“Spectrum-Sharing and the Military”

“An important trend in U.S. spectrum management is the deepening collaboration between the Department of Defense (DoD) and other stakeholders in enabling shared access to wireless frequencies. Rather than outright transfer of federal spectrum to private-sector users, the future is likely to build on the model of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS), applying ever-more sophisticated sharing techniques to give optimal outcomes for both national security and commercial or societal interests.

The military controls large amounts of radio spectrum, using it for a diverse and growing set of applications. Realtime communications are central to terrestrial, airborne, naval and space forces. Multiple sensing functions – notably radar, but also signals intelligence and monitoring – are also used extensively in connection with domestic security. As recently as July, military radar systems detected Russian and Chinese violation of U.S. airspace which necessitated the scrambling of U.S. fighter jets.

In the past, rapid demand growth has fueled the continued transfer of spectrum from state to private users, but now everyone wants more spectrum. National cellular operators (also called carriers) point to 5G and future 6G demand. Wi-Fi advocates focus on enterprise and in-home consumer needs for access to broadband and cloud services. Satellite users point to rapid growth of both supply and demand for space-based communications, sensing and new LEO (Low Earth Orbit) constellations.

This means that more spectrum sharing is inevitable for all these parties. There simply is not enough “prime” spectrum for all demands to be met with exclusive licenses. Fortunately, the development and successful deployment of spectrum sharing technology means that we are no longer limited to the “one size fits all” approach of high-powered exclusive spectrum policy.”