ITU Radiocommunication Sector
(ITU-R) and Climate Change
Alexandre VASSILIEV
ITU Radiocommunication Bureau
WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, 18-22 May 2009
Radio and Information Society
Today radio technologies provide means and ways for
information exchange everywhere in the World. Radiobased are the most used telecommunication devices.
According to the recent statistics the World population
currently uses:
• more than 4 billions mobile phones;
• ~ 2.5 billions radios;
• ~1.5 billions television sets;
• plus many set-top boxes (satellite and terrestrial),
Wi-Fi cards, powerful broadcasting transmitters, etc.
Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2009/index.html and
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_tel-media-televisions
WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
ITU-R and Information Society
ITU-R allocates spectrum to radio services and fulfils
international spectrum management functions providing
ways and means for successful operation of different radio
systems and applications.
ITU-R develops standards for all radio-based systems and
applications:
1) Mandatory – international treaty status:
¾Radio Regulations (RR) – 4 volumes (~2000
pages);
¾ITU-R Recommendations incorporated by
reference in the Radio Regulations (RR);
2) Voluntary:
¾Other ITU-R Recommendations;
These standards form the basis for the use of
wireless technologies in information society!
WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
ITU Engagement with Climate
Change and ITU-R
ƒ Monitoring Climate Change
As the steward of the global framework for spectrum, ITU provides for the radiofrequency spectrum, orbit resources and develops radiocommunication standards to
foster the operation without interference of radiocommunication systems used for
climate monitoring, weather forecasting, disaster prediction, detection and
mitigation of negative effect of disasters.
ƒ ICT as a clean technology
As the preeminent global body for standardization in the field of ICTs, ITU is
working to limit and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through
the development of standards and by promoting the use of more energy efficient
devices and networks.
ƒ Adaptation and Mitigation
As a core function of its development mission, ITU is assisting Member States in
the use of ICTs for e-environment and sustainable development and to adapt to and
mitigate the effects of climate change, including the use of emergency
telecommunications and alerting systems for disaster relief.
ƒ Climate Neutral ITU
In its own activities, the use of ICTs to reduce emissions through paperless
meetings, virtual conferencing and sharing its expertise on the use of ICTs for
energy saving with other institutions and general public.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Radio and Environment Monitoring
Radio emissions are not only for communications but
also for obtaining information about the environment with
which they have been in contact.
Environmental information, including climate
monitoring data, is currently being obtained by special radiobased measuring instruments called remote sensors. Remote
sensors are the only tools providing environmental data on a
long term, repetitive and global scale.
ITU-R Study Group develop standards providing basis
for the development and the effective use of radio equipment
for climate monitoring, prediction and detection of disasters
(hurricanes, fires, typhoons, thunderstorms, flooding, etc.),
early warning and mitigating negative effect of disasters.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Global Observing System (GOS)
GOS is based on remote sensors and telecommunication
systems disseminating information about the environment
Polar
orbiting
satellite
Geostationary
satellite
Satellite
image
Aircraft
Ocean
data
buoy
Weather
ship
Satellite
ground
station
Satellite
soundings
Surface
station
Weather
radar
Upper-air
station
Automatic
station
Detailed information
provided in
NMS
the ITU/WMO
Meteo-012
Handbook “Use of Radio Spectrum for Meteorology: Weather, Water and Climate
Monitoring and Prediction”, available free of charge at:
http://www.itu.int/publications/publications.aspx?lang=en&media=electronic&parent=R-HDB-45WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
2008
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Remote Sensing for Climate Monitoring
CO2 global map July 2008 - in
parts per million by volume.
Altimeters identify a change of
the sea level with precision of
2 to 3 cm.
Modern tools measure the
sea surface temperature with
an accuracy of up to 0.2° C.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Mitigation and Adaptation
ƒ 2 mitigation aspects:
¾mitigation of negative effects of
disasters – saving lives and properties;
¾mitigation of the further climate change
– reducing GHG emissions and global
warming.
ƒ Adaption to climate change:
¾developing adaptation strategy based
on environmental monitoring data;
¾implementation of this strategy using
radio equipment.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Radicommunications in Preventing
Loss of Lives
ƒ In many cases, when disaster strikes the "wired"
telecommunication infrastructure is significantly or
completely destroyed and only radiocommunication
services can be employed for disaster relief operation
(especially radio amateurs and satellite systems).
ƒ ITU-R forums (Conferences and Assemblies) take
decisions, which foster creation of radio systems for
prediction, detection of natural disasters, providing
early warnings to general public and mitigation of
negative effects of disasters;
ƒ ITU-R's Study Groups develop technical standards
related to the development and operation of
radio systems/applications for mitigation of
negative effects of climate change, natural
and man-made disasters.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Disaster Detection and Early Warning
One of the main goals of telecommunications is to provide timely
early warning information to the general public in case of
disasters. Hundreds of thousands
of lives would have been saved in
December 2004 by an effective
tsunami early-warning system had
existed.
A tsunami early-warning and
mitigation system for the Indian
Ocean currently exists. It is based on
25 seismic stations, 26 national
tsunami centres and the use of deep
ocean sensors, with
messages sent by satellite phone.
Deep-ocean Assessment and Report of
Tsunami (DART) system
WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
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Damage
Assessment
used for relief
operation
planning
Earth-exploration
systems employing
remote sensing
equipment play a
major role in
damage assessment
and planning relief
operations.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
ITU-R Standard Sample: Rec. ITU-R S.1001
on the Use of Fixed Satellite Service Systems
for Warning and Relief Operations
Configuration of the
emergency network
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Mitigation: Radio and Minimizing CO2
Emissions
ƒ Main directions/activities:
ƒ Monitoring Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions - Radio-based
devices called remote sensors are the main tool for the global
monitoring of carbon dioxide emissions.
ƒ Minimizing CO2 emissions from radio equipment/systems - The
use of advanced technologies, such as modern chips, coding and
compression technique, digital modulation allowed significantly
reduce power consumption per unit for almost all radio applications.
ƒ The use of radio-based devices/systems for reduction in other
sectors - Wireless devices, such as mobile phones are currently the
most common way of communications, which significantly reduce
commuting and travelling. Radio, in many cases, is the most
economically valuable solution of the “last mile” problem.
ƒ “Dematerialization” through the use of radio
equipment/systems – The use of radio technologies, for example
satellite systems, paves the way for Internet access from remote
areas and allows to apply paperless working methods, switch from
physical distribution DVDs and CDs to online delivery.
WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Reducing GHG Emissions:
Radiocommuncations as a Clean
One of the most effective ways
of preventing further climate
Technology
change is energy saving due to reducing radiocommunication
equipment consumption.
An impressive example in this area is a digital broadcasting
Plan GE06 developed by Regional Radiocommunication
Conference 2006 for 120 countries. GE06 Plan envisages:
¾ reduction (almost 10 times) in transmitter power due to the
use of digital modulation. There are hundreds of thousands of
transmitters around the world with power of up to 100-150
kW - the energy saving is very significant;
¾ possible reduction number of transmitters due to the
transmitting up to 10 TV programmes in one 8 MHz channel
instead of 1 TV programme per channel.
GE06 Plan is based on ITU-R standards (Recommendations).
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Mitigation CO2 Emissions in Other
Industries – Remote Collaboration
ƒ In terms of technologies for reducing carbon
emission, the use of radiocommunications might be
considered as replacing virtually the need for a
physical journey. The work of ITU-R Study Groups
4, 5 and 6, on multimedia, is of particular importance,
notably in terms of standards for remote wireless
collaboration, such as the BO, M, S Series of ITU-R
Recommendations on audiovisual and multimedia
systems, including video-conferencing, which
provides a means for people to collaborate at a
distance without needing to travel.
ƒ ITU-T’s Study Group also develop Recommendations
on different aspects of multimedia.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Climate Neutral ITU –
Radiocommunication Sector Role (1)
Few samples of ITU-R practices:
ƒ voluminous ITU-R service publications, distributed to
all ITU-R Member States on weekly bases, are
published on DVD and Internet, that significantly
reduced the amount of paper, consumed by BR;
ƒ World Radiocommunication Conferences (the biggest
ITU forums) use electronic document publication and
significantly reduce number of paper copies
distributing to delegates. WRC-07 attended by about 3
thousands participants, saved several millions of pages
of paper;
ƒ WRC-07 decided to publish series of maritime service
publications in electronic form from 2011. That will
save about 300 tons of paper per year and reduce the
carbon emissions from transporting paper copies;
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Climate Neutral ITU –
Radiocommunication Sector Role (2)
ƒ ITU-R is finishing switching from paper to electronic
submission of frequency assignment/allotment data.
Hundreds tones of paper are being saved (in the past a
notice with data related to one satellite network could
require more than 1 thousand pages).
ƒ BR develops tools for electronic access to frequency
assignment/allotment data in the Master International
Frequency Register (MIFR), that contains billions of
data elements. These tools allow not only provide very
quick access to these data, but also significantly reduce
amount of publications on physical mediums;
ƒ BR trains the staff from administrations and other
involved organizations.
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Cooperation with Other
Organizations and ITU Sectors
ƒ ITU-R, in its work in this area, has established strategic
partnerships with other UN agencies (e.g. WMO, IMO,
ICAO) and specialized UN Groups (e.g. WGET);
ƒ ITU-R also has close cooperation with international and
national agencies and organizations (e.g. meteorological
agencies, EUMETSAT, ESA, JAXA, NASA, NOAA, RSA,
Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Space Frequency
Coordination Group (SFCG), etc.) involved in climate
monitoring and emergency telecommunications;
ƒ ITU-R is coordinating its work with ITU-D, ITU-T and the
ITU General Secretariat;
ƒ ITU-R representatives participate in ITU and UN events and
provide information on the role of radiocommunications in
combating of negative effects of climate change.
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Web resources
ƒ Main ITU Web page on ITU and Climate
Change:
Æ http://www.itu.int/themes/climate
ƒ ITU-R Web page on Radiocommunications and
Climate Change:
Æ http://www.itu.int/ITUR/index.asp?category=information&rlink=climatechange&lang=en
ƒ ITU-R Publications:
Æhttp://www.itu.int/publications/sector.aspx?secto
r=1&lang=en
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WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 May 2009
Sources: ITU, WMO,
ESA, CNES, JAXA, NASA, NOAA
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