Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2023)
Recipient: THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2017-11-30 to 2019-09-30
Current total value of award: $2549223.65
Description: NASA GSFC OFFICE OF SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT HAS THE PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY FOR MANAGING USE OF S BAND FOR ALL NASA OPERATIONS AND IS KNOWN AS THE FACE OF S BAND TO ALL FEDERAL AGENCIES. AS S BAND IS HEAVILY USED BY NASA NETWORKS AND MISSIONS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DOD COORDINATION AMONG THE AGENCIES HAPPENS FREQUENTLY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR FOR SYSTEMS TO COEXIST IN THE SPECTRUM BY PREVENTING THE OCCURRENCE OF INTERFERENCE TO EACH OTHER S SYSTEMS OPERATING IN THE BAND. S BAND IS HEAVILY CONGESTED AND CONTAINS MANY RESTRICTIONS ON ITS USAGE. THE CONGESTION IS GETTING WORSE EACH YEAR AS FEDERAL AGENCIES CONTINUE TO LOSE ACCESS TO SPECTRUM IN OTHER BANDS THROUGH FCC AUCTIONS AND ARE REALLOCATED TO S BAND BY NTIA. AS THIS TASK ORDER INVOLVES THE STUDY OF S BAND IT IS BENEFICIAL TO NASA AS THE MANAGER OF S BAND TO BE INVOLVED IN PROVIDING GUIDANCE AND EXPERTISE TO THE DON AND AEROSPACE WHEN CONDUCTING STUDIES ON S BAND AS A CANDIDATE FOR REALLOCATION.  THE DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICE DON CIO INSURES ACCESS TO THE RADIO FREQUENCY SPECTRUM FOR NAVY AND MARINE CORPS SYSTEMS TO PROMOTE PROTECT AND ENHANCE THE NATIONS SECURITY AND TO HELP ENSURE THE PROTECTION OF AMERICAN WAR FIGHTERS. IN RESPONSE TO THE AWS 3 AUCTION THE DOD US NAVY HAS TO REALLOCATE AND OR VACATE CERTAIN RADIO FREQUENCY BANDS. NUMEROUS NAVY AND MARINE CORPS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS MAY BE IMPACTED AND ACTIONS ARE REQUIRED TO EVALUATE THE POSSIBILITY OF RELOCATION OR SPECTRUM SHARING WITH COMMERCIAL USERS AND OR IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL MITIGATION TECHNIQUES. IN PARTICULAR THE MARINE CORPS AN MRC 142 C MOBILE POINT TO POINT COMMUNICATIONS MUST VACATE THE BAND IT CURRENTLY OPERATES IN BY JANUARY 2019. ADDITIONALLY PROPOSED UPGRADES TO EXISTING SYSTEMS WILL HAVE TO BE EVALUATED TO DETERMINE THEIR TECHNOLOGY READINESS TO SUPPORT IN BOTH AN OPERATIONAL AND TRAINING ENVIRONMENT. IT IS ANTICIPATED THIS PROJECT WILL RELY ON INFORMATION ANALYSES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM OTHER FREQUENCY BANDS SELECTED FOR VACATING OR MONITORING FUNDED USING THE SPECTRUM RELOCATION FUND.