Pdf: Seminar program

Audio, video tracks and slides of this seminar are available in the Multimedia section.

The European strategy to maximise the benefit of the digital revolution is outlined by the Digital Agenda, which in particular aims at delivering internet access throughout the European Union by 2013 and at reaching high speed connections for all by 2020, thus bridging the digital divide.

Broadband fixed, mobile, and other new services will provide new opportunities and allow the development of commercial and public services, while taking into account important general interest objectives such as cultural diversity and media pluralism. Wireless broadband traffic is thus expected to dramatically increase in the next future and mobile network data traffic will follow the significant upward trend already in progress. Therefore, adequate wireless capacity has to be ensured to take fully advantage of this enormous potential growth.

The Radio Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP), originally proposed by the European Commission and recently adopted by the European Parliament, represents a central plank to support the Digital Agenda. One of the most ambitious objectives set by the RSPP is to make sufficient and appropriate spectrum allocated for mobile data traffic, amounting to at least 1200 MHz by 2015.

Meeting the European goals requires an effective, dynamic and flexible usage of radio spectrum, which has to be accomplished through both the definition of novel spectrum management policies and the potentialities offered by innovative technologies, such as cognitive radio.

Cognitive radio technologies are a challenging and promising chance toward spectrum sharing, as they facilitate the opportunistic access to white spaces, which are, in principle, spectral resources not used in a specific time and/or geographical area. In particular, widespread attention is currently focussed on regulatory and technical aspects of cognitive radio implementation in the white spaces of the UHF band from 470 to 790 MHz, mostly employed in Europe for TV broadcasting. To this aim, several activities and working groups have been set up within the relevant bodies, such as ECC and ETSI.

In the morning session of the seminar, the state of the art of works conducted in the European and CEPT (European Conference on Postal and Telecommunications Administrations) framework on cognitive radio and on the usage of white space potentially available in the band 470-790 MHz will be presented. Technical, operational and regulatory issues related to the implementation of white space device, which operate on a non-interfering and non-protected basis will be discussed.

In the panel session of the afternoon the same themes raised in the European debate will be discussed from the national perspective, also taking into account the Italian scenario of the UHF band, which is extremely singular in the European landscape, in terms of intensive use and consequent spectrum occupancy and congestion. The viewpoint of Italian institutions, industries and academics will be hosted and some field trial results will also be presented.