Working Group F (“ACP WG-F”) is also looking into the spectrum requirements for UAS and started discussion on developing UAS parameters including channelling plan in 5030-5091 MHz frequency band.
With the increase in the number of UAS applications, FACSMAB plans to study the current regulatory and operational requirements for UAS and the possibility to harmonise the spectrum allocations to both CNPC and payload for safe operations of UAS.
M2M Communication: Spectrum Allocation and Regulatory Best Practices
Machine-to-Machine (“M2M”) communications allowing machines whose primary purpose that do not require connectivity to connect with other machines. With the number of M2M services increasing over the next few years, M2M applications may be a significant driver of growth in demand over mobile access networks, and therefore drives the need to access more spectrum.
APT Report on Future IMT Technologies reflected the widespread adoption of M2M communications and M2M services have been launched on mobile networks operating at different frequency bands and technologies in several countries. It is therefore also important to assess the regulatory challenges facing the deployment of M2M applications.
FACSMAB recommends to (i) study the spectrum needs for M2M communications; (ii) study existing and future wide area M2M technologies operating in IMT bands; (iii) proposed band plan arrangement for wide area M2M networks; and (iv) share and discuss the regulatory best practices.
Review of SRD in 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands
Short Range Devices (“SRDs”) play an important role in enabling machines and non-computing devices and sensors connect with backend IT infrastructure in a wide automation network. The rapid growth in applications for both SRD and Radio-Frequency Identification (“RFID”) led the global industry to recognise the urgent need to allocate additional spectrum for these applications.
In Europe, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications (“CEPT”) had proposed to allocate parts of the 800 MHz and 900 MHz for SRDs and RFIDs usage. The International Telecommunications Union (“ITU”) including Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (“APT”) have also started reviewing the recommendation on global and regional harmonisation of SRDs.
FACSMAB has decided to monitor APT and ITU’s activities on the developments of SRD bands harmonisation. It would also study the possible expansion and co-existence of SRDs and RFIDs with adjacent services in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands.