EDITORIAL

HEADLINES OF THIS ISSUE         

Welcome to the third  edition of
the ITU-R e-Flash 2009 of the
ITU Radiocommunication Sector.

The ITU-R e-Flash is your  information source to follow the
ITU-R Sector activities, milestones and experts' opinions in
the rapidly changing world
of international wireless communications.

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ITU-R e-Flash back issues:
No.1/08
No.2/08

Promotion & Membership / BR

Preface by Director, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, Mr. Valery Timofeev  -- I am pleased to announce that this edition '3' of the ITU-R e-Flash is a compilation of excellent articles on some of the most interesting topics currently being pursued in the Radiocommunication Sector.

First of all, it is worth noting the great success of the main ITU-R events organized this year: the Space Workshop to discuss the trends in the international regulations applicable to the space services (Geneva, 6 May 2009), the WRC-12 Preparatory Meeting (Geneva, 14-16 September 2009, organized in collaboration with the African Telecommunication Union, and the first joint ITU/WMO Seminar on the Use of Radio for Meteorology  with publication of a joint WMO/ITU handbook. By their high level of attendance and contribution, these meetings demonstrated the relevant role played the Radiocommunication Bureau in bringing together the main players of the sector to discuss ways forward to improve the international regulatory framework of radiocommunication services and to foster the utilization of wireless systems in the battle to control climate change.

The selected articles on astronomy, distributed computing and digital TV dwell on subjects which will certainly interest you as they present expert opinions on these exciting subjects seen from the viewpoint of radiocommunication ... 

Photo: Mr Valery Timofeev, Director, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, opening the World Radiocommunication Seminar (WRS-08) in Geneva. Photo credits: ITU / V. Martin
 

Switching to Digital TV  -- The transition from analogue to digital television is well under way in a number of countries around the world. Digital television allows for better picture and sound quality, as well as more choice of channels and programmes. Broadcasters can offer several programmes simultaneously, using the amount of spectrum required for only one analogue channel. Moreover, moving to digital technologies reduces greenhouse-gas emissions due to a massive — almost ten-fold — reduction in the power consumption of broadcasting transmitters. The number of transmitters can also be reduced by transmitting several programmes in one frequency channel.

For decades, spectrum in the very-high frequency (VHF) and the ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands has been allocated globally for broadcasting analogue television. However, because digital television uses the radio spectrum much more efficiently, more becomes available for other uses. This has been called the “digital dividend” — allowing governments to benefit the public by redirecting the use of these freed up radio frequencies. Countries and regions have taken various approaches to exploiting this opportunity ... 
 

Distributed computing: an ITU BR experience -- To meet its statutory obligations for daily processing of space and terrestrial radio service notices and to solve complex problems as planning of limited radio spectrum and orbit resources for treaty-related conferences the BR has a need to perform CPU intensive calculations in a limited timeframe.

To reach this goal the BR developed extensive experience in the development and the usage of distributed computing and related technologies, including grids. These technologies are aimed to reduce the overall processing time by splitting CPU-intensive calculations into smaller tasks and running those tasks in parallel on several PCs ...

ITU-R Publications news -- ITU-R Publications constitute an essential reference source for all those wishing to remain abreast of the rapid and complex changes occurring in the world of international radiocommunications, such as government agencies, public and private telecommunication operators, manufacturers, scientific or industrial bodies, international organizations, consultancies, universities, technical institutions, etc.

Recent ITU-R regulatory and conference publications are the '2009 Edition of the Manual for Use by the Maritime Mobile and Maritime Mobile-Satellite Services' and the 'Rules of Procedure, Edition of 2009'. A number of ITU-R Handbooks are also soon to be published ... 

World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12)  -- At its session in 2008, the ITU Council resolved by its Resolution 1291 to convene the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in Geneva and adopted the Agenda for this Conference in the Annex to the same Resolution. After further consultations regarding the dates for this next WRC, the Council approved by correspondence on June 2009 that this next WRC will be held in Geneva from 23 January to 17 February 2012 (WRC-12) and that it will be preceded by the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-12) also in Geneva from 16 to 20 January 2012 (see Council Resolution 1291 (MOD)). On August 2009, this Council decision has received the agreement of the required majority of the ITU Member States in accordance with Nos. 42 and 118 of the ITU Constitution ...

Space Workshop (Geneva, 6 May 2009)  -- The ITU Radiocommunication Bureau 'Workshop on the efficient use of the spectrum/ orbit resource' was held in Geneva on 6 May 2009. This event, the first such one ever organized by the Bureau, showed that it might now be time to openly discuss issues often qualified as 'sensitive' and hopefully make progress in adapting and improving the international satellite registration regulatory framework at the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) to be held in Geneva in 2012. 

Indeed, the use of space radiocommunication services has progressed considerably over the years and, as a consequence, in recent years it has become increasingly difficult for administrations to obtain suitable new GSO positions and frequencies in both the planned and non-planned satellite services and fully coordinate them in application of the relevant provisions of the Radio Regulations. In this regard, orbit scarcity is not a “paper” satellite issue only, and real overload of GSO locations does occur today in some parts of the orbit for some coverage in some frequency bands. Efficient use of the spectrum/orbit resource is one of the most crucial challenges facing the international community in efforts to promote worldwide telecommunication development and achieve the connectivity access targets set by the World Summit on the Information Society ...  

The First ITU/WMO Seminar on the 'Use of Radio Spectrum for Meteorology'   -- 'Between 1980 and 2005, over 7,000 natural disasters worldwide took the lives of more than 2 million people and produced economic losses estimated at over 1.2 trillion US dollars. 90% of these natural disasters, 72 % of casualties and 75 % of economic losses were caused by weather-, climate- and water-related hazards, such as droughts, floods, severe storms and tropical cyclones. For this reason, climate change monitoring and disaster prediction mechanisms are increasingly vital for our personal safety and economic wellbeing. At present, radio-based applications such as remote sensors provide the main source of information about the Earth’s atmosphere and surface. In turn, this information is used for climate, weather and water monitoring, prediction and warnings, natural disasters risk reduction, support of disaster-relief operations and for planning preventive measures for adapting to and mitigating the negative effects of climate change ...

2009: The U.N. International Year of Astronomy -- The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) is a year-long celebration of astronomy, taking place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century. The Year was declared by the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations. A global scheme, laid out by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), has also been endorsed by UNESCO—the UN body responsible for Educational, Scientific and Cultural matters. The opening ceremony was held in Paris on January 15–16, 2009. IYA2009 is scheduled to include numerous global projects and public events. The IAU also released a book and movie on the history of the telescope for this event.

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) celebrates the first astronomical use of the telescope by Galileo - a momentous event that initiated 400 years of astronomical discoveries and triggered a scientific revolution which profoundly affected our worldview. Now telescopes on the ground and in space explore the Universe, 24 hours a day, across all wavelengths of light ...  

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