Thoughts on military spectrum relocation strategy

A move has begun by the government to relocate incumbent military radio frequency bands to accommodate the expanding broadband wireless industry. This move potentially poses tremendous challenges to the Department of Defense (DoD) in cost, disruption in service and degradation to the existing military communication infrastructures [1], [2]. New thoughts on a usage characteristics centric spectrum management concept are discussed in this paper. Broadband wireless vis-a-vis military tactical radios usage has unique and different coverage requirements. Thus, by considering their respective complementary coverage and usage needs, together with the military´s ability to apply Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) and the emerging spectrum fragmentation approaches, an optimum future spectrum allocation strategic plan can be formulated. A study of the possibility and suitability of relocating military usage of frequencies to lower than 2 GHz is warranted.