Spectrum Sharing

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal agencies, established a Spectrum Sharing Innovation Test-Bed (Test-Bed) pilot program to examine the feasibility of increased sharing between Federal and non-Federal users. This pilot program is an opportunity for the Federal agencies to work cooperatively with industry, researchers, and academia to objectively examine new technologies that can improve management of the nation's airwaves.

Test-Bed Pilot Program

The Test-Bed Pilot Program will evaluate the ability of Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) devices employing spectrum sensing and/or geo-location techniques to share spectrum with land mobile radio systems operating in the 410-420 MHz Federal band and 470-512 MHz non-Federal band. The Test-Bed Pilot Program will be performed in three phases:

1) Equipment Characterization. Equipment employing DSA techniques will be sent to the NTIA Institute for Telecommunication Sciences in Boulder, Colorado and characterization measurements of the DSA capabilities in response to simulated environmental signals will be performed.

2) Evaluation of Capabilities. After successful completion of Phase 1, the DSA capabilities of the equipment in the geographic area of the Test-Bed will be evaluated.

3) Field Operation Evaluation. After successful completion of Phase 2, the DSA equipment will be permitted to transmit in an actual radio frequency signal environment. An automatic signal logging capability will be used during the operation of the Test-Bed to help resolve interference events if they occur. A point-of-contact will also be established to stop Test-Bed operations if interference is reported

Test-Bed Participants:

• Adapt4 LLC
• Adaptrum Inc.
• BAE Systems
• Shared Spectrum Company