This course focuses on how this resource is being managed in the face of escalating demand, rapidly changing technology and increasing globalization. In the past, this important natural resource has been managed by the Federal government on a centralized basis but these trends have put intense stress on this traditional "command and control" approach. Recently, there have been a plethora of studies and proposals for dramatically changing how the resource is managed. The proposals range from putting increased reliance upon "property-like" rights in spectrum, to improvements in the traditional engineering approach, to a shift to a "spectrum commons" regime.

Because of the potential impact of these changes on the users of the spectrum resource (e.g., cellular providers and government agencies), it is important that interested students in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program have an understanding of how the resource is managed and a firm grasp on how the changes will impact on their current or future employers and on individual consumers. The course may also be of interest to students in other disciplines (e.g., political science, public administration and law).

Topics covered include:

• Introduction to the class; brief introduction to telecommunications policy and regulation; public policy goals in telecommunications; nature of the spectrum resource; elements of spectrum management and importance of spectrum management; analysis of normative aspects of telecommunications management.
• Technical tutorial for spectrum management.
• International aspects of spectrum management; definitions; international institutions involved in spectrum management (e.g., ITU); international processes for allocating spectrum and developing associated recommendations; critique of international institutions and processes; World Radio Conference preparatory processes (e.g., U.S.) and critiques thereof; reform at the international level; special case of satellite orbit/spectrum resources.
• Domestic spectrum management; brief history; institutions -- Federal Communications Commission and the Executive Branch (NTIA/IRASC); organization and general rulemaking processes; spectrum allocation processes; traditional administrative approaches to spectrum allocation; traditional means of finding spectrum for new services; expressions of spectrum policy; international best practices; organizations and processes in other countries.
• Legal basis for spectrum management (both domestic and international) and recent legal scholarship related to spectrum management reform.
• Introduction to radio propagation and radio propagation modeling.
• "Day-to-day" spectrum management e.g., development of band plans, frequency coordination.
• Licensing Methods and Spectrum Assignment; site licensing, market or area licensing, and overlay licensing; spectrum assignment techniques - first-come, first-served, comparative hearings, lotteries, auctions, hybrid approaches; spectrum pricing and spectrum fees.
• Spectrum management from the non-commercial, federal government perspective with an emphasis on defense requirements and processes.
• Technological enablers of spectrum management reform -- spread spectrum techniques including ultrawideband, software defined radios, cognizant radios, mesh networks, advanced signal processing techniques such as multi-user detection, space-time processing, MIMO, feature detection, interference cancellation.
• Modern spectrum management alternatives -- identification, review, analysis, and critique of recent proposals for spectrum management reform; discussion of spectrum work and economic theories of Ronald Coase; market oriented approaches including spectrum trading and secondary markets; spectrum commons approaches.
• Miscellaneous related topics -- RF exposure issues/limits, antenna siting, incidental radiation, enforcement issues and processes.
• Spectrum Management at the FCC - An Insider's View

Required