Broadband Spectrum Survey Measurements for Cognitive Radio Applications

Abstract

It is well known that the existing spectrum licensing system results in a gross under-utilization of the frequency spectrum. Spectrum background measurements – spectrum surveys – provide useful data for spectrum regulation, planning or finding frequency niches for spectrum sharing. Dynamic spectrum sharing as a main goal of cognitive radio (CR) is the modern option on how to optimize usage of the frequency spectrum. A spectrum survey measurement system is introduced with results obtained from a variety of markedly different scenarios allowing us, unlike other studies, to focus on wideband and fast spectrum scans. The sensitivity of the receiver is no worse than -113 dBm in the whole band. The utilization of the frequency spectrum is analyzed to prove its under-utilization and to show spectrum sharing opportunities. This was shown to be true in the frequency band higher than 2.5 GHz. A comparison with other spectrum survey campaigns is provided.