Radio Spectrum Management for Tetherless Communications

For any new radio technology, spectrum management is an essential part of the development process, to identify the best frequency band for operation of the system. This has to take account of the many other users and applications of the radio spectrum, so that systems neither cause, nor receive, harmful interference from other radio systems. It is a process that is sometimes considered to be unnecessarily restrictive and slow; however, that is because it is often a difficult balancing act between the technical, commercial and political pressures on the (finite) radio spectrum. This paper describes the underlying principles and processes of radio spectrum management, explaining the relationships between the organisations which are responsible for spectrum management at the national, regional and international levels. It also describes the current work on the identification of frequency bands for the new tetherless communications technologies, and in particular the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.