Novel Software Defined Radio Testbed for Spectrum Occupancy Measurements

The radio frequency spectrum is a key resource that must be considered during the development of current wireless communication systems. As it is a limited resource, it is of crucial importance to use it in an efficient way. In this paper we propose a spectrum occupancy measurement testbed based on software defined radio (SDR) platforms. Spectrum occupancy measurement campaigns conducted in an urban and a suburban location using the proposed testbed are also presented. The measurement results are commented and show that the proposed SDR based testbed is a viable solution for the spectrum occupancy evaluation. It is highlighted that one of the possible solutions for improving the spectrum usage efficiency is the dynamic spectrum access (DSA) approach, that was already considered in case of 4G networks and is also an important aspect considered for design of the 5G physical layer.