Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies

The Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies (CRAF) is a committee of the European Science Foundation (ESF).

Definitions:

Radio Astronomy Service: A service involving the use of radio astronomy.

Radio Astronomy: Astronomy based on the reception of radio waves of cosmic origin.

Radio Astronomy Station: A station in the radio astronomy service.

Protection against interference: For the purpose of resolving cases of harmful interference, the radio astronomy service shall be treated as a radiocommunication service. However, protection from services in other bands shall be afforded the radio astronomy service only to the extent that such services are afforded protection from each other.

Notes:

  • The Radio Astronomy Service is not a radiocommunication service in the sense that it can control the whole signal path from the transmitter to the receiver, emission and reception of radio waves for specific telecommunication purposes. This is characteristic for active spectrum use. Radio astronomy which cannot control the characteristics of the cosmic transmitter is by nature a passive service since it is a receive-only service.

  • The nature of a passive service implies that applications in this service can never cause interference to any radiocommunication service.

    ITU-R Radio Regulations allocations:

    Below 1 GHz:

    1-10 GHz:

    10-100 GHz:

    100 - 275 GHz:

    Last modified: February 16, 2005