Radio Shop Chat - Views of the National Academies on Agenda Items at Issue at WRC 2027

Views of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on Agenda Items at Issue at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2027

Speakers: Nathaniel Livesey and Scott Paine

Presented August 6, 2025

Abstract: Periodically—currently every four years—the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) convenes a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) to revise the Radio Regulations, an internationally agreed treaty that governs radio spectrum use, including frequency allocations and technical standards. Each WRC also sets the agenda and preliminary agenda for the next two WRCs, initiating a study cycle towards future revisions of the radio regulations at these upcoming meetings.

The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has produced a consensus study report analyzing the impact of agenda items under consideration for WRC-2027 (and preliminary agenda items for WRC-2031) upon scientific use of the radio spectrum. Much of the WRC-2027 agenda is driven by the rapid developments taking place in non-terrestrial telecommunications networks supported by non-geostationary satellites in low Earth orbit. These developments pose significant challenges to Earth remote sensing and radio astronomy.

In this presentation, we will provide a summary briefing on this report, the full text of which can be found here: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/cat...

The presentation slides can be accessed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nKBH...