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ACP-WGF14/WP-02
/
International Civil Aviation Organization
WORKING PAPER / ACP-WGF30/WP-06
01/03/2014

AERONAUTICAL COMMUNICATIONS PANEL (ACP)

FOURTEENTH MEETING OF WORKING GROUP F

Pattaya, Thailand 11 – 17March 2014

Agenda Item 10: / Any Other Business

Frequency Licensing Issues for ASMGCS in Australia

(Presented byAustralia)

SUMMARY
This paper highlights issues encountered in Australia for obtaining frequency licences forthe Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System(ASMGCS), a surveillance technology providing a radar-like service in the vicinity of an airport. ASMGCS technology uses a multitude of 1030/1090MHz band for multilateration and 9000-9200MHz band for surface movement radar providing a comprehensive picture of airport surface and terminal area airspace (coverage volume).The existing licensing regime results in very high fees to licence the components of ASMGCS.
ACTION
The meeting is invited to consider and discuss licensing options for the ASMGCS surveillance system.

1.INTRODUCTION

Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (ASMGCS)is a surveillance system that provides situational awareness of runways and taxiways to a controller by providing a comprehensive picture of an airport surface and terminal area airspace. The surveillance system includes non-cooperative sensor (surface movement radar),cooperative sensors (multiple multilateration sensors)and a multi sensor data processing (fusion) and alert system.

ASMGCS surveillance systemsare being implemented in busyairports around the world including Australia, the UK, Hong Kong, India, China, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and the USA.

2.discussion

Airservices Australia (Airservices) is providing a radar-like service in the vicinity of busy airports with a technology called Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (ASMGCS). It provides a comprehensive surveillance picture of airport surface and terminal area airspace (coverage volume). The system uses radar (as primary surveillance) and transponder multilateration sensors (as secondary surveillance) to establish the positions, flight-call signs and other data of the aircraft and vehicles on and around the airport surface.

In Australia the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) licences most transmit/receive systems using an apparatus licence type. Operation of equipment under an apparatus licence involves the payment of licence fees. Individual licences are issued to authorise the operation of equipment. These licences are normally required to be renewed every 12 months but there is a provision of 5 years of maximum duration for an apparatus licence. The apparatus licence fees are based on the particular frequency band used, geographical location, amount of spectrum occupied and coverage area authorised by the licence. ASMGCS frequencies are currently licensed under the apparatus licencing system.

Airservices uses the 9.0-9.2GHz band for radar purpose and pays apparatus licence fees for the entire band (200MHz). The X-band (9 GHz) radars use diversity of 16 frequencies (frequency hopping) across the 200 MHz and instantaneous transmission bandwidth is only 12.5MHz. For multilateration purpose, Airservices uses 1030/1090MHz and pays apparatus licence fees for each multilateration unit. Multiple sensors are used for multilateration and hence a multitude of apparatus licences are required to provide a good coverage.Therefore the annual licence fee for ASMGCS is high compared to a typical SSR and site monitor providing similar (but poorer) surveillance coverage. For example, a typical SSR and site monitor annual licence fee costs AUD2,164 each per annum, whilst the apparatus fees for ASMGCS at Sydney International Airport costs AUD109,480 per annum for the 13 multilateration sensors operating in 1090/1030MHz frequencies and AUD 68,684 per annum for the surface movement radar operating in the 9.0-9.2 GHz frequency band.

The purpose of licence fees is to encourage efficient use of spectrum and to place a cost on spectrum denial to other users. A typical high-powered L-band surveillance radar (SSR) requires a bandwidth of 3.75MHz, providing coverage to a wide area (more than 50 NM) with transmit power in kilowatts. However, for low-poweredmultilateration units, the bandwidth requirement is 19MHz for each sensor and the coverage area is local within thevicinity of an airport (less than 2NM), thus using the spectrum more efficiently allowing the possibility of reuse of the frequency. A typical power level of a multilateration transceiver ranges from 2 watts maximum up to 250 watts with a combined coverage of up to 50NM for airborne targets. The X bandradar system is also spectrum efficient and does not deny other users access to the band.

As the 1030/1090 MHz bands and the X-band radars are exclusively used for aeronautical radionavigation (ARNS) there is no spectrum denial to other users. Therefore the number of licences paid for seem to be more than would otherwise reflect the amount of spectrum denial within a given service area. Airservices is interested to know how similar systems are licensed in other countries so it can propose alternative licensing options for ASMGCS to the ACMA. Some possible options include creating a new apparatus licence type for the ASMGCS “system” (rather than individual multilateration transceivers) or perhaps designating the bands for spectrum licensing rather than apparatus licences. It would also be reasonable to pay a licence fee relative to the instantaneous transmission bandwidth (12.5MHz) instead of the whole band.

3.ACTION BY THE MEETING

The intention of this paper is to highlight issues experienced by Australia in licensing ASMGCS and to discuss and considerdifferent frequency licencing arrangements for ASMGCS.