Propagation measurements and modeling techniques for 3.5 GHz radar-LTE spectrum sharing

In the United States, government and commercial entities have begun sharing the 3550-3650 MHz military Radar band. The key to ensuring successful sharing is robust interference prediction based on accurate and reliable propagation models. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive propagation measurement and modeling campaign for the 3.5 GHz band. Although existing propagation models are broadly applicable, each one falls short in characterizing the measured propagation in this band. Using simple, openly available geographic information systems data, we have developed a modeling framework that can significantly reduce the measurement-to-model median and Root Mean Square errors.