Spectrum is a finite and valuable resource. Regulating its use is becoming both increasingly complex and critical

There is ever greater usage of spectrum for growing traffic and new applications and increased use of higher frequencies. Better usage and management of existing spectrum must be an essential part of any spectrum strategy. Policy decisions relating to spectrum release and liberalisation, as well as licence enforcement, should be informed by evidence of actual spectrum use which can only be provided by effective spectrum monitoring. The need to detect and respond quickly to frequency interference (both accidental and deliberate) is essential.

Spectrum sharing is very topical as regulators seek to liberate more of the existing “premium” spectrum for new users. In the US, the FCC has allowed unlicensed use of spectrum white spaces unused by TV around 700 MHz. Many other countries are looking at the possibilities. Regulators, academics and industry are working to understand which strategies will allow different devices to access and share spectrum without stepping on the primary users or on each other. Here, effective monitoring and policing are essential. Problems of interference become more likely and more critical and there is a need to monitor usage where problems might actually occur, not from a distance. This requires a much more proactive approach to collecting data, rather than simply reacting to problems.

RFeye can help national regulators get the most out of spectrum. It can be cost-effectively deployed as an in-vehicle mobile monitoring system for comprehensive geo-mapping and analysis of spectrum usage over large areas. RFeye nodes can also be deployed in real-time networks for continuous monitoring of the radio spectrum. These networks enable in-depth intelligence gathering about local spectrum usage, particularly important for dense urban spectrum environments. They also support real database querying to facilitate interference-free sharing of spectrum.

Read about Battlefield spectrum planning