Availability Metrics for Frequency Management
Abstract
One approach to improving spectrum usage efficiency is to manage the scheduling of frequencies more effectively. The use of metrics to analyze frequency scheduling could aid frequency managers in a variety of ways. However, the basic question of what is a good metric for representing and analyzing spectral usage remains unanswered. Some metrics capture spectral occupancy. This paper introduces metrics that change the focus from occupancy to availability. Just because spectrum is not in use does not mean it is available for use. A significant factor in creating unused but unusable spectrum is fragmentation. Mission profiles for spectrum usage can be considered rectangles in a time versus frequency grid. Even intelligent placement of these rectangles (i.e,, the scheduling of several missions' spectrum usage) can not always utilize all portions of the spectrum. Availability metrics provide a way of numerically answering the question: What was the probability that another mission could have been scheduled? This is a much more practical question than: Did we occupy the entire spectrum? If another mission couldn't have been scheduled, then the entire spectrum was effectively used, even if the entire spectrum wasn't occupied.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA426485
Entities
People
- Charles H. Jones