The March 2014 issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE, “the leading journal to provide an in-depth tutorial and review coverage of the technical developments that shape the world” is devoted to Future Radio Spectrum Access.

Here are the titles of the papers published:

• Practical Issues for Spectrum Management With Cognitive Radios
• Harmful Interference and Its Role in Spectrum Policy
• Security and Enforcement in Spectrum Sharing
• Multiband Spectrum Access: Great Promises for Future Cognitive Radio Networks
• Putting the Radio in ‘‘Software-Defined Radio’’: Hardware Developments for Adaptable RF Systems
• RF and Microwave Hardware Challenges for Future Radio Spectrum Access
• Small-Cell Self-Organizing Wireless Networks
• Spectrum Without Bounds, Networks Without Borders
• Millimeter-Wave Cellular Wireless Networks: Potentials and Challenges
• Challenges and Considerations in Defining Spectrum Efficiency
• Spectrum Access for the Passive Services: The Past and the Future

Many of the concepts and policies that will dictate shared spectrum use rely on an understanding of what constitutes interference between radio systems. In the international regulations, and most national regulations, the concept of ‘‘harmful interference’’ has been formally defined. However, in an insightful contribution by Marcus, we find that the formal definition is woefully lacking from a technical and enforcement perspective. He further argues that uncertainty surrounding what exactly constitutes harmful interference may suppress the development and adoption of new spectrum-sharing technology.

Tags: Harmful Interference