| As tactical battlefield communication becomes more complex, the efficient use of spectrum becomes increasingly difficult. Automated tools can be used to apply algorithms that aid in the rapid identification of frequency conflicts and the results can then be used to suggest frequencies that are deconflicted. Frequency conflicts arise from several factors including harmonic interference, intermodulation products, adjacent band emissions as well as interference due to frequency reuse. Techniques in commercial networks address minimizing interference from frequency reuse when frequency channels are assigned to base stations. Individual channels are generally associated with frequency division duplexing technologies where there is a fixed frequency spacing between transmitting and receiving stations. Also, the assignment of channels is generally made to immobile base stations that may communicate with many omni directional mobiles at arbitrary locations across large areas. In contrast, communication across point-to-point links is highly directional with the potential for mobility at both the transmitter and receiver. Often multiple repeaters are required for connectivity. These processes can be addressed by extending automated frequency planning analyses in commercial networks to tactical networks.
Bridging the gap between the two problem spaces requires that conventional algorithms be modified to account for point-to-point links, repeaters and time division duplexing. In this work, frequency deconfliction processes are first described and compared with conventional cellular channel assignment. Next, methods for extending conventional cellular algorithms are provided that account for various factors that must be considered in frequency deconfliction. Lastly, results are provided that depict the benefits of applying the different constraints.
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Pete Boyer received a B.S.E.E. from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 1986, an M.S.E.E. from the George Washington University, Washington, DC, in 1991 and a Ph. D. in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, Boston, MA, in 2005.
He is currently responsible for wireless engineering services at Equilateral Technologies, Lexington, MA. Prior to this, he was with InterDigital Communications Corporation, Melville, NY, where he was involved with interference and capacity studies as well as various aspects of radio resource management for WCDMA. From 1987 -2000 he was with Verizon Laboratories (formerly GTE Laboratories), Waltham, MA, where he helped develop and deploy several products and services that became widely used throughout the cellular industry. He holds several patents in the areas of radio resource management and propagation prediction. His current research interests include wireless network planning, radio resource management, multipath channel modeling, Rake reception and turbo coding.
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