Experiment of Dynamic Spectrum Management for 5G Drone-Based Tactical Bubble

This document describes an experiment of a Dynamic Spectrum Management (DSM) system for drone-based 5G tactical bubbles. The tactical bubbles are used to create a temporary and geographically limited network for public safety communications and military. We demonstrate how DSM can provide tactical bubbles with radio spectrum that is assigned to Mobile Network Operators (MNO). Few countries are able to assign dedicated broadband frequency bands for public safety. The cost of maintaining custom public safety communication systems is expensive. DSM enables public safety to use same communication equipment for high-capacity tactical bubbles as in public networks without permanent frequency allocation. Here we show how 3GPP technology can be applied in DSM systems of tactical bubbles. This paper contributes to several branches of 3GPP technology based military communications, including DSM for military communications, tactical bubbles and drone spectrum management by experimenting how well the state-of-the-art commercial equipment are suited for spectrum sensing and DSM managed drone-based tactical bubbles. In increasing amount, public safety networks apply commercial technology and public MNO infrastructure. Additionally, growing amount of video communication in public safety also requires tactical bubbles, which are not depending on the MNO networks. This paper was originally presented at the NATO Science and Technology Organization Symposium (ICMCIS) organized by the Information Systems Technology (IST) Panel, IST- 205-RSY - the ICMCIS, held in Koblenz, Germany, 23–24 April 2024.