scope:

General

The present document is intended to cover the provisions of the R&TTE Directive [1] regarding Article 3.2, which states that "..... radio equipment shall be so constructed that it effectively uses the spectrum allocated to terrestrial/space radio communications and orbital resources so as to avoid harmful interference".

The present document is applicable to the essential requirements of antennas (including equipment with integral antennas) used in fixed multipoint radio systems

The present document together with EN 302 326-2 [7], is intended to replace and supersede, after a suitable transition period, the harmonized EN 301 753 (see bibliography). for all multipoint equipment and antennas under its scope.

The present document and EN 302 326-2 [7] introduce rationalization among systems conforming to previous EN 301 753 (see bibliography) referencing a number of ENs which, being developed at different times, may have specified slightly different antenna parameters. Nevertheless, care has been taken so that such variations will not affect any frequency planning assumption for already deployed networks. Therefore, unless specifically mentioned, these new requirements, whenever different from those single ENs, are considered completely "equivalent". Therefore mixed use of antennas conforming to this multi-part deliverable and to those previous ones will not change, in practice, any frequency planning rule in any network.

Therefore, from a strictly technical point of view, in most cases it is expected that equipment already conforming to the previous versions of Harmonized EN 301 753 (see bibliography), would not need re-assessment of essential requirements according to this multi-part deliverable. The legal implications of the declaration of conformity and equipment labelling are, however, outside the scope of this multi-part deliverable. Cases, where additional conformance assessment is required, will be specifically mentioned in EN 302 326-2 [7] and the present document.

A formal change in the requirements, introduced by the present document, is that the antenna manufacturer shall declare the nominal gain and tolerance of the antenna against which the conformity assessment is done.

In addition to the present document, other ENs specify technical requirements in respect of essential requirements under other parts of Article 3 of the R&TTE Directive [1] and which will apply to antennas within the scope of the present document.

NOTE: A list of such ENs is included on the web site: http://www.newapproach.org.

In order to (technically) cover different market and network requirements, with an appropriate balance of performance to cost and effective and appropriate use of the radio spectrum, the present document, together with EN 302 326-2 [7], offers a number of system types and antennas alternatives, for selection by administrations, operators and manufacturers dependent on the desired use of the radio spectrum and network/market requirements; those options include:

• channel separation alternatives (as provided by the relevant CEPT Recommendation);

• spectral efficiency class alternatives (different modulation formats provided in radio equipment standards);

• antenna sectorization alternatives and directivity classes for CS;

• antenna directivity class alternatives for TS and/or RS;

• antenna basic polarization (linear or circular).

For Digital Fixed Radio Systems (DFRS), antennas are considered "relevant components" of "radio equipment" according the definition in Article 2(c) of the R&TTE Directive [1]. In particular, it has to be noted that TCAM, while recognizing the "essentiality" of antenna directional requirements for some applications, including the Fixed Service, has deliberated that there should be no obligation for separate declaration of conformity for stand alone antennas and that the conformity to the relevant essential requirements should be the responsibility of the final system integrator.

However, it has also been recognized that the assessment of Article 3.2 requirements on the radio-sites is technically impractical. Therefore, it should not be forbidden to a supplier of DFRS antennas, who decides, under his responsibility, to declare compliance to the relevant harmonized standard (or part thereof, in this case), to affix the CE label to a stand-alone Fixed Radio antenna product, fulfilling all other obligations foreseen by the R&TTE Directive [1] and in particular, providing information for the user on the intended use of the apparatus. The final system integrator might benefit from such a declaration of conformity for any final radio-site assessment obligations.

In the case where the antenna manufacturer does not wish to fulfil all the applicable obligations of the R&TTE Directive [1] it is recommended to keep the specific radio test suite (relevant to the antenna essential requirements) and offer them on request to the radio system vendor or to the final system integrator in order to fulfil his obligation to the R&TTE Directive [1].

More information and background on the R&TTE Directive [1] possible applicability and requirements for stand alone DFRS antennas is found in EG 201 399 (see bibliography) and in TR 101 506 (see bibliography).

Technical specifications relevant to the R&TTE Directive [1] are summarized in annex A. For Fixed Systems, antennas are considered "relevant components" of "radio equipment" according the definition in Article 2(c) of the R&TTE Directive [1].