Are we really running out of Radio
Frequency Spectrum?
Presented by Tan Geok Leng (CTO, IDA)
15th May 2008
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
CONFIDENTIAL
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Agenda
> About Singapore and IDA Singapore
> Wireless in Singapore
> Radio spectrum reform is becoming a global issue
> Are we really running out of radio frequency
spectrum?
> Opportunities to reuse under-utilised bands
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
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1
About Singapore and IDA Singapore
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
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Singapore : A Hub for Asia
Airport, Seaport and IT connectivity
Seaport Connectivity
• World’s BEST Quality for
Port Infrastructure (2006)
• Best Seaport in Asia (2006)
• 24.8m TEUs handled (2006)
• 600k CBU car transshipment
(largest in Asia)
• 200 Different Shipping Lines
• 130 Country Links, 600 Ports
• Daily sailings to every major
port in the world
China
Europe
Pakistan
Middle
East
Japan
Nepal
Taiwan
Hong
Kong
India Bangladesh
Laos
Thailand
The Philippines
Sri
Lanka
•
•
•
•
Indonesia
1st
in the World for Quality of Air
Transportation (World Competitiveness
Yearbook 2006)
83 Scheduled Airlines
57 Country Links
>180 City Links
>4,100 flights per week
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
USA
Cambodia
Malaysia
Brunei
Airport Connectivity
•
South Korea
Australia New Zealand
Internet Connectivity
•2nd in World’s Most ‘Network’ Ready’ Country,
after US (2006)
•Capacity of 28Tbps (May 06)
•Extensive and Direct Internet Connectivity to
>30 countries (30.62 Gpbs)
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Economic Linkages via FTAs
FTAs Concluded / In Force
ASEAN Australia
India
Jordan
NZ
Japan
Panama
ASEAN-Korea
(Goods)
60% of World GDP
US
ASEAN-China
(Goods &
Services)
Korea
Chile-NZ-Brunei
Upcoming FTAs
Qatar
Peru
ASEAN-Korea
(Services and
Investment)
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ASEAN-China Canada Gulf Cooperation
Pakistan
(Investment)
Council
ASEAN-Japan
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ASEAN-Australia-NZ ASEAN-India
5
About IDA Singapore
>
Statutory board under Ministry of
Information, Communications and The Arts
(MICA)
>
Overview of IDA’s Roles
 Planning & Policy Development
 Formulate national infocomm masterplans,
policies and technology road maps

Competition Development (Regulation)
 Implement a regulatory framework that will
ensure a fair and balanced competitive
environment in the telecoms industry
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About IDA Singapore

Industry Development
 Promote and develop infocomm industries and
manpower
 Facilitate infocomm adoption and usage in
businesses and society

Chief Information Officer to Government
 Architect e-government plans and manage
infocomm systems deployment in the government
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2
Wireless in Singapore
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Wireless in Singapore (Cellular)
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Wireless in Singapore (3G)
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Wireless in Singapore (Wireless@SG)
>CFC awarded to 3 service providers
 iCELL
 QMAX
 Singtel
>Coverage includes
 Downtown areas
 Major HDB town centres
 Recreational areas
> Number of hotspots
 600 in Dec 06, 7,800 in Feb 08
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Phase 1 (2006-2008): Wi-Fi Hotspots to WiFi Hot Zones
Integrate into zones
… and expand to cover
key catchment areas
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Phase 2 (2008 Onwards): Integrate Other Wireless
Broadband Technologies When Ready
Integrate into zones
… and expand to cover
key catchment areas
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Wireless in Singapore (Ultra-Wideband)
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Wireless in Singapore (Ultra-Wideband)
>Telecommunication Dealer’s Licence from IDA
(https://licences.business.gov.sg)
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3
Radio Spectrum Reform is becoming
a Global Issue
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Wireless is key enabler for many
economically important applications
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Much of the spectrum is already allocated
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Addressing the “Scarcity” Issue
> Retire older/legacy services
 DTV replacing analogue TV
 Refarm 900MHz GSM for 3G
> Use Market Mechanism to allocate (auction)
 e.g. 3G spectrum auction
> Reclaim and refarm of military bands (Ofcom)
> New Technologies to solve the problem
 UWB technology develop to transmit at very low power (spectrum
underlay)
 Spectrum-Agile Technology being developed to opportunistically take
advantage of gaps in spectrum utilization (spectrum overlay)
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Spectrum-Agile Technologies
> Technologies and system concepts to dynamically use
spectrum and increase spectrum access
> Sensing and Adaptation are key attributes for SAT
 Sensing (Aware of spectrum usage in vicinity, makes intelligent decisions on
that basis, and reacts)
 Adaptation (quickly adapts transmission Characteristics)
Sense
Real time, low power,
wideband monitoring
React and Adapt
Characterize
Transition Network to
new emission plan
Rapid waveform
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determination
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Opportunistic use of spectrum ‘white-space’
> White-space devices
 Detect spectrum ‘white-space’ in the spectrum
 Characterizing the Environment
 Evaluation and Knowledge Formation
 Decision Processes
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How SAT may be used? (not exhaustive)
> Potentially allow multiple wireless services to share
spectral bands with minimal interference
> Possible scenarios:
 Pre-allocated bands for SAT
 Secondary usage with permission from primary owner
> Possible application:
 Enabling of a low-cost and adaptive high-speed bandwidth
internet service
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SAT in Other Countries: FCC (2002)
> Set up by Chairman Powell, headed by Paul Kolozdy
 Spectrum access versus scarcity
 New methods as a solution to access
 Interference tolerance
 Need to define rights and responsibilities
> Recommendations
 Modernizing the regulatory model
 Increase access to spectrum
 New interference management technique
 Legislative recommendations
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FCC’s NPRMs on Cognitive Radio
> NPRM on CR to facilitate opportunities for flexible, efficient
and reliable spectrum using CR (Dec 03)
 Authorization and use of Cognitive Radio
 Licensee can make more efficient use of their own spectrum
 Secondary markets: Based on agreements between licensees and third
parties
> NPRM on Unlicensed operation in UHF Band (May 04)
 The unlicensed devices should not cause interference to existing TV
broadcast stations; TV Booster Stations, wireless microphones and Land
Mobile Radio Services
 Operation in Channels 5 to 13 and 21 to 51 (76 to 698MHz); Channel 14-20
permitted in rural areas
 Person/portable devices (peak power 100mW) and Fixed access devices
(Peak power 1W) are permitted
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FCC’s Report on White Space Detection
> OET (Office of Engineering & Technology) Issued a report on
31st July 07
 WSD using DAA should be required to find signals as low as -116 dBm
 Finding of two prototypes of whites space devices (WSD) submitted by
Microsoft and Philips
Source: FCC/OET 07-TR-1006
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
Source: FCC/OET 07-TR-1006
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SAT by ITU-R (WP8A and WP5D)
> ITU-R WP 5D considers regulatory implications of
cognitive radio (29th Feb 08)
 To study whether there is a need for regulatory measures related
to the application of cognitive radio system technologies
 To study whether there is a need for regulatory measures related
to the application of software-defined radio
> ITU-R WP 8A
 ITU-R Working Party 8A: Draft New ITU-R Report “Software
Defined Radios in the Land Mobile Service”
 ITU-R Working Party 8F: Draft New ITU-R Report “The impact of
Software Defined Radio on IMT-2000, the future development of
IMT-2000, and systems beyond IMT-2000”
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SAT by Standard and Industry
> IEEE 802 Working Group
 802.22 - IEEE 802.22 is working on technical requirements to ensure
coexistence of WBA (white space devices) with broadcast services
 802.16h – License-Exempt operation of IEEE 802.16
 802.11y - CBP in 3.65-3.70 GHz band in US
> IEEE P1900: Working groups for reconfigurable, heterogeneous air
>
>
>
>
interfaces
SDR Forum: Technical and regulatory considerations for SDR and
Cognitive Radio
WINNER: Wireless World Initiative New Radio concentrating on radio
access for future mobile communications systems
XG: DARPA’s neXt Generation communications via the dynamic
redistribution of the allocated spectrum
E2R: End-to-end re-configurability to give more choice to network users,
includes aspects on reconfigurable technology
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4
Are we really running out of
radio frequency spectrum?
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
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Searching for the ‘White Space’
OBJECTIVE
> To perform spectrum usage study and to identify ‘white space’ in radio
spectrum
> Serve as input for future radio spectrum policy making
SCOPE
> Spectrum scanning conducted for frequency bands from 54MHz to
5.8GHz in Singapore
> Outdoor Environment (I2R - Open Space)
> Measurement data collected 24x7 for duration of two weeks

Plot spectrum usage with respect to time
 Map spectrum usage to IDA’s different spectrum allocations
 Identify spectrum holes
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Measurement Methodology
> Maximum signal strength during 24-hour period of
observation versus frequency
> Occupancy versus time and frequency
 Occupancy of the observed frequency band is based on the
threshold set as the lowest signal strength in the observed
bandwidth + 6 dB
> The fraction of time the signal is above the threshold
versus frequency
> Limitations of present study!
 Snap shot only, single geographic area, limited sample size
 Signal detection threshold
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Measurement Setup
Antenna
ETS-Lindgren
3149
Spectrum Analyzer
Agilent HP8595E
Windows PC with
LabView
Cabinet
Low Loss Cable
Tripod
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Power (dBm)
Fixed/Mobile (land)
localized PMR,SRD
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
-120
Aeronautical
threshold =
-94.5 dBm
60
80
•High Occupancy
Time Instants
FM radio
Marine Navi,
PMR, amateur
radio, SRD
100
120
Freqeuency (MHz)
140
160
06:00h
00:00h
18:00h
12:00h
06:00h
Fixed/
Mobile land
Frequency Band: 54 MHz – 174 MHz
60
80
100
120
Frequency (MHz)
140
160
06:00h
00:00h
18:00h
12:00h
06:00h
Moderate Occupancy
Duty Cycle
1
average
duty cycle
= 0.2902
0.5
0
60
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
80
100
120
Frequency (MHz)
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140
160
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Average Spectrum Usage < 5%
UHF Band
Average spectrum usage over
time and selected frequency
range is below 5% !
VHF Band
GSM Band
(UL)
3G Band
(UL)
C-Band
FSS
ISM (WiFi)
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Observations
> Average Spectrum usage over time and selected frequency
range is below 5%
> Frequencies above 1GHz are relatively under utilized except for
cellular bands
 Frequency utilization is normally higher during day time compared to night
time, however the difference on average spectrum usage is negligible
 Although some frequencies are used, the duty cycle is quite low
> Low utilization bands represent opportunity for innovative
services
 Reuse of under-utilized Bands (e.g. Foreign TV channels and C-Band)
 Wireless Broadband Services
 Low-power, short distance or in-house transmissions
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Opportunities to reuse under
utilized spectrum
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Opportunities to reuse under-utilized Bands
> Opportunity to reuse foreign TV channels
Ch5
Indonesia’s TV
Malaysia’s TV
(Batam TVR1)
(e.g. RTM TV2)
Ch6
Ch7
Ch8
Ch9
Ch10
Ch11
Ch12
Only three TV
Channels are
used in SG
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Opportunities to reuse under-utilized Bands
> We are already exploring reuse of under-utilized bands
> With SAT, we may be able to do much more
Indonesia’s TV
Malaysia’s TV
(Batam TVR1)
(e.g. RTM TV2)
Ch5
Ch6
Ch7
Wireless
Microphone
channel used
in SG
© 2008 IDA Singapore. All Rights Reserved.
Ch8
Ch9
Ch10
Ch11
Ch12
(11D) DAB
Channel in SG
(7B, C & D)
DAB Channels
in SG
(9B) DAB
Channel in
SG
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Proposed Next Steps (1/2)
> Studied spectrum usage pattern in Singapore
 To identify spectrum ‘white-space’
> Feasibility Studies for use of WSD in Singapore
 Use of WBA in UHF bands
 Use of Short Range Devices
> Technical Assessment (Lab) to proof that WSD does not caused
interference
 Co-existence with legacy radio systems
> Protection of existing radio services
 Using beacons and ‘safe harbour’ concept
 Using “Listen-before-talk’ and ‘Dynamic Frequency Selection’ techniques
 Use of common data base for dynamic allocation
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Proposed Next Steps (2/2)
> Create SAT Test-bed in Singapore
 Validate efficient use of WSD in Singapore
 Validate dynamic spectrum licensing requirement and procedure
> Recommendation of SAT Regulatory Framework
 Minimize potential regulatory burdens
 Protection thresholds
 Power limit
 Spectral masks
> Contribution to International SAT efforts, to influence
the international regulatory policy
 APT, ITU & WRC11
 Standard (e.g. IEEE 802.22)
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SINGAPORE: AN INTELLIGENT NATION, A GLOBAL CITY POWERED BY INFOCOMM
www.ida.gov.sg
www.infocommsingapore.sg
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