Executive order directs sharing of Federal spectrum within ten years

Citizen surveillance has been headline news for several days, but something just happened under the radar that may be more important in the long run. The President issued an executive order with a list of actions to be taken by federal agencies and offices to "accelerate shared access to spectrum."

This did not happen over night -- it was preceded by a couple years of research and politicking -- here are two key milestones:

• In July 2012, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report calling for the use of smart radios in sharing federal spectrum.
  
• In May 2013, The President appointed Tom Wheeler, who had been an Invited Expert on the PCAST report, to head the FCC.

If you are interested in this topic, you should check the executive order and the post announcing it. We are venturing into new political and technical territory here, and The President has also authorized $100 million to fund research on spectrum sharing.

No doubt AT&T et al will do their best to thwart this effort as they were able to derail the attempt to create competition by way of the 1996 Telecommunication Act. They may win this battle too, but if they don't, we may be using some interesting technology within the next decade.

PCAST presentation on spectrum policy and technology -- attention Obama and Romney

As shown here, demand for mobile connectivity is exploding. It can not be satisfied using existing spectrum allocation policy and technology.

People have been experimenting with various forms of smart radio technology for many years, and a shift to sharing spectrum in new, dynamic, highly local ways seems inevitable.

That shift will cost incumbent spectrum owners, but pay large dividends for the economy as a whole.

The companies and nations that lead the innovation and establish the new policies and technical standards will reap large benefits. (As did the companies and nation that invented the Internet).

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) will soon issue a report calling for the use of smart radios in sharing federal spectrum.

The report is not yet out, but you can see a 23 minute video presentation (followed by 21 minutes of good questions and anwers) on the forthcoming report with specific recommendations for policies and pilot studies. You can also download a copy of the presentation slides.

The presentation, by PCAST member and venture capitalist Mark Gorenberg, reviews the situation, makes policy recommendations and calls for pilot studies using spectrum that is currently allocated to federal agencies.

(I found one thing weird -- they advocate giving agencies budget increases as an incentive to participate. Those agencies are owned by the American public -- why should we pay them to do the right thing on our behalf?).

During the question and answer period, Gorenberg estimated that modern technology could increase wireless capacity by as much as 40,000 times and he stated that the US is in a world-wide race to lead in this technology.

One hopes this report will be taken seriously -- Obama and Romney should be pinned down on this issue.

Update, July 2012:

The report was issued: http://1.usa.gov/10kJk9B

Update, May 14, 2003:

Tom Wheeler, an Invited Expert on the report, was appointed Chairman of the FCC (http://bit.ly/13IS7R8).