Astrophysics (Index) | About |
The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) is a United Nations agency to coordinate communications such as radio and telephone, such as setting standards that allow telephone systems of different nations to be interconnected. Among its efforts is coordinating international cooperation in the use the radio spectrum. The ITU defines radio frequency bands for various communication uses, naturally including point-to-point radio and commercial radio.
This has a direct relevance to radio astronomy, for which such uses of radio constitutes interference to its observation, and the ITU makes some provisions for the limitations on radio-use for the benefit of radio astronomy.
Other bodies also coordinate the use of radio bands (and define and coin their own names for specific bands), e.g., for specific technologies such as radar, WiFi, cellular networks, the military, etc. One of these is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Obviously, the various bodies must coordinate with each other.