BPA Spectrum Study

The current system of allocating bands in the radio spectrum was developed over fifty years ago, and a review of the needs of scientific users is in order. In recent years, the explosion of new wireless technologies has significantly increased the demand for access to the radio spectrum. The increased demand has led to discussions in both government and industry about new ways of thinking about spectrum allocation and use. Scientific users of the radio spectrum (such as radio astronomers and earth scientists using remotely sensed data) have an important stake in the policies which will result from this activity. This survey of the scientific uses of the spectrum will identify the needs of today’s scientific activities and assist spectrum managers in balancing the requirements of the scientific users of the spectrum with other interests. The survey will be carried out by an NRC committee over a period of 18 months.


Committee and Staff Members
Committee Membership	Marshall H. Cohen, California Institute of Technology, Co-Chair Albin J. Gasiewski, University of Colorado at Boulder, Co-Chair Donald Backer, University of California, Berkeley Roberta Balstad, Columbia University Steven W. Ellingson, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Darrel Emerson, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Aaron S. Evans, Stony Brook University Joel Johnson, The Ohio State University Paul Kolodzy, Kolodzy Consulting, LLC David Kunkee, The Aerospace Corporation Molly K. Macauley, Resources for the Future, Inc. James M. Moran, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Lee G. Mundy, University of Maryland at College Park Timothy J. Pearson, California Institute of Technology Christopher Ruf, University of Michigan Frederick S. Solheim, Radiometrics Corporation David H. Staelin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alan B. Tanner, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NRC Staff	Don Shapero, Director, BPA Brian Dewhurst, Program Officer, ASEB David Lang, Senior Program Associate, BPA

The committee will prepare a report exploring the scientific uses of the radio spectrum which will:

Portray the science that is currently being conducted using the radio spectrum;
Identify the spectrum requirements necessary to conduct research;
Identify the anticipated future spectrum requirements for at least the next 10 years; and
Advise spectrum policy-makers on the value to the nation of accommodating scientific uses of the spectrum, recognizing the need to balance multiple communities.

The committee will comment on the spectrum use by the relevant scientific communities but will not make recommendations on the allocation of specific frequencies.

Future Meetings	Past Meetings
	March 29-30, 2008 Boulder, CO This meeting was closed in its entirety.
	June 12-13, 2007 Keck Center of The National Academies Washington, D.C. Agenda — Presentations
	September 29-30, 2007 Beckman Center of The National Academies Irvine, CA Agenda — Presentations
	December 17-18, 2007 Beckman Center of The National Academies Irvine, CA Agenda — Presentations

The U.S. National Research Council’s Spectrum Study Committee will hold a public oral session, chaired by Dr. Marshall Cohen (Caltech, U.S.), at the 2008 American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 12:30 – 1:45pm.

Several questions will be posed to the community during the session. These are reproduced in the “Feedback” section below.

The U.S. National Research Council’s Spectrum Study Committee will hold a public oral session, chaired by Dr. Albin J. Gasiewski (University of Colorado at Boulder, U.S.), at the 2008 USNC-URSI meeting in Boulder, Colorado on Thursday, January 3, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

Several questions will be posed to the community during the session. These are reproduced in the “Feedback” section below.

The U.S. National Research Council’s Spectrum Study Committee will hold a public oral session, chaired by Dr. Albin J. Gasiewski (University of Colorado at Boulder, U.S.), at the 2007 American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, California on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 7:30 p.m.

Several questions will be posed to the community during the session. These are reproduced in the “Feedback” section below.

The U.S. National Research Council’s Spectrum Study Committee held a public oral session, chaired by Dr. Albin J. Gasiewski (University of Colorado at Boulder, U.S.), at the 2007 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) in Barcelona, Spain on Tuesday, July 24.

The goal of the session was for the committee to communicate directly with the remote sensing community to discuss its concerns and collect its input. The session will also help to generate awareness of and interest in the study. Involving the broad community is critical to the report's outcome and impact, and so the committee very much looks forward to the remote sensing community's input.

Several questions posed to the community were asked during the session. These are reproduced in the “Feedback” section below.

What are our most important measurements?
What is our “Wish List” science capability?
What are the biggest threats to our capabilities?
Can we afford to give anything up?
What non-traditional sensing techniques should be considered?
What mitigation strategies should be considered?
Needed: Documentation of RFI interfering in a protected band

To send comments or suggestions to the committee, please send e-mail to bpa@nas.edu. Feedback will be posted on this website as it is received

The committee is pleased to acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Commerce, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.