MUNICH, Germany — The EU Commission has reserved an EU-wide frequency band for car-to-x communications applications. The decision aims at enabling co-operative systems which could contribute to reducing the number of traffic accidents, the EU informed in a press release.
The decision provides an EU-wide frequency band that can be used for, as the EU puts it "immediate and reliable communications between cars, and between cars and roadside infrastructure," a.k.a. car-to-car and car-to-x communications.
The industry is already developing communications devices and technologies for Car-to-x applications. The communication is based on WLAN technology, modified to support high-speed movement between transmitter and receiver stations and taking in account the Doppler Effect.
According to the decision, a 30 MHz wide frequency range within the 5.9 GHz band will be allocated within the next six months by national authorities to road safety applications. Other services already using these frequencies such as amateur radio services shall not be barred.
The decision is art of the EU's Intelligent Car Initiative, launched in 2006, which promotes the use of Information and Communication Technologies to achieve smarter, safer and cleaner road transport.
The move brings Europe to comparable level with the USA and Japan in the standardizing process. In the USA, a 70-MHz wide frequency range in the 5.9 GHz band has been reserved for Car-to-x communications. Japan uses frequencies in the 5.8 GHz range.
Rudolf Miezner, General Manager of the Car 2 Car Communications Consortium , hailed the EU move. "This is a very important step since frequencies are the most scarce resource."
In coming fall, the German automotive industry plans to conduct a large field trial, testing car-to-car and car-to-x communications under real-world conditions.
