Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies
The Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) is a Committee of the European Science Foundation (ESF).
CRAF is the ESF Expert Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies.
CRAF coordinates the efforts in Europe for the protection of the frequency bands
allocated to radio astronomy, passive remote sensing and related sciences.
In present, CRAF has 19 members from 17 countries and 3 international organisations.
In 2006, CRAF activity has started with a new Frequency Manager and a new Secretary.
Two CRAF meetings were held in 2006: in Bordeaux (France) on 6-7April and in Bonn (Germany) on 16-17 November.
CRAF is sector member of the Radiocommunication Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
an international organization within the United Nations, dealing with the radio frequency management.
CRAF has also formal observer status within Conférence Européenne des Postes et des Télécommunications (CEPT),
which represents 47 National Administrations and is responsible for radio frequency management in Europe.
This status enables CRAF to participate, within the CEPT, to all relevant meetings, providing the necessary inputs
and to ensure that the radio astronomical and related scientific use of the frequencies is well known and properly protected.
During 2006 CRAF participated actively in various CEPT working group meetings, at European level, on
following issues:
- preparation of European positions for the ITU-R World Radiocommunications Conference 2007, WRC-07;
- compatibility with imaging applications using Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, which have significant
impact on the fundamentals of radio frequency regulation and spectrum management. In particular, specific regulations
for the protection of the vulnerable passive radiocommunication services (like radio astronomy) are currently under
severe pressure by industrial interests. Since generic European regulatory decisions are required for these devices,
CRAF considers essential to have a single European radio astronomy position on this issue;
- Iridium interferences within Radio Astronomy band, a rather old problem, on which a favorable solution has not yet been found.
In 2006 the CEPT satellite monitoring facility in Leeheim made available the results if a new measurement campaign.
Based on this, a new CEPT technical report containing the assessment of interferences will be developed;
- generating a report and an opinion on “a coordinated EU Spectrum
approach for scientific use of the radio spectrum”, as required by the Radio
Spectrum Policy Group of the European Commission;
- revision of the European Common Allocations table of frequencies;
- compatibility with various other services.
Also during 2006, CRAF participated in the work of ITU-R Study Group 7, such as the Working Party 7D dedicated to Radio Astronomy.
The CRAF Newsletter, which is made available on the World Wide Web and in hardcopy format, continues to enjoy a wide interest among national reagulatory administrations, industry and research organizations.
CRAF web site, containing nearly 1000 files, it is one of the recognized knowledge source in the field of frequency management. During 2006, in order to highlight its European character, CRAF started the process of getting an “eu” internet domain. The result of this process was visible in the end of the year, when www.craf.eu became active.
The third edition of the “CRAF Handbook for Radio Astronomy” sponsored by the ESF, published in 2005, available in electronic and paper format still continue to enjoy a wide readership among inter-alia regulatory bodies, national regulatory administrations, scientific community and industry.
Last updated: January 17, 2007