© 2024 Spectrum for the Future
BRINGING INNOVATION
TO AMERICA’S WIRELESS FUTURE
Wireless spectrum is essential to America’s technology leadership, industrial might, and global competitiveness. Spectrum for the Future is a broad coalition of companies and organizations dedicated to maximizing America’s scarce spectrum resource, ensuring it will drive innovation, create jobs, build connections, and protect mission-critical national security functions now and for years to come.
WHY WIRELESS SPECTRUM SHARING IS IMPORTANT
SPECTRUM SHARING IS DRIVING INNOVATION IN INDUSTRY AND MANUFACTURING
WHAT’S NEXT FOR
SPECTRUM SHARING
Every day, consumers and businesses rely on wireless devices to enrich their daily lives and enable their workflows. The number of these devices and the bandwidth consumed by them are growing at an ever-increasing rate, making it critical that we get the most use out of the airwaves that power them.
As policymakers consider making additional spectrum available to serve the American people, we must build on the demonstrated success of existing shared spectrum models.
For example, the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) provides a case study for the ability of shared spectrum to drive innovation in an incredibly short period of time. CBRS is a low power, shared-license model that allows the Department of Defense (DoD) to avoid band clearing (and its associated costs) and continue its critical operations while also allowing a wide variety of commercial operators to use spectrum in the same band. Just two years after the completion of its FCC auction, CBRS is being leveraged for a multitude of uses, including smart phones, IoT devices, building management sensors, real-time logistics at transportation hubs, sensors for precision agriculture, and patient monitoring by hospitals.
Case Study: Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first licensed low-power operations in the CBRS band just three years ago and completed its auction of shared licenses just two years ago. In that short timeframe, CBRS is now being used throughout the country.
DYNAMIC SPECTRUM SHARING SPOTLIGHT
Manufacturing
At its 100,000 square foot smart manufacturing park in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, Foxconn uses dynamic spectrum sharing in the CBRS band to automate its smart factories. Right now, these solutions are enabling operation of automatic guided vehicles and robotics, while connecting a data center, lab space, factory stations and more.