IUCAF 6th School on Spectrum Management for Radio Astronomy

(15-April-2025)
Pre-registration is now open.** CLOSED 15-JUNE-2025 **
Pre-registration is important: due to space limitations at the venue, attendance will be limited to 50 participants. Early registration will help us plan accordingly and ensure your spot.
If you have already pre-registered, we ask that you please revisit the form to update your information, as some newly added questions require your input.

Rationale

The 6th IUCAF School on Spectrum Management offers a comprehensive view of both technical and regulatory issues related to radio astronomers' use of the spectrum. Spectrum management is a task of rapidly growing importance, for radio astronomy as well as for other radio services; however, it is not part of any academic curriculum; radio astronomers have to learn it by doing it. The IUCAF School in Spectrum Management will be an opportunity to profit from the experience of colleagues.

The expected audience would be members of the radio astronomy and related radio engineering community, who are becoming active in this area at the local, national or international level, and regulators whose task is to protect passive services and science services. These skills have critical application to science, commerce and government.

IUCAF spectrum management schools were previously held in 2002 (Green Bank, USA), 2005 (Castel San Pietro Terme, Italy), 2010 (Mitaka, Japan), 2014 (Santiago, Chile) and 2020 (SARAO, South Africa) and were important milestones in radio astronomy's efforts to preserve access to the radio spectrum. (See links in the main IUCAF website).

Purpose

The School will train the next generation of Scientists, Engineers and Administrators in the skills enabling discoveries via observations using the radio spectrum.

Over 90 years have passed since K. G. Jansky first detected radio emission from the Galaxy, while searching for the origin of the weak static that was causing interference to communications. Since then, radio astronomy has revolutionized our view of the Universe through the discovery of quasars, pulsars, the Cosmic Microwave Background, surveys of our Galaxy in the 21-cm hydrogen line, molecular lines, and many other phenomena. The radio window was the first non-optical window in the electromagnetic spectrum explored by astronomers, and radio techniques continue to be a prime tool in the exploration of the Universe. At the same time, radio astronomy retains close ties to the world of radio communications, adopting some of its leading technologies, and sometimes giving rise to technologies of its own adopted by radio engineers for commercial applications.

During the 20th century, radio astronomers enjoyed relatively easy and interference free access to large portions of the spectrum, by locating telescopes far from potential sources of man-made noise. A small number of specialists took care of regulatory issues that arose in national and international fora that rarely required attention from the broader astronomy community. This state of affairs has been changing rapidly in the 21st century, as demands on the spectrum increase due to huge increases in the demand and availability of wireless applications (mobile phones, Wireless LANs, and many others), communication satellites and marketing of new technologies, such as ultra-wide band systems, power line telecommunication systems, cognitive radio systems and dynamic spectrum access (DSA). The development and health of radio astronomy depend critically on astronomers' continued access to the radio spectrum, and this in turn demands that astronomers and particularly radio observatories pay closer attention to the technical and regulatory issues that arise in relation to managing the radio spectrum, particularly as they relate to radio astronomy.

Spectrum management is critical for the future of radio astronomy. It is also interesting and even challenging, as it requires a combination of scientific motivation, technical background, legal knowledge and diplomatic skills. These skills are normally not taught as part of science curricula.

The IUCAF Spectrum Management School provides an introduction to a unique combination of technology, science and international diplomacy by experts in this field. Special emphasis will be given to spectrum issues related to new instruments such as the SKA and its precursors (MeerKat, ASKAP, MWA, LOFAR, ...). Issues related to the recent development of satellite megaconstellations will also be addressed.

Due to logistic issues, participation in the IUCAF school may be limited to about 50 persons. Preference will be given to early career radio astronomers and engineers, who are or expect to be involved in spectrum management activities.

Topics

Radio Astronomy Techniques and Observations
Earth Remote Sensing & Space RA Observations
Spectrum: Frequency Allocation, Bands and Uses
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and other Regulatory Agencies
  * Recommendations, Reports and Notification
Radio Science & Technology
  * Antennas, Propagation, Receivers, Backends
Interference to Radio Astronomy
  * Interference to RA and mitigation techniques
International, National and Regional Regulatory Structure
Coordination with other Radio Services
RFI from New Technologies and Unlicensed Devices
New Frontiers in Spectrum Management
  * The submm/Terahertz regime, Radio Quiet Zones and SKA
Units and working with the Numbers

** A detailed program will be published closer to the date of the school.

Invited Speakers

TBD

School Location and Venue

The school is hosted by the Yebes Observatory at the following venue:

Centro de Investigaciones de Ciencias Geográficas y Astronomía
Observatorio Astronómico Nacional
C. Escultor Claudio, 6A
28805 Alcalá de Henares
Madrid, Spain

Accommodation

Please consult the School Handbook for sms2025 for the latest details.

Please make your own bookings. Early booking of accommodation is strongly recommended.
Here you can find some recommended accommodations close to the meeting point.

Hotels:
  Hotel Evenia Alcalá Boutique *** (2 min by walking)
  PCM Forum Alcalá **** (4 min by walking)
  Hotel El Bedel *** (11 min by walking)
  Parador de Alcalá de Henares **** (12 min by walking)
  Hotel Cisneros *** (16 min by walking)

Hostels:
  Hostal Miguel de Cervantes (7 min by walking)
  Hostal Complutum (11 min by walking)

Transport logistics

Detailed instructions for transport information from/to the airport, Madrid, Alcala de Henares and school venue are given in the transport logistics section in the School Handbook for sms2025
The Handbook will be updated as necessary until the start of the school.

Registration

(5-August-2025)
** FREE REGISTRATIONS for ALL participants!! **
** Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors NO registration fee will be charged for the school!!

Participation at the workshop may be limited to ~50 people due to logistics issues.

Registration is essential and will be via online forms in 2 stages:

Stage 1: Pre-registration ** CLOSED 15-JUNE-2025 **

Pre-registration period (15 April to 15 June 2025) ** CLOSED 15-JUNE-2025 **
(The Pre-registration Form is now available.
All interested in participating in the school are encouraged to pre-register as soon as possible.
This will enable the LOC to gauge demand and organise appropriate logistics.
Pre-registered participants will be given priority if we need to limit numbers.)

Stage 2: Registration confirmation & Payment of fees: ** OPENED 25-JUNE-2025 **

REGISTRATION is now open!! PLEASE register as soon as you can!!
ALL participants will need to REGISTER to get the latest details.

A payment portal will be opened at a later date to complete any necessary payments.
Registered participants will be informed in due course.
No need to wait for the payment portal. Please REGISTER asap.

Registration and payments will close 29-August-2025.
Late registrations may be accepted only if there is room.

Visa Requirements

Please check the visa requirements for entry to Spain for your nationality.

Manual visa applications may take a long time, so please start the process as soon as possible!!
No need to wait for the formal registration process...

If a letter of invitation is needed, please let the LOC know via email, and include what personal details may need to be specified.

Important Dates

 

November 2024 - March 2025	Exploration of venue at Caltech for 7-11 July 2025.
1 April 2025	Postponement & change of Venue and Dates.
15 April 2025	Announcement dissemination for new Venue and dates..
15 April 2025	Pre-registration opens
15 June 2025	Registration & payment portal open
29 August 2025	Registration closes.
Sunday September 28, 2025	Arrivals & possible city tour.
Monday September 29, 2025	Site Registration; Start of school
September 29 - October 3, 2025	SCHOOL
Wednesday 1 October, 2025	Afternoon Yebes visit & informal dinner
Thursday 2 October, 2025	Official School dinner
Saturday October 4, 2025	Departures
Weekend October 4-5, 2025	Possible additional activities?

Visit to Yebes Observatory

A visit to Yebes Observatory is planned for Wednesday 1 October 2025 after lunch, for a tour of the observatory and an informal dinner.
This visit in included in the registration fee for all participants.

Fees, payments; Conference Dinner

It is planned that a registration fee of Euro 100 will be charged to participants. This fee includes small breakfast, coffee break, lunch and tea break each day during the week of the school. It also includes the visit to Yebes observatory.

There will be an official Dinner organised for all participants. Cost will be included in the registration fee.

Please indicate in your registration form if you will be attending the dinner and how many persons are in your group.

(In the last school (2020) we secured generous support from sponsors and the registration fee was waived for all participants. We are actively seeking such support again but success is difficult to predict).

Financial assistance

IUCAF may also offer limited support, especially for students. Please contact the organisers as soon as possible.

Committees

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Harvey Liszt (USA) -- co-Chair --- IUCAF contact
Tasso Tzioumis (Australia) -- co-Chair
Greg Hellbourg (Caltech)
Marta Bautista-Duran (Spain)
---
Masatoshi Ohishi (Japan)
Gyula I. G. Józsa (Germany)
Federico Di Vruno (SKAO)
Balt Indermuehle (Australia) --- RAFCAP contact
Haiyan Zhang (China)
Benjamin Winkel (Germany) -- CRAF contact

++ other community representatives TBD.

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Jose A. Lopez-Perez
Marta Bautista-Duran -- Chair
Elena Gonzalez-Herrera
Elena Martinez-Sanchez
Pablo de Vicente

Activities outside the school

Alcala de Henares and the wider Madrid area are world-renown tourist destinations, well worth a much longer vist.

The LOC has suggested a possible afternoon guided city tour of Alcala de Henares if there is enough interest.
The most plausible date is Sunday 28 September, the day before the start of the school.
Please indicate if you are interested.

If there is demand for specific activities, the LOC will endeavour to help with the coordination and logistics.