Themes - Spectrum Sharing Makerspace

	Proposed Topics for Subactivities	Description	Expected Outcome
1	C-band uplink sharing for low data rate services	Investigate with measurements and experiments which parts of the uplink FSS C-band are available and under which conditions (EIRP, duty cycle, antenna patterns) for low data rate, low power uplinks for Internet-of-Things communications, taking into account Wifi6 and IMT deployments in these bands.	The findings of this sub-activity are expected to work as a base for further experimentation on sharing the C-band spectrum for FSS with various other technologies.
2	CBRS-for satellite	While a number of concepts of been proposed for CBRS, the concept has not been taken up very much in the satellite world. Implement a prototype to show the use of CBRS in a practical satellite application, taking as a baseline any findings from e.g. ASCENT	Demonstrating a system that includes three different spectrum users fits within the overall objectives of the activity, towards a more cooperative and efficient spectrum utilization
3	Spectrum sharing challenge	Organize within the country of the prime contractor a Spectrum Challenge. This shall take the form of a contest in which entities are invited to bring forward their own ideas with regards to spectrum sharing or are challenged to develop prototype solutions which are prescribed.	This sub-activity could be combined with “GNURadio contributions” #4 sub-activity. Particularly, the development of the cognitive engine OOT module could be part of the GNURadio contributions. Also, the SigMF tool provided by the sub-activity #10 could be used by the organizers of the sub-activity to record metafiles that will simulate the contest scenarios in order to be used by the contestants as a tool that will help them evaluate the performance of their systems during the development phase.
4	GNURadio contributions	Develop GNURadio contributions that will contribute to research and development efforts in the field of spectrum sharing.	This sub-activity has a key enabling role in this Spectrum Sharing Makerspace activity. It can act as the starting point “Spectrum sharing challenge” #3 sub-activity. Being an open source project, teams competing on the Spectrum Challenge can extend the codebase of this sub-activity or propose architectural and functional modifications. In this way, at the end of both sub-activities a number of spectrum sharing techniques will have been evaluated and at the same time a concrete and robust cognitive engine will be presented.
5	2.4 , ISM or IMT bands for satcom	Demonstrate the use of shared terrestrial Wifi or Bluetooth, with equipment using these bands for satellite uplink satellite. Possibly satellite assets are available for receiving these transmissions from earth, facilitated by ESA. An alternative approach would be the use of regular LTE/GSM/5G bands for satellite communications.	The sub-activity explores spectrum sharing opportunities in ISM bands for satellite communications. The prototype and the measurements can be used as a baseline to further explore cognitive engines capabilities for sharing ISM bands, and techniques to alleviate possible impairments.
6	Future MSS S-band sharing mechanisms	Develop a prototype that supports emulation of future spectrum and fair capacity sharing between multiple low power low data-rate satellite systems that use the uplink in the 2010-2025 MHz bands. Parallels can be found in the sharing that has been investigated in e.g. CEPT 99(06) reports and discussion around the WRC-23 Agenda Item 1.18 and the future Agenda Item 2.13 for WRC-27.	This sub-activity falls into the context of spectrum sharing and will also make use of the outcomes of the “GNURadio contributions” #4 sub-activity in order to facilitate the execution of the software defined radio demonstration.
7	Very Low Frequencies for satcom	Develop tools and demonstration of 54 -72 MHz use for low power low data-rate communications over satellite, while sharing with incumbent users. Parallels might be found in the areas of WSPR to satellite. Satellite assets able to receive these very low frequency signals might be made available, facilitated by ESA.	This sub-activity falls into the premises of spectrum sharing as it will showcase the use of a signal scheme (DSSS) which can provide simultaneous access to the same spectrum between multiple users without significant deterioration of the channel.
8	Ground station downlink sharing	Implement a campaign that monitors the 2200-2290 MHz satellite downlinks for various satellites for multiple days, with one measurement station close to a known ground station, and another measurement station in a relative radio-silent area. This activity will provide valuable data on the actual use of this downlink band and will foster further sharing scenarios in this band.	For every spectrum sharing system, the knowledge of the spectrum condition and characteristics is of the utmost importance. A system that can monitor the spectrum and how its occupancy varies in time and location can significantly contribute to design, develop and test spectrum sharing techniques and identify the benefits of such systems, which is the overall goal of the activity.
9	Beamforming solutions	Prototype novel or low-cost antenna beamforming solutions supporting spectrum sharing concepts. This sub-activity shall implement a prototype that clearly demonstrates the improvements in spectrum sharing with incumbents for e.g. S-band downlinks in 2200-2290 MHz.	This sub-activity falls into the context of spectrum sharing since it will quantitatively showcase the ability of antenna array ground stations to operate in high interference environments by employing digital beamforming, and improving this way of reception of satellite signals. Furthermore, the antenna array system that will be implemented can serve as a platform for further experimentation in the field of spectrum sharing. One future experiment on such a platform could be the concurrent reception of multiple satellites or the demonstration of the system in a real-world scenario.
10	Tools	This sub-activity is a placeholder for any tools that are implemented that contribute to improvements in spectrum sharing. This could be measurement, analysis or other tools. Tools could be specific to a certain air interface.	The proposed sub-activity fits within the overall objectives of the activity as it would demonstrate a real spectrum sharing system operating in real-time, using real hardware devices presenting the benefits of spectrum sharing and cognitive radios.
11	MWC/Dynamics Spectrum Alliance demonstrations	Highly visible events such as the Mobile World Congress or Dynamic Spectrum a Alliance are excellent opportunities to disseminate the benefits that spectrum sharing solutions could bring. This sub-activity shall implement a compelling demonstration of the benefits of some sharing solutions. The sub-activity shall demonstrate this at a highly visible event	The proposed sub-activity fits within the overall objectives of the activity as it would demonstrate a real spectrum sharing system operating in real-time, using real hardware devices presenting the benefits of spectrum sharing and cognitive radios.
12	Cloud-enabled demonstration of spectrum sharing	Demonstrate practical applications of a spectrum sharing emulation (at IQ or other level) in the cloud. This could possibly use Microsoft’s Azure use of GNURadio.	In the proposed sub-activity we envision the implementation of a spectrum monitoring application whose main signal processing and visualization task will be performed on the cloud. By combining various services provided by Microsoft Azure we are able to push all the computation and deployment overhead on the cloud, without the limitations on the available hardware affecting our implementation decisions.
13	Edge-AI demonstration of spectrum sharing	Develop a prototype of a spectrum sharing supported by “AI at the edge”. While some spectrum sharing scenarios have been investigated which are supported by machine learning and AI, there have been limited efforts to see how intelligence “at the edge” could support spectrum sharing. “the edge” could for example be interpreted as remote earth stations that take a local decision based on inferencing, or intelligence in small gateways stations.	The proposed sub-activity is aligned with the concept of applying Edge-AI in the context of Spectrum Sensing as it suggests the implementation of Machine Learning techniques on orbiting satellites in order to facilitate the decisions of a Cognitive Radio engine operated on them. The implementers of this sub-activity could also make use of the tools proposed on the “Tools” sub-activity #10 to facilitate the communication between the SSSs and the ground stations that will relay the Machine Learning models during the FL process.
14	Starlink spectrum monitoring	Recently, low-cost approaches to Starlink beacon monitoring have appeared using simple LNB’s. This sub-activity shall develop further processing software (e.g., using STRF or other) to extract meaningful data from such measurements. The target shall be to extract data that could be useful for future NGSO/GSO or NGSO/NGSO sharing scenarios or power flux limit validations.	The goal of the proposed sub-activity fits within the overall objectives of the Spectrum Sharing Makerspace activity as it would develop software tools that will allow collecting real data for creating spectrum sharing scenarios as well as other useful information. Furthermore the open-source license of these developed tools together with the simple and low-cost approach on the hardware setup will make spectrum monitoring and data extraction accessible to a wider audience and engage non-traditional actors which is directly within the scope of the activity objectives.
15	EESS and MSS sharing in UHF and L-band	Within the meteorological frequency ranges, a number of valuable bands are used for Data Collection (e.g. 401-403 MHz) of Data Dissemination (L-band) . Increasingly, these bands are under threat from mobile network deployments or foreign radar interference. This sub-activity shall develop prototypes that show that these bands can be used more efficiently (under interference conditions) and increase for example the throughput of Data Collection systems.	The objectives of the proposed sub-activity fits within the overall objectives of the Spectrum Sharing Makerspace activity and Spectrum Sharing in general, as it is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate the potentials and the performance gains of the technology, in an existing spectrum access scenario.
16	SATCOM In-band full duplex communication prototype using COTS equipment	A fundamental problem of RF communication is that in a given frequency, only one transmitter can occupy the channel, if reliable and high throughput communication is needed. If the communicating nodes need full duplex communication, they have to use a separate frequency for the uplink and downlink channel. However, this requires extra vital spectrum resources. The goal of this activity is to develop a prototype, demonstrating a proof of concept in-band full duplex communication system, where two communicating nodes use the same frequency for both uplink and downlink channels simultaneously. The prototype can rely on available COTS devices and ICs, custom RF designs and/or DSP software.	The outcome of this sub-activity can be beneficial not only in terms of spectral efficiency, but can also be beneficial for next-generation cognitive and spectrum sharing engines. The system can be used by sub-activities implementing a cognitive engine and reduce the reaction time in case of a collision.
17	Reinforcement Learning-based optimization of multi-beam pattern configuration for Beam-Hopping satellites in low-earth orbit	The objective of this activity is to develop an agent capable of distributing in real-time the beam hopping scheme of LEO constellations, improving satellite communication throughput and reducing their delay. Multi-beam registration method will be connected with advanced online optimization approaches to achieve flexible resource scheduling and decision making in real-time.	This research is mainly focused on the satellite communication domain and aims to develop and demonstrate the core building blocks of an AI-based implementation for future spectrum-sharing solutions.
18	MSS S-band utilization & characteristics Data Collection	Investigate how the MSS S-band uplink (1980-2010 MHz) and downlink (2170-2200 MHz) spectrum is utilized with measurements and experiments to explore the feasibility for sharing scenarios.	This makerspace has a goal of identifying new opportunities of sharing the available spectrum to improve its utilization. That cannot be achieved without having knowledge of the characteristics of the spectrum to identify such opportunities but more importantly without some knowledge of the spectrum utilization one cannot decide whether it should be improved. Hence the goal of this sub-activity is to create a ground truth that will help researchers, engineers etc understand if sharing opportunities exist to this band.