POWELL SEEKS INTERNATIONAL UWB CONSENSUS AT ITU MEETING

“UWB technology holds great promise for a vast array of new applications that will provide significant benefits for businesses, for consumers, and the public safety community,” Powell said in taped remarks to the meeting. “Because ultra wideband devices can operate in spectrum occupied by existing services it promotes the efficient use of scare spectrum resources. Firefighters, police officers, emergency personnel, and industry can make use of UWB technology to detect… objects that are behind walls, buried underground, or even inside the human body. Automotive applications, such as collision avoidance… will have a direct impact on consumer safety.”

Powell said UWB will lead to more efficient use of spectrum: “Ultra wideband technology challenges the notion that use of a particular frequency or band must be restricted to specified users. Whereas the traditional paradigm often forces us to pick winners and losers in the face of competing spectrum demands ultra wideband technology will allow us to have more winners.”

Supporters of UWB saw the Powell remarks as a positive start for the international conference. The real work of the conference started late Wed. as Working Group 2 on compatibility of UWB devices started debate behind closed doors. Asked by a show of hands who at the meeting would participate in that group, nearly all delegates said they would.

“I think it’s significant that Chmn. Powell opened the conference with a strong statement in favor of UWB,” said Ari Fitzgerald, an attorney and former FCC aide who represents vehicular radar applications. “It’s a big deal that he opened something like this. This is a very technical meeting. The chairman usually doesn’t get involved in something like this.”

Some European delegations have expressed strong concerns about threats from UWB and filed hundreds of pages of documents with their technical objections. France, in particular, has raised concerns, as have the U.K. and Sweden. Group 2 is chaired by a French delegate, but that’s not considered significant since the chairman must remain neutral during debate. Other countries in Europe, particularly Germany, have been more receptive. One source said Italy in particular is emerging as a potential UWB proponent.

The European Communications Commission (ECC) is also investigating UWB and will issue what is considered a critical report. But one European source noted that 46 nations fall under the ECC and 26 belong to the EU, so forging a consensus is a formidable task.

Powell delivered taped remarks. But as further indication of the seriousness with which the U.S. views the meeting, acting NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher and Office of Engineering & Technology Chief Edmond Thomas were here to welcome delegates late Wed.

Gary Anderson, chmn. of the organizing committee and CEO of Uraxs Communications, told us 146 delegates from 37 countries were attending the meeting. Anderson said delegates from 4 countries were denied access because of visa problems -- Iran, China, Nigeria and Romania. In each case, the delegate had applied too late, he said. “It’s going fairly well. We have good objectives. It shows that we're going to have a productive meeting and hopefully get to some preliminary rulemaking,” Anderson said: “The primary goal of the U.S. is to show the world that we've developed technology that is valid and does not interfere… That’s going to be done with our technical contributions as well as the exhibits and demonstrations.”

Anderson noted that a significant part of the conference is a trade show. “We're trying to show the world that what we've adopted, what we've put in place, is a good foundation for a future rulemaking. So far, based on people I've talked to they're fairly receptive… and nobody has even see the demos yet. Once people start to see this in action they'll be believers.”

In a typical paper, Great Britain laid out its concerns with the threat posed by UWB on space-to-Earth transmissions. “The simulations described here have demonstrated that the aggregate impact of UWB devices upon earth station receivers in the fixed satellite service may exceed the permitted allowance of 1% of noise by up to 30 dB,” Britain said: “Although the likely degree of deployment of UWB is not yet known, the widespread usage of such devices could place serious constraints on the use of C-band receive earth stations.”

Motorola, however, introduced research downplaying the risks. “In practice, there are few reports of existing radio systems causing aggregate interference to others,” the company said in one of the many technical reports filed with the ITU. “A number of simplified scenarios are investigated here to demonstrate why this is most likely to be the case in normal use and that for aggregation to take effect very artificial scenarios need to be constructed in which all devices would have to synchronise their traffic and be arranged nearby to maintain a pure line of sight path to the victim.”