The resources

ANFR spectrum control officers are deployed in the field from five regional and inter-regional services (Aix-Marseille, Donges, Est, Toulouse, Villejuif), one local branch (Boulogne sur Mer), the International Control Centre (CCI) in Rambouillet and four overseas branches (Antilles-Guyane, Réunion - Mayotte, New Caledonia, Polynesia). They have powers to investigate and file breaches of radiocommunications regulations. They use extensive equipment resources (static, transportable and mobile) to measure and locate radio emissions.

The ANFR uses static, transportable and mobile equipment and laboratory vehicles to monitor the spectrum:

• The ANFR has transportable or mobile technical resources for detection, direction finding, location and analysis. In that way, it can monitor the correct use of the spectrum, as well as detect unauthorised transmissions and investigate sources of interference that are reported to it.
• In mainland France, the ANFR operates a static network of 25 stations in the UHF (decimetric waves) and VHF (metric waves) bands, including 4 co-located with its regional services.
• The ANFR also has 4 transportable direction finders in the UHF and VHF bands, 8 TDOA (time difference of arrival) hyperbolic radio-location receivers for frequencies up to 8 GHz and 22 transportable measurement stations.
• In the HF band, the ANFR has an array of antennas at the Rambouillet CCI and direction-finding equipment.
• For its field operations, the ANFR has a fleet of 23 equipped laboratory vehicles and a technical and transport vehicle for frequency measurements. Six of those vehicles are equipped with radio direction finders that can take readings at up to 3 GHz.

For SHF (centimetre wave) band controls, covering radar and satellite services in particular, the ANFR uses specific equipment deployed in all its regional services and its overseas branches.

To monitor space radiocommunications and deal with interference impacting satellite systems, the ANFR has access to the services of a German monitoring station located in Leeheim, south of Frankfurt.

Finally, to ensure the connectivity of its transportable resources deployed in the field, the ANFR has three VSAT (very small aperture terminal for two-way satellite communication) terminals. It can also use a VPN-type private network capable of using all available communication systems (mobile telephony, ADSL, LAN, etc.).

Thanks to all these technical resources, the ANFR monitors and processes reported interference from the frequency bands in which the majority of transmissions occur, particularly those corresponding to security networks (Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of the Armed Forces, Civil Aviation, Météo France, Ports Administration, GPS, Galileo, GSM-R), broadcasting and mobile phone services.

In order to be able to respond to the increasing number and complexity of threats to the spectrum posed by an increasingly dense radio environment and the growing criticality of spectrum availability for more and more players and services, the ANFR is continually modernising its equipment and methods.

To do that, it relies on the expertise of its in-house spectrum control engineering laboratory (IDC laboratory) and the feedback from its agents working in the field.

A number of projects are being pursued: innovating sensors to detect GNSS jammers on board vehicles; efforts in terms of equipment and measurement methods for 5G; use of drones for spectrum monitoring; developments in transportable and mobile equipment for spectrum monitoring and searching for sources of interference; preparations for the 2024 Olympics.