Annual Spectrum Summit Puts Focus on “Spectrum for Everyone & Everything”

“Spectrum for Everyone & Everything” was the theme of the 24th Annual Spectrum Summit concluding at LS telcom’s headquarters in Lichtenau/Baden Württemberg, Germany.

The conference built upon the many 5G issues from last year’s event and took into consideration recent developments. The agenda featured presentations and panel discussions on new approaches for spectrum access for verticals, on the increasing amount of background noise on radio communication infrastructure and methods to mitigate the problem, as well as TV broadcasting via mobile networks.

The event attracted a variety of representatives and thought leaders from regulatory authorities, mobile and broadcast operators, industries, industry associations, spectrum consultants and research institutes.

The conference opened with a keynote by Harald Berninghaus, Deputy Head of Unit for Digital Society, Frequency Policy and Mobile Communications at the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, on the topic “Spectrum for the wireless age - the challenges ahead”.

In the many controversial debates, different stakeholders presented a diversity of 5G requirements as well as issues that need solving to make 5G available for “everyone & everything”.

“For the success of 5G in Industrial IoT it is mandatory to have dedicated resources for wireless data communication since reliability in all aspects of operation is essential in the context of a factory or production plant,” explained, for example, Dr.-Ing. Christian Bauer, Lead Developer 5G at TRUMPF Werkzeugmaschinen, Germany, and elected member of the board of 5G-ACIA (5G Alliance for Connected Industry and Automation).

Clean radio spectrum is indispensable for the operation of radio services. During the panel “Keeping spectrum clean” a number of panelists raised concerns about the increasing noise due to more wireless devices using the spectrum and non-radio devices (such as computers and fixed line technologies) using ever higher frequencies.

“The Amateur radio community struggles with an ever-growing level of electro-magnetic pollution that is crowding in across the radio spectrum from the lowest frequencies up into the VHF bands. In some frequency ranges, efficient and useful radio communication is becoming compromised,” insisted Barry Lewis, Microwave Manager at the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), and continued, “Aftermarket regulation and slowly evolving standards are struggling to be effective in keeping the spectrum clean for all users.”

Mitigating techniques and methods against the increasing background noise were also addressed during discussions, such as continuous radio monitoring.

Panelists agreed that progress has been made on more varied licensing and authorization regimes, with BNetzA in Germany having licensed the 3.7 – 3.8 GHz band, and Ofcom having identified that shared access to spectrum can help with market expansion, i.e. targeting areas that are not considered economic by mobile network operators.

Roland Götz, COO and board member of LS telcom AG, concluded: "This year again, we were able to attract renowned international speakers from a great variety of organizations to the Spectrum Summit. Around 200 delegates from impressive 34 nations across the globe were our guests at the LS telcom headquarters in Lichtenau. We are delighted that ‘Spectrum for Everyone & Everything’ attracted so many international experts .The immense progress in the development and implementation of 5G is reflected in the keen interest in our Spectrum Summit. This also shows that the agenda as well as our products and services are exactly in line with the trend. It is amazing for us to see how this event has developed over the past 24 years to todays “must-attend event” in the spectrum management calendar.”

“What makes the Spectrum Summit so interesting and useful is that it brings together international stakeholders – regulators, manufacturers, academics, and users -- who share their expert points of view and experience with topics and issues from different angles. Delegates benefit from a diverse agenda providing unique theoretical and practical insights, facts, ongoing issues, and future directions in the industry,” confirms James Watson, Manager of Spectrum Business Analysis, ISED Canada and future Chairman of the USERgroup. He adds, “The event is always an excellent opportunity to network and share successes and challenges with colleagues and peers.”

The Spectrum Summit is followed by a workshop for German industries on local 5G licensing, the latest topic in Germany after the allocation of local 5G frequencies for industry by the German Federal Network Agency BNetzA. The Spectrum Summit and the post-conference workshops together with the two-day LS telcom USERgroup forum for LS telcom system and software users, make up a full week of events, which is organized by LS telcom. The Spectrum Summit is organized by LS telcom in conjunction with renowned spectrum policy publication PolicyTracker.