A Survey of the Scientific Uses of the Radio Spectrum

Summary

The current system of allocating bands in the radio spectrum was developed over 50 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.

Project Information

• Statement of Task
• Committee Members and NRC Staff
• Past Events
• Community Input
• Town Hall Meetings
• Sponsor
• The National Academies' Current Projects System

Statement of Task

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.

Committee Members and NRC Staff

Marshall H. Cohen, Co-chair, California Institute of Technology
Albin J. Gasiewski, Co-chair, University of Colorado at Boulder
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, Program Officer, BPA

Past Events

Community Input

The committee seeks input from the community on several questions:

• 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. Community Input will be posted on this Web site as it is received.

Town Hall Meetings

American Astronomical Society Town Hall Meeting – Austin, Texas
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

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.

USNC-URSI Town Hall Meeting – Boulder, Colorado
Thursday, January 3, 2008

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. .

American Geophysical Union Town Hall Meeting – San Francisco, California
Thursday, December 13, 2007

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.

IGARSS 2007 Town Hall Meeting, July 24, 2007

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.

Sponsor

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

The National Academies' Current Projects System

The National Academies' Current Projects System maintains the public record of a committees' activities compliant to Section 15 of the Federal Adivisory Committee Act.  Visit the Committee on a Survey of the Scientific Uses of the Radio Spectrum Current Projects page for more information.