Hat Creek Radio Observatory National Radio Dynamic Zone Prototype

该项目加强了对射电天文设施免受射频(RF)干扰的保护，并提供了早期经验教训，以便为未来支持一系列频谱共享需求的国家无线电动态区的发展提供信息。目前，射电天文设施及其观测受到保护，方法是禁止特定频段内的所有传输，要求其他射频用户协调其在特定频段内的操作，或指定无线电静默区，禁止在所有频率上进行不协调的传输。然而，各种类型的无线设备越来越多地使用射频频谱，据信会增加环境射频噪声的水平。此外，对频谱日益增长的需求正迫使不同无线电服务之间增加频谱共享。需要新的和创新的手段，使射电天文设施和其他无源频谱用户能够与有源服务共存。该项目通过以下方式促成这些挑战：在一个有代表性的射电天文观测台--加利福尼亚州哈特克里克射电观测台--对射频噪声进行系统调查；推广现有的商业软件产品谷歌频谱接入系统，以支持通信和射电天文学之间的频谱共享；在哈特克里克测试扩展的频谱共享软件；探索射电天文设施与其他用户之间双向共享频谱的新方法。该项目的更广泛影响包括：旨在为社区广泛采用的射频噪声研究的技术和标准；关于噪声测量和频谱共享的讲习班，将射电天文学和其他社区聚集在一起，同时促进共同解决方案的开发；向监管机构通报涉及频谱共享的行业；以及提高射电天文学在存在大量射频干扰的环境中运行的能力。该项目有四个研究重点。(1)评估Hat Creek射电天文台的射频环境，以编目、分类和确定最重要的干扰源。(2)进行远程管理的纵向射频噪声调查，使用基于云的数据共享架构将所有数据公开作为更广泛的研究社区的基准，该架构可根据研究人员的需求对原始数据执行不同的隐私保护转换。(3)扩展现有的谷歌频谱接入系统软件产品，以支持自动射电天文频谱协调，覆盖1 GHz至15 GHz(工作将由谷歌作为未获资助的合作者完成)。(4)从3-Tier(在美国CBRS频段运行)、自动频率协调(计划在美国6 GHz频段使用)、通知现任者(由美国NTIA为未来频段提出)和基于运营研究的理论方法，研究新的潜在双向频谱共享架构。四次推进的结果将使人们能够初步定义未来国家无线电动态区的要求和操作程序，特别关注从当前的手动协调过程到未来的自动化机制的演变。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project enhances protection of radio astronomy facilities from radio frequency (RF) interference, and provides early lessons learned to inform the development of future National Radio Dynamic Zones that support a range of spectrum sharing needs. Currently, radio astronomy facilities and their observations are protected by prohibiting all transmissions in specific frequency bands, requiring other RF users to coordinate their operations in specific bands, or by designating radio quiet zones within which uncoordinated transmissions are prohibited at all frequencies. However, increasing usage of the RF spectrum by wireless devices of all kinds is believed to be increasing the level of ambient RF noise. Further, the increasing demand for spectrum is forcing increased spectrum sharing between disparate radio services. New and innovative means are required to enable co-existence of radio astronomy facilities and other passive spectrum users with active services. This project contributes to these challenges by: performing a systematic survey of RF noise at a representative radio astronomy observatory, the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in California; extending an existing commercial software product, the Google Spectrum Access System, to support spectrum sharing between communications and radio astronomy; testing the extended spectrum sharing software at Hat Creek; and exploring new approaches for bidirectional spectrum sharing between radio astronomy facilities and other users. Broader impacts of the project include techniques and standards for RF noise studies intended for broad adoption by the community; workshops on noise measurement and spectrum sharing that bring together radio astronomy and other communities while stimulating development of common solutions; informing regulators about the trades involved in spectrum sharing; and improving the ability of radio astronomy to operate in environments with large amounts of RF interference.The project has four research thrusts. (1) Assess the RF environment at Hat Creek Radio Observatory to catalog, classify and identify the most significant interference sources. (2) Conduct a longitudinal RF noise survey, remotely managed, making all data openly available as a baseline for the broader research community, using a cloud-based architecture for data sharing that enables different privacy-protecting transformations on the raw data to be performed depending on the needs of the researcher. (3) Extend the existing Google Spectrum Access System software product to support automated radio astronomy spectrum coordination, covering 1 GHz to 15 GHz (work to be done by Google as an unfunded collaborator). (4) Examine new potential bidirectional spectrum sharing architectures starting from 3-Tier (operational in the US CBRS band), automated frequency coordination (planned for use in the US 6 GHz band), informing incumbent (proposed by US NTIA for future bands), and an Operations Research based theoretical approach. Results from the four thrusts will enable preliminary definition of the requirements and operating procedures for future National Radio Dynamic Zones, with a particular focus on evolution from current manual coordination processes to future automated mechanisms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.