Collaborative Research: Enhancing Access to Radio Spectrum for Real-time Monitoring and Control

这个EAR(增强无线频谱接入)计划是为了响应2010年总统关于释放无线宽带革命的备忘录而建立的，该备忘录是国会授权的，是国家宽带计划的一部分。它在2010年的国情咨文和后来的2012年《中产阶级减税和创造就业法案》(该法案的三分之一以上涉及无线电频谱)、2012年PCAST报告[总统科学和技术顾问委员会](该报告呼吁大幅增加频谱共享的使用)和2013年总统备忘录(扩大美国在无线创新方面的领导地位)中被提及。该计划的目的是确定大胆的新概念，这些概念有可能有助于显著提高无线电频谱利用的效率，保护被动侦听服务，并提高传统上服务不足的美国人从当前和未来的无线产品和服务中受益的能力。这对国家的经济影响很大，正如2015年初FCC上一次以超过450亿美元的价格竞标65 MHz频谱所看到的那样。它将使科学、工程、工业、民用和军事用户能够使用射频频谱。本项目将分析频谱稀缺的程度，因为它涉及到频谱利用的优化。蜂窝业一直在要求为移动宽带提供更多频谱，称其为支持更高移动数据服务“需求”的“供应”。更高的频谱容量肯定可以更高效地支持以数据为中心的服务。然而，无线宽带生态系统的其他变量可以减轻现有蜂窝基础设施的负担，它们可以共同起到替代更多频谱的作用。PI的初步模型(基于系统动力学技术)已经表明，通过有效利用现有网络基础设施(例如Wi-Fi卸载)，可以降低对更多频谱的需求。为了使现有模型全面且面向未来，他们计划通过添加拍卖数据等经济参数和最近出现的频谱再耕种、小蜂窝以及在未经许可的频段部署LTE等技术参数来扩展该模型。这项研究还将纳入经济研究和驱动因素，以更好地了解蜂窝运营商使用新频谱的效率，以及它如何影响他们在未经许可的频率上部署数据卸载技术的计划。建议的项目不仅限于研究活动，还包括开发阶段；研究部分将允许他们定义技术和经济变量之间的数学关系，而开发部分将产生移动宽带生态系统的工作和交互模型，以演示各种技术和经济变量对频谱分配的影响。该项目的结果不仅将检验频谱稀缺假说，还将提供未来频谱利用的预测，并将引发对政府和监管机构的建议，以充分分配频谱。

This EARS (Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum) program was founded in response to the 2010 Presidential Memorandum on Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution mandated by Congress as part of the National Broadband Plan. It was referenced in 2010 State of the Union and later on the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (More than 1/3 of the bill deals with radio spectrum), the PCAST 2012 Report [President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology] (which calls for vastly increased use of spectrum sharing) and the 2013 Presidential memo (Expanding America's Leadership in Wireless Innovation). The aim of this program is to identify bold new concepts with the potential to contribute to significant improvements in the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization, protection of passive sensing services, and in the ability for traditionally underserved Americans to benefit from current and future wireless-enabled goods and services. The impact is large on the economics of the Nation as seen on the last FCC bidding of 65MHz of the spectrum for over $45 billion early in 2015. It will enable access to science, engineering, industry, civilian and military users of the RF spectrum. This project will analyze the magnitude of spectrum scarcity as it relates to the optimization of spectrum utilization. The cellular industry has been asking for more spectrum for mobile broadband by calling it a "Supply" to support higher "Demand" of mobile data services. Higher amount of spectrum can surely support data-centric services more efficiently. However, other variables of Wireless Broadband Eco-systems can lower the burden on existing cellular infrastructure and they can collectively play a role of "substitute" for more spectrum. The PI's preliminary model (based on System Dynamics techniques) already showed that the need for more spectrum could be lowered by making efficient use of existing network infrastructure (e.g. Wi-Fi Offloading). To make the existing model comprehensive and future-proof, they plan to expand it by adding economic parameters like auction data and recently emerged technical parameters like Spectrum Re-farming, Small Cells, and LTE deployment in unlicensed bands. This research will also incorporate economic studies and drivers to better understand the efficiency at which the new spectrum is being utilized by cellular operators and how it affects their plans to deploy data offloading techniques on unlicensed frequencies. The proposed project is not limited to "research" activities but it includes "development" phase as well; the research part will allow them to define the mathematical relationships among the technical and economic variables and the development part will produce a working and interactive model of mobile broadband eco-system to demonstrate the effects of various technical and economic variables on spectrum allocation. The project outcome not only will test the Spectrum Scarcity hypotheses but will also provide future projections for spectrum utilization and will trigger recommendations to government and regulatory bodies for sufficient allocation of spectrum.