Shared Spectrum Company performed spectrum occupancy measurements from January 2004 until August 2005 for the National Science Foundation (NSF) under subcontract to the University of Kansas. The project consisted of building a high dynamic range spectrum measurement system, developing a data collection and processing system, and conducting spectrum occupancy measurements at six locations.

The study goal was to determine the spectrum occupancy in each band (30 MHz-3,000 MHz) at multiple locations. The studies foundsignificant available spectrum in most bands:

• » The average occupancy over all of the locations was 5.2%
• » The maximum total spectrum occupancy was 13.1% (New York City)
• » The minimum total spectrum occupancy was 1% (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)

The measurements are described in detail in six separate reports which can be obtained below:

 

“Spectrum Occupancy Measurements, Location 1 of 6: Riverbend Park, Great Falls, Virginia”,

Mark A. McHenry, Karl Steadman, Shared Spectrum Company Report, August, 2005.
Download (15MB) in .doc or .pdf

“Spectrum Occupancy Measurements, Location 2 of 6: Tyson’s Square Center, Vienna, Virginia, April 9, 2004”,

Mark A. McHenry Karl Steadman, Shared Spectrum Company Report, August, 2005.
Download (15MB) in .doc or .pdf

“Spectrum Occupancy Measurements, Location 3 of 6: National Science Foundation Building Roof, April 16, 2004, Revision 2”,

Mark A. McHenry, Shyam Chunduri, Shared Spectrum Company Report, August, 2005.
Download (15MB) .doc or .pdf

“Spectrum Occupancy Measurements, Location 4 of 6: Republican National Convention, New York City, New York, August 30, 2004 - September 3, 2004, Revision 2”,

Mark A. McHenry, Dan McCloskey, George Lane-Roberts, Shared Spectrum Company Report, August, 2005.
Download (30MB) .doc or .pdf

“Spectrum Occupancy Measurements, Location 5 of 6: National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Green Bank, West Virginia, October 10 -11, 2004, Revision 3”

Mark A. McHenry Karl Steadman, Shared Spectrum Company Report, August, 2005.
Download (10MB) .doc or .pdf

“Spectrum Occupancy Measurements, Location 6 of 6: Shared Spectrum Building Roof, Vienna, Virginia, December 15-16, 2004”,

Mark A. McHenry, Dan McCloskey, Jim Bates, Shared Spectrum Company Report, August, 2005.
Download (10MB) .doc or .pdf

 

The bar graphs below provide the average of the occupancy in each band (Figure 1) and at each location (Figure 2).

 

Figure 1. Spectrum occupancy in each band averaged over six locations

 

Figure 2. Spectrum occupancy at each location

These low occupancy levels show that there is significant spectrum for a Dynamic Spectrum Sharing Radio (DSS) to provide service. In rural areas, there is enough unused spectrum for a DSS Radio to provide ten times the capacity of all existing wireless devices together.