# Presentation: 542481

## Spectrum Management Overview

**IGARSS 2006**
**Spectrum Management Seminar**
- July 30, 2006
- Thomas vonDeak
- NASA HQ Spectrum Management Office
- _[Thomas.vonDeak@nasa.gov](mailto:Thomas.vonDeak@nasa.gov)_

- Module 2

- July 30, 2006

## Preface

**Preface**

- While the
- radio spectrum
- is logarithmic,
- the useful portions
- are finite.
- Some portions are
- good for science,
- some for
- communications.

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## Spectrum Management:A Domestic and International Regulatory Function

**Spectrum Management:****A Domestic and International Regulatory Function**

- United Nations

- International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
- (Treaty Status)

**ITU**
**Member**
**Administrations**

**FCC/ ****Non-Gov**

**NTIA/****Gov**

**Department**
**of**
**State**

*NTIA Radio Frequency Spectrum Management Seminar*

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**Notes:**
In an attempt to try to lay some groundwork for the processes I am going to be  discussing this morning, I though it would be a good idea to briefly present the DSB with some of the background as to “WHY” we, the DOD, do Spectrum Management, which includes the spectrum certification, frequency assignment, and Host Nation Coordination processes.

I know you all are aware of the International Telecommunication Union and the role we (the US) play via treaty status with the United Nations.  The US position is of course presented by the department of State and the DOD plays in this arena here [point to GOV bubble] within the US prior to engagement within the ITU.  NTIA is our “official” representative at this level and of course the FCC represents the Non-Gov side of the house.
[CLICK]
The World Radiocommunications Conference, or WRC,  is the forum that convenes every 2-3 years to discuss proposals regarding the International Table of Allocations.  WRC-00 commences in April in Turkey. 

The FCC, NTIA and Congress make changes to the US National Tables of Allocation, and the International Tables of Allocation are normally changed via the WRC recommendations to the ITU.

## Regulatory Agencies

_***ITU***_ **– International Telecommunication Union – the international spectrum management **_***treaty***_** organization...a United Nations organization.   189 nations members.  Based in Geneva, Switzerland.**
_***FCC***_** – Federal Communications Commission – U.S. spectrum        ****	****  management regulatory agency, regulating all non-Federal Government spectrum.  An independent regulatory agency.**
_***NTIA***_** – National Telecommunications and Information Administration, regulating all Federal Government spectrum.   A unit of the Department of Commerce.  The Executive Branch telecommunications policy maker, and the President’s  principal adviser on telecommunications policy.****    **
- (Also, each administration has its own regulatory agency.  The US is one of the only administrations that has a gov’t and non-gov’t regulatory structure.

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## International Framework

- International Telecummunications Union (ITU)
- World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC)
- Table of Frequency Allocations
- ITU Radio Regulations
- Technical Studies supporting WRC and producing Recommendations/Reports
- Registration of Assignments

- Introduction to Spectrum Management

- Regional Organizations
- Regional co-ordination
- Harmonization
- e.g. European Commission
- Bilateral Agreements
- Cross-border co-ordination

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## REGIONAL SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT FORA

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## Why Spectrum Managers need to Consider International Aspects

**“****The radio frequency spectrum is a limited natural resource and must be used rationally, efficiently and economically, so that countries and groups of countries may have equitable access to it.   Radio waves propagate in space with no regard for political frontiers.” ITU**
- Need to manage interference across borders
- Ensure inter-working of systems in different countries
- Common approaches to radio use among countries – increases efficiency
- Ensure spectrum for systems that operate over more than one country or in international areas

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## RF Spectrum Regulatory Structure

- Nationally, in the United States and its possessions, the use of the RF spectrum is administrated by:
- Federal Communications Commission
- National Telecommunications and Information Administration
- Together, the FCC and NTIA act as chief advisory agencies to the State Department on International spectrum regulatory issues.
- The World Radio Conference and its preparatory processes.
- Bi-lateral coordination of RF usage with other administrations.

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## U.S. Cross-Border Agreements

- The United States has entered into many agreements relating to use of frequencies in its border areas
- Broadcast Agreements: 9 with Mexico, 8 with Canada – Radio and TV allotments
- Non-Broadcast: 33 with Canada, 21 with Mexico – mostly agreements on how to coordinate stations in particular bands
- NTIA Reference:  NTIA Manual Chapter 3
- FCC reference http://www.fcc.gov/ib/sand/agree/

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## RF Spectrum Regulatory Structure(continued)

- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), acting under the authority of Congress, is responsible for the allocation and assignment of frequencies to non-Government users.
- Non-government operators pursue licensing of their transmitters through the FCC.

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## RF Spectrum Regulatory Structure(continued)

- The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is responsible for the allocation and assignment of frequencies to departments and agencies of the U.S. Government
- The NTIA performs its functions through the assistance of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) and its subcommittees, of which NASA is an active member.  The IRAC is responsible for maintaining the National Table of Frequency Allocations.
- NASA commonly pursues its frequency requirements through the NTIA and IRAC for transmitters that NASA has _direct_ control of (may be through lease arrangement).

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## RF Spectrum Regulatory Structure(continued)

- In the US there are three types of spectrum administered by the FCC and the NTIA.
- Non-Government
- Government Only
- Shared (Non-Government and Government)
- FCC has the responsibility for licensing non-Government systems.
- NTIA has the responsibility for licensing Government systems.
- FCC and NTIA govern all spectrum together (for US and Possessions).

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## Spectrum Management

**SCIENTIFIC EVALUATION**
**ENGINEERING PROCESSES, AND**
**ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES**
**  **
**     ****WHICH PERMIT A VARIETY OF                                          TELECOMMUNICATIONS OPERATIONS TO:**
**OPERATE EFFECTIVELY, AND**
**SHARE THE RADIO SPECTRUM WITHOUT INTERFERENCE**

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## Role of Spectrum Management

- Technical efficiency
- Minimizing interference
- Economic efficiency
- Allocating and assigning spectrum to its most economically valuable use
- Harmonization
- Public policy
- Public services (e.g. Public broadcasting, safety, defense, etc.), Technological diversity

- Introduction to Spectrum Management

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## interference

_**Interference**_**: The effect of unwanted energy due to one or a combination of emissions, radiations, or inductions upon reception in a radiocommunication system manifested by any performance degradation,  misinterpretation, or loss of information which could be extracted in the absence of such unwanted energy. (RR)    **

**See also:**
**  ****1.  Accepted interference**
**  ****2.  Permissible interference**
**  ****3.  Harmful interference  **

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## Radio Regulation Mechanisms

- Control of Interference

- _ALLOCATION_
- Frequency separation of stations of different services

- _REGULATORY PROTECTION_
- e.g. No. 22.2: Non-GSO to protect GSO (FSS and BSS)

- _POWER LIMITS_
- PFD to protect TERR services / EIRP to protect SPACE services / EPFD to protect GSO from Non-GSO

- _COORDINATION_
- between Administrations to arrive at interference-free operation /
- Process and Procedure described in RR

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## Spectrum Management Paradigm

- The Four Components of Spectrum Management
- Services: some combination of services co-exist well
- Allocations
- Allotments
- Assignments
- Regulations intended to control interference levels affecting Services operating within their allocations.
- Recommendations providing information and guidelines for compatibility: inter-service and intra-service

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## Legal Structure

**Services** are given allocations in specific frequency bands:
- Earth Exploration Satellite Service (**EESS**, which includes meteorological services), renamed Remote Sensing (**RS**),
- Space Research Service (SRS), renamed Space Radiocommunication Applications (SRA)
- Radio Astronomy Service (RAS),
- Fixed Service (FS, point-to-point on the ground),
- Fixed-Satellite Service (FSS, earth to/from a satellite),
- Inter-Satellite Service (ISS, space-to-space usage, e.g., TDRSS),
- Radiolocation (e.g., airport, shipboard, and terrestrial radars),
- Radionavigation (e.g., GPS, LORAN),
- Amateur Radio,  Mobile (i.e., from moving vehicles), etc.

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## Legal Structure

- Services may have different **allocations** in different bands :
**Primary Allocation** - Equal rights/privileges with all other primary users in the band.  -  Users _are required to cooperate_ with other primary users when interference exists. -  Newcomers must protect existing band assignments recorded in the ITU's frequency register.
**Secondary Allocation** - _Cannot interfere_ with primary users.- Secondary users _have no protection_ from interference caused  by primary users.
- Coordination mechanisms exist, work, and _can be expensive;_
- engineering in advance to avoid/mitigate interference is best.

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## Legal Structure

- Allocations have **exceptions** :
**Footnotes** to the regulations are used for
- 	-  additional allocations,
- 	-  constraints on allocations, and
- 	-  exceptions to allocations,
-    and are sometimes country-specific. They include notices of non-official band usage which are generally honored by the community.
**Non-Interfering Basis** (NIB)  - cannot interfere with, nor claim protection from, anyone recognized by any allocation, including by footnote. Such licenses are sometimes granted to very low power devices subject to the above constraints.

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## Legal Structure

- Rarely does one service have exclusive use of a band:
- Sharing and determining the parameters that allow sharing are crucial to obtaining and maintaining band allocations.
- _Intelligent compromise is the essence of existence_.
- Before a service can be assigned an new allocation in a (new) band,
- it must show that it is compatible with other services already there.

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## Regulatory Regulation Modification

- Two paths must be followed to affect a change:
- Political:  A proposed change must be put on a future WRC agenda at an earlier WRC (meaning a 3 - 6 year lag).
- Technical: Each agenda item is studied by cognizant technical bodies to determine the effect(s) of the proposed change and their results returned to a WRC for action.
- The final decisions are made at WRC’s with technical and
-      political considerations at play.
- One country = one vote, although usually by consensus.
- WRC-03: ~160 countries attended, 138 eligible to vote (no dues, no vote).

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## Regulatory Regulation Modification: Flow Diagram

- Change Flow

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## WRC Results of Recent Past

**WRC-97:**
- Massive upgrade of active remote sensing bands to primary allocations.
- Upgraded X-band Space-Earth to primary allocation worldwide.
- Obtained a new Space-Earth allocation at 26 GHz.
- Realigned many passive remote sensing bands between 50 to 60 GHz.
- OVERALL ASSESSMENT: 14 clear wins,  1 bonus win, 1 "official  win", 1 partial win, and 2 draws (fights deferred to WRC-00)  -- Not bad!

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## WRC-00:
Realigned passive bands above 71 GHz, 
Extended top of range from 275 GHz to 1 THz,
Staked a claim to submm-wave bands via footnote.
Protected 18.7 GHz passive remote sensing band (from WRC-97).
Protected the civilian GPS bands, added L5 band and Space-Space protection.

- Realigned passive bands above 71 GHz,
- Extended top of range from 275 GHz to 1 THz,
- Staked a claim to submm-wave bands via footnote.
- Protected 18.7 GHz passive remote sensing band (from WRC-97).
- Protected the civilian GPS bands, added L5 band and Space-Space protection.

**WRC Results of Recent Past**

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## WRC-03:
Return of quest for 6 MHz for active remote sensing  between 420 - 470 MHz.  Success this time, courtesy of our overseas friends!
Re-examined 35.5-36.0 GHz active sensing band,
 yielded higher PFD limit on us – we’re OK.
Re-examination of passive ~37 GHz band deferred to WRC 07.
Active sensing band around 5.3 GHz extended from 210 MHz to 320 MHz, but protection against outdoor RLANs lost at low end.
Affects narrowband SARs only, they can move to high end.
Up/down links near 1.4-1.427 GHz passive band given a secondary allocation pending further study and report to WRC 07 (?).

- Return of quest for 6 MHz for active remote sensing  between 420 - 470 MHz.  Success this time, courtesy of our overseas friends!
- Re-examined 35.5-36.0 GHz active sensing band,
-  yielded higher PFD limit on us – we’re OK.
- Re-examination of passive ~37 GHz band deferred to WRC 07.
- Active sensing band around 5.3 GHz extended from 210 MHz to 320 MHz, but protection against outdoor RLANs lost at low end.
- Affects narrowband SARs only, they can move to high end.
- Up/down links near 1.4-1.427 GHz passive band given a secondary allocation pending further study and report to WRC 07 (?).

**WRC Results of Recent Past**

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## Future WRC Agenda Items

**WRC-07:**
- Consider possible EESS extensions to active and passive bands near 9.5 GHz.
- Possible upgrade of passive sensing allocations around 10.6-10.68 and 36-37  GHz.
- Address out-of-band interference to passive services.
- Consider requirements for wideband aeronautical telemetry (e.g., unmanned aerial vehicles) in bands between 3 and 30 GHz.
- Report on 1.4 GHz feeder link interference to passive.
**WRC-10:**
- Consider _all_ allocations in frequency bands above 275 GHz (deferred from 07 agenda).

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## Summary	

- Spectrum Management is a political-technical blend.
- Spectrum Management is necessary to prevent the spoiling of scientific observations and the disruption of communications ; it is ignored or neglected at our peril.
- National and international mechanisms (and organizations) exist to allow such management to take place.
- It is necessary for us to understand and honor the rules set in place, and to notify others of what we are doing so that we may remain protected.

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## And in conclusion:An observation...

**Radio frequency management is done by experts who meld years of experience with a curious blend of regulations, electronics, politics and not a little bit of larceny.  They justify requirements, horse-trade, coerce, bluff, and gamble with an intuition that cannot be taught other than by long experience. **
**	****	****	****Vice Admiral Jon L. Boyes, U.S. Navy **

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