Shared Spectrum Access for the DoD

The United States (U.S.) Department of Defense (DoD) must anticipate and balance military, civil, and commercial interests in spectrum. Increasing demands are being placed on spectrum access, both domestic and abroad, as a result of current demands for global mobility, electromagnetic spectrum requirements of both outdated and future defense systems, and loss of military access to certain frequency bands due to spectrum legislation. Based on these conditions, the DoD should identify shared spectrum access opportunities and explore dynamic spectrum access technologies to help meet the growing spectrum needs of the military. This paper discusses a few cases of current and future shared spectrum access environments. The case studies highlight the circumstances for spectrum sharing and utilization of military and commercial frequency bands that can provide additional spectrum access and availability for DoD needs.