Spectrum Occupancy Measurements and Analysis in the 2.4-2.7 GHz Band in Urban and Rural Environments

Abstract

Abstract-Continuing proliferation of wireless devices exposes humanity to the reality of the twin challenge posed by finite frequency spectrum and almost infinite demand for the same frequency spectrum, necessitating the need for more ingenious spectrum management techniques. The band 2.4-2.7 GHz was originally created and classified for ISM, 3G, UMTS and WiMAX systems. It has become a frequency band which is generally used by end users due to the fact that it's inexpensive, easy to deploy and enhances frequency re-use. Quite a few measurements have been carried out in countries like France, Germany, India, Romania, UK and USA. This paper presents a study of an outdoor measurement on spectrum occupancy in both rural and urban areas in Kwara State, Nigeria, spanning across the frequency range of 2.4 GHz -2.7 GHz. The results show that the band being investigated is immensely underutilized with upper and lower occupancy values of 22.56% and 0% in urban and rural environments. These results were compared to other measurements conducted globally in this band or closely aligned bands.Index Terms-ISM band, spectrum occupancy, spectrum utilization, UMTS network.

Assessment of Radio Spectrum Profile in Nigeria Using Multi-Band and Multi-Location Radio Spectrum Occupancy Measurements

“…The results show the numerical variations in spectrum occupancy in time, space and frequency. The obtained results reveal spectral utilization range of 3.4% to 11.6%, which is a little higher than the utilization range of 0.00% to 10.79% presented in [1] conducted in Ilorin, North-Central, Nigeria.…”

“…The decision threshold value for respective frequency band in each location is indicated with parallel line on Figure 4. The average measured occupancy or duty cycle, which is defined according to [19] as the fraction of time the signal is present, is computed using the mathematical expression given in [1,3] as:…”

“…However, as demand for and use of radio spectrum is increasing with daily advent of new wireless devices and applications that required radio spectrum, observations have shown clearly that traditional fixed radio spectrum allocation policy is no more effective and efficient in radio spectrum management. For instance, results from several radio spectrum occupancy measurements conducted in different parts of the world have shown that most of the allocated frequency bands under the current fixed radio spectrum allocation policy are not in use most of the time [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Similarly, as reported in [7], the policy has been identified as the main causes of both spectrum scarcity and spectrum underutilization currently experiencing worldwide.…”

Spectrum Occupancy Measurements and Analysis in 2.4 GHz WLAN

“…The 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band is widely used to provide wireless communication using technologies like WLAN, Bluetooth and Zigbee. Several studies [14][15][16][17][18] in this band have demonstrated that spectrum utilization is very low and this can be helpful to meet spectrum demands of future wireless networks by using concepts of opportunistic spectrum access. However, considering the 2.4 GHz ISM band specifications where the signal duration can be on the order of 100-200 µsec with the narrowest frequency resolution bandwidth requirement as low as 1 MHz [19], an accurate characterization of ITWs is a fundamental challenge.…”

Estimation of an Improved Spectrum Sensing Threshold for Cognitive Radio using Smoothed Pseudo Wigner-Ville Distribution

“…A report presenting statistics regarding spectrum utilization showed that even during the high demand period of a political convention such as the one held in 2004 in New York City, only about 13% of the spectrum opportunities were utilized [2]. Further, measurement on radio frequency bands from 30 MHz to 910 MHz was done in Mexico City of San Luis Potosi and showed 11.83% [3], Kwara State of Nigeria at 48.5 MHz to 880 MHz showed 12.02% usage in the urban areas [4], and also at 2.4GHz to 2.7GHz showed 22.56% usage in the urban areas [5], thus, all showing that spectrum was in fact underutilized. These findings also suggest that devices using advanced radio and signal processing technology should be able to exploit underutilized spectrum.…”