Industry could help DOD Subdue Spectrum Crisis

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Industry could help DOD Subdue Spectrum Crisis

By Dawn S. Onley
Editor

More than a decade after a study commissioned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff examined the Defense Department’s use of radio-frequency spectrum, DOD continues to struggle with how to manage the finite resource, what tools to deploy and how to ensure that equipment troops rely on doesn’t fail because of radio-frequency interference.

“I’m just curious, if we did a study today, would we find that we had learned all of those lessons?" asked Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Foley at the recent Defense Spectrum Summit 2006. Foley is the Army’s director of architecture, operations, networks and space. “This is tough, and it demands a relentless pursuit of ‘Did we get it right?’ We have to full-court press this baby on all fronts.”

But making the best spectrum investments is neither easy, nor straightforward, he said. Radio-frequency demand within DOD continues to increase exponentially, with conflicting systems vying for the same limited bandwidth. Meanwhile, public and private interests jealously guard their slice of the bandwidth pie.

The best solution is multifaceted: Better spectrum management tools are needed, training is paramount to produce subject matter experts in the field of spectrum management, and Foley added, there is insufficient oversight from the acquisition community.

Chief of the Joint Frequency Manage-ment Office for the Pacific Command and former Marine Bob Marcial agrees. Electromagnetic spectrum is the critical element that enables networks to run across DOD’s Global Information Grid, he said. But the pace of progress has been slow, he addded.

“Spectrum supportability needs to be revamped,” he said. “We are not ready for net-centric operations. We do not have the tools.”

DOD, government’s largest consumer of spectrum, for years has fought with large telecommunications companies and others in private industry that have tried to encroach on Defense spectrum. But while DOD has succeeded on that front, industry has proven itself more effective in its collective management of spectrum, and that’s something DOD could learn from, said Ron Jost, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for command, control, communications, space and spectrum. “We need to use spectrum more effectively and efficiently. We need to come up with co-existence and sharing techniques.

“Industry has made investments to increase” its management of spectrum, Jost said. “Likewise, we have to show we’re making the best use of our spectrum, which means more efficient waveforms.”