Logistics

Workshop Description

The third workshop sponsored by NITRD’s Wireless Spectrum R&D (WSRD) Senior Steering Group was held in July 2012 in Boulder Colorado. The purpose of the workshop was to engage representatives of the academic sector on potential research topic areas that could move the nation towards the development of innovative new spectrum sharing technologies. The academic researchers were asked to come prepared with specific project ideas that, within the context of several recent major national spectrum initiatives, hold particular promise for helping to meet the nation’s spectrum sharing goals. The ideas were discussed among the workshop participants, which included representatives of the government, public safety, and industrial sectors. An analysis of each of the proposed research projects, based on the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) methodology, was conducted. While no binding decisions were taken by the workshop with respect to specific projects, the highest-ranking projects could be broadly categorized by the following general topic areas:

  • Mechanisms for sharing spectrum
  • Methods for protecting privacy, security, and integrity
  • Means of enforcement
  • Metrics for dynamic spectrum monitoring, measurements, and analyses

Two of the projects presented at the workshop were concurrently submitted to the NSF EARS program and were successful in being awarded funding. The solicitation for the second year of the EARS program specifically included the four major topic areas identified at this workshop, and funding for additional research projects presented at this third workshop is anticipated during this second call for proposals.

This third WSRD workshop was successful at moving beyond discussions about spectrum sharing  toward specific actions to facilitate research, development, experimentation, and testing by researchers to explore innovative spectrum-sharing technologies.

Documents/Publications/References