The Federal Aviation Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security have established an interagency team to conduct a feasibility study on a proposal to free portions of the radio spectrum for non-government use.
FAA said Friday the Spectrum Efficient National Surveillance Radar initiative was launched in response to the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2015, which mandates federal agencies to auction off parts of the spectrum by 2024.
The legislation formed a technical panel composed of representatives from the Office of Management and Budget, Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications and Information Administration to review technical plans before they authorize funds for feasibility studies.
The SENSR team gained the panel’s approval for its pipeline plan and received $71.5 million from OMB to fund the first phase of the program that covers research, engineering studies, economic analysis and planning.
SENSR aims to evaluate the feasibility of auctioning a minimum of 30 megahertz of the 1300 to 1350 MHz band by 2024.
The interagency team plans to free up bandwidth through consolidation of existing surveillance radar that works to track aircraft and the weather.
FAA said the feasibility study will identify potential surveillance platforms for evaluation by the SENSR team.
