ERA to investigate how to improve spectrum efficiency by making buildings “radio-friendly”
	Aims to reduce numbers of base stations or cut existing transmitter power outputs

A team led by ERA Technology has won a one-year, £1/2 million plus contract from the Radiocommunications Agency to evaluate affordable techniques for improving radio reception in buildings that currently block or degrade transmissions, including mobile phone signals.

The new study aims to devise inexpensive panels, based on technology known as Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS), that can be applied to existing buildings in the form of wallpaper, coatings on windows, as well as floor and ceiling tiles. It will also examine the possibility of incorporating FSS structures into the fabric of new buildings and could well influence future building regulations and standards. Further investigation of a novel technique invented by ERA to bend radio signals around corners, up and down stairs and into basements by using a simple low cost conformal wall covering could herald a major breakthrough for in-building communications.

Lowering the power of base stations

Current radio systems, including mobile phone networks, are designed to give coverage of the vast majority of building interiors despite blocking effects. So if buildings can be made more transparent to the signals, it will be possible to use fewer base stations to cover a given area or to radiate less power from existing sites. This, in turn, will reduce radio “pollution” and enhance spectrum efficiency.

In securing this contract, ERA, with its many years of experience in the design of frequency selective structures for military applications, has teamed with the Building Research Establishment, which will provide expertise on building construction. Work will also be subcontracted to QinetiQ, which has developed a novel manufacturing process that could be applied to large-scale fabrication of conducting patterns on paper and glass. Professor Ted Parker, from the University of Kent, a respected expert in the field of FSS technology, is also part of the team.

Dr Robert Pearson, Head of the ERA Antenna Systems business, said, “Potential uses range from helping emergency services to communicate in smoke filled rooms, to improving mobile phone coverage in large buildings. This work was anticipated, at least in part, in Alexander Korda's classic production, 'Things to Come', adapted from the novel ‘The shape of things to Come’ by H. G. Wells, published in 1933. This foresaw not only the widespread use of lightweight and unobtrusive apparatus such as portable radio, but also revolutionary new buildings. Whilst its foresight in anticipating mobile communications was certainly remarkable, the development of new materials and buildings for the reconstruction of the fictional ‘Everytown’, has influenced architects and designers ever since. Though it is far from clear that the exploitation of new technology will really take the stress out of our daily lives, as predicted in the film, this new research should make it easier to use a phone in large buildings and, in emergencies, make our lives a little safer. ERA has a track record of innovative research and exploitation of new technology spanning almost 30 years and this work continues the theme.”

ERA is active at the leading edge of technology through research programmes from UK Government, European Space Agency and other agencies, the outcomes of which are feeding into future ERA product developments. Today, its activities are focused on providing system integrators with antenna technologies that match their cost, performance, size and quality requirements in key market sectors covering Commercial Antennas, Satcom Ground Terminals and Airborne Systems.

For more information…
Business contact Dr Robert Pearson 01372 367129
Press contact: Marketing 01372 367000
Radiocommunications Agency notes for editors
Press Enquiries: 020 7211 0500
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Public Enquiries: 020 7211 0160
Textphone (for people with hearing impairments): 020 7215 6740
RA website: www.radio.gov.uk

The Radiocommunications Agency (RA) is an executive agency of the DTI, and is responsible for managing the civil (non-military) radio spectrum in the UK.

RA is one of the five regulatory bodies which will form the new communications regulator Ofcom late this year. Ofcom will combine the existing functions of the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Independent Television Commission, Oftel, the Radio Authority and the Radiocommunications Agency.