12Protection requirements — fixed-satellite service earth receive stations under earth receive licences in 3600 MHz to 4200 MHz
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12 Protection requirements – fixed-satellite service earth receive stations under earth receive licences in 3600 MHz to 4200 MHz
Application
(1) If subsection (2) applies to an earth receive station, a person operating a 3.4 GHz transmitter (the relevant transmitter) under a 3.4 GHz spectrum licence is to protect the station for a fixed-satellite service from the following:
(a) co-channel emissions;
(b) unwanted emissions;
(c) receiver overload.
(2) This subsection applies to an earth receive station if:
(a) the station is operated under an earth receive licence; and
(b) the station was included in the Register before the relevant transmitter was included in the Register; and
(c) the station is located within:
(i) if the relevant transmitter does not operate on the same frequency as the station – 100 kilometres of the relevant transmitter; or
(ii) if the relevant transmitter operates on the same frequency as the station – 200 kilometres of the relevant transmitter; and
(d) the station operates on a frequency in the 3600 MHz to 4200 MHz frequency band.
Co-channel emissions
(3) A 3.4 GHz spectrum licensee is to protect a fixed-satellite service earth receive station from co-channel emissions to a maximum interference level of -128.6 dBm/MHz, which is not to be exceeded for more than 20% of the time.
Note: See ITU-R Recommendation SF.1006 for further guidance on the procedure to use for the protection of fixed-satellite service earth receive stations. ITU-R Recommendation SF.1006 is available, free of charge, from the International Telecommunication Union’s website at www.itu.int.
Unwanted emissions
(4) A 3.4 GHz spectrum licensee is to protect a fixed-satellite service earth receive station from unwanted emissions (both out-of-band emissions and spurious emissions) to a level of -128.6 dBm/MHz, assuming a receiver noise temperature of 100° Kelvin, which is not to be exceeded for more than 20% of the time.
Note: When assessing interference from unwanted emissions, the highest level of out-of-band or spurious emissions that fall within the licensed bandwidth of the earth receive station should be considered in calculations.
Receiver overload
(5) A 3.4 GHz transmitter is not considered to overload a fixed-satellite service earth receive station if the total power received from the transmitter at the input of the earth receive station does not exceed -65 dBm.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), the total power received from the transmitter is assessed after considering antenna gain, radiofrequency filtering and other losses.
(7) For the purposes of subsection (5), for the operation of a 3.4 GHz transmitter before 16 July 2027, the minimum radiofrequency filtering level described in Table 1, at the front end of the earth receive station for the specified frequency offsets, should be assumed.
Section 12 - Radiocommunications Advisory Guidelines (Managing Interference from Spectrum Licensed Transmitters – 3.4 GHz Band) 2025 - Protection requirements — fixed-satellite service earth receive stations under earth receive licences in 3600 MHz to 4200 MHz | Zoe
Note: The re-allocation period specified in the Radiocommunications (Spectrum Re-allocation – 3.4 GHz and 3.7 GHz Bands) Declaration 2022 ends on 16 July 2027. That legislative instrument is available, free of charge, from the Federal Register of Legislation at www.legislation.gov.au.
Table 1
Column 1
Column 2
Frequency offset from appropriate frequency limit of earth receive licence
Rejection (dB)
1
0 MHz to 50 MHz
0.5 + 0.6*foffset(MHz)
2
50 MHz to 110 MHz
45.5
3
110 MHz to 150 MHz
30.5 + 0.25*(foffset(MHz) – 50)
4
150 MHz to 200 MHz
55.5
5
≥200 MHz
70
(8) For the purposes of subsection (5), for the operation of a 3.4 GHz transmitter on or after 16 July 2027, the minimum radiofrequency filtering level described in Table 2 should be assumed.
Note: The re-allocation period specified in the Radiocommunications (Spectrum Re-allocation – 3.4 GHz and 3.7 GHz Bands) Declaration 2022 ends on 16 July 2027. That legislative instrument is available, free of charge, from the Federal Register of Legislation at www.legislation.gov.au.
Table 2
Column 1
Column 2
Frequency offset from appropriate frequency limit of earth receive licence
Rejection (dB)
1
0 MHz to 15 MHz
0.5 + 0.6*foffset(MHz)
2
15 MHz to 20 MHz
30
3
20 MHz to 100 MHz
60
4
≥100 MHz
70
(9) For the purposes of the tables in subsections (7) and (8), for a fixed-satellite service earth receive station operated under an earth receive licence, the assumptions set out in subsections (10) to (12) apply.
(10) If the earth receive licence was first issued before 16 July 2022, then, until 16 July 2027, the filter is assumed to apply only below the lower limit of the licence. In this subsection, lower limit of the licence means:
(a) if the licensee of the earth receive licence holds only one earth receive licence authorising the operation of one earth receive station protected under this section, on a particular centre frequency at a specific site and on a specific antenna, subject to a particular bandwidth – the frequency obtained by subtracting half the particular bandwidth from the particular centre frequency;
(b) if the licensee of the earth receive licence holds only one earth receive licence authorising the operation of more than one earth receive station protected under this section at the same site and on the same antenna, each on a particular centre frequency and subject to a particular bandwidth – the frequency obtained by subtracting half the bandwidth for the earth receive station authorised to operate on the lowest of the particular centre frequencies from that centre frequency;
(c) if the licensee of the earth receive licence holds more than one earth receive licence, each authorising the operation of one or more earth receive stations protected under this section at the same site and on the same antenna, each on a particular centre frequency and subject to a particular bandwidth – the frequency obtained by subtracting half the bandwidth for the earth receive station authorised to operate on the lowest of the particular centre frequencies from that centre frequency.
(11) If the earth receive licence was first issued before 16 July 2022, then, on and after 16 July 2027, the filter is assumed to apply below the lower limit for the station and above the upper limit of the station. In this subsection:
lower limit for the station means the frequency obtained by subtracting half the bandwidth specified in the licence for the station from the particular centre frequency or emission frequency specified in the licence for the station.
upper limit for the station means the frequency obtained by adding half the bandwidth specified in the licence for the station to the particular centre frequency or emission frequency specified in the licence for the station.
Note: The re-allocation period specified in the Radiocommunications (Spectrum Re-allocation – 3.4 GHz and 3.7 GHz Bands) Declaration 2022 ends on 16 July 2027. That legislative instrument commenced on 16 July 2022 and is available, free of charge, from the Federal Register of Legislation at www.legislation.gov.au.
(12) If the earth receive licence was first issued on or after 16 July 2022, the filter is assumed to apply below the lower limit for the station and above the upper limit for the station. In this subsection:
lower limit for the station means the frequency obtained by subtracting half the bandwidth specified in the licence for the station from the particular centre frequency or emission frequency specified in the licence for the station.
upper limit for the station means the frequency obtained by adding half the bandwidth specified in the licence for the station to the particular centre frequency or emission frequency specified in the licence for the station.
Note 1: To operate consistently with the assumptions in subsections (11) and (12), bandpass or notch filters may be required between different earth receive stations that are operating on different frequencies in the 3600 MHz to 4200 MHz frequency band, but on the same antenna. This is the case irrespective of whether operation of the stations is authorised by the same or different earth receive licences. If there are multiple earth receive licences authorising stations that operate on the same antenna in the 3600 MHz to 4200 MHz frequency band, for interference management purposes a bandpass filter can be assumed at the lower and upper edges of each group of licences, where the stations operated under those licences are directly adjacent in frequency.
Note 2: The Radiocommunications (Spectrum Re-allocation – 3.4 GHz and 3.7 GHz Bands) Declaration 2022 commenced on 16 July 2022. That legislative instrument is available, free of charge, from the Federal Register of Legislation at www.legislation.gov.au.
Other matters
(13) When assessing interference caused by unwanted emissions, or receiver overload:
(a) propagation loss between a 3.4 GHz transmitter and a fixed-satellite service earth receive station should be calculated using ITU-R Recommendation P.452, with p = 20%;
(b) if actual antenna radiation patterns are not available for a fixed-satellite service earth receive station, assume the antenna radiation pattern defined in ITU-R Recommendation S.465.
Note 1: For paragraph (a), the parameter p is defined in ITU-R Recommendation P.452 as the required time percentage for which the calculated basic transmission loss is not exceeded.
Note 2: ITU-R Recommendations P.452 and S.465 are available, free of charge, from the International Telecommunication Union’s website at www.itu.int.
(14) The first time a 3.4 GHz licensee performs adjacent channel coordination for a radiocommunications transmitter with a fixed-satellite service earth receive station operated under an earth receive licence in the 3600 MHz to 4200 MHz frequency band, before the transmitter is included in the Register, the 3.4 GHz licensee is to notify the earth receive licensee. This is to ensure that the earth receive licensee has the opportunity to install a radiofrequency filter with the relevant characteristics in subsection (7) or (8), as appropriate, to the front end of the earth receive station.