NSF Workshop on Spectrum Measurements & Spectrum Management

<p>The NSF Spectrum Measurement Infrastructure Workshop was sponsored and funded by the National Science Foundation and was hosted at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois on the 6th and 7th of April 2016. This report summarizes the motivation, goals, format, material observations, conclusions and recommendations drawn from that Workshop.</p><p>Spectrum measurement and the understanding that comes from these efforts has become an increasing important topic as we seek to more efficiently and effectively utilize our nation's increasingly precious spectral resources. Several Federal Government initiatives, including two Presidential Memorandums1, and the PCAST (Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology) Spectrum Policy report2, have advocated collaborative research, development, and testing in the area of enhanced measurement capabilities, to advance temporal spectrum sharing technology, and related regulatory rule-making. Currently there are spectrum measurement related efforts being pursued by advisory bodies for both the FCC (the Technological Advisory Council or TAC) and the NTIA (the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee or CSMAC) that further underscore the importance of this area.<br></p><p>Understanding the spectrum sharing environment is complex. While spectrum measurements are performed today by industry, academia, and government, these efforts usually tends to be narrowly focused to align with their respective mission, and/or current business interests. Depending on the specific purpose and method of data acquisition, spectrum observations tend to be diverse and scattered among many sources. Observations also vary widely based on the methods used and the type of data requested. Although there are many approaches to measuring spectrum occupancy, no single method is applicable under all circumstances. Also, the data requirements themselves are highly variable and dependent on the intended use.