Spectrum occupancy of Malaysia radio environment for cognitive radio application

Dynamic spectrum access technologies such as cognitive radio aim to improve the current spectrum utilisation by allowing opportunistic spectrum access to the licensed frequency bands without causing interference. However, in order to this, better understanding of the spectrum usage pattern is important. In this context, this paper presents the 24-hour spectrum survey of an outdoor radio environment in a suburban area in Johor Bahru, Malaysia in the frequency bands from 30-3000 MHz. The objectives are to investigate how the different services being allocated are utilised and identify bands that have low or no active utilisation. The result of the spectrum measurement reveals that the utilisation is 11.29% with a significant amount of spectrum underutilized is at frequencies above 1 GHz. The outcome of the study suggests that cognitive radio could indeed improve the spectrum utilisation and become the platform to provide for future wireless services. However, these studies are preliminary and future long term spectrum survey is required in better understanding and modelling of the actual spectrum usage pattern for cognitive radio applications.