Real-world testing of dynamic sharing principles and the evolving technologies supporting them will provide a baseline for wider deployment and a way forward to develop shared spectrum methods, standards, technologies, and trust mechanisms in order to make dynamic sharing of spectrum scalable.

The U.S. Government, through the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and in coordination with the Federal agencies, will develop a National Spectrum Research and Development Plan.This plan will identify key innovation areas for spectrum research and development and will include a process to refine and enhance these areas on an ongoing basis.

The R&D Plan will consider recommendations developed through the collaborative framework outlined in Pillar Two. Specifically, stakeholders working through the framework will provide recommendations for conducting spectrum research that minimizes unnecessary duplication and helps to ensure all essential spectrum research areas are sufficiently explored. Increasing coordinated investment in research and development among government, academia, civil society, and the private sector will result in measurable advancements in state-of-the-art spectrum science and engineering. These efforts will further development of new methods for improving spectrum efficiency, advancing dynamic and secure spectrum access regimes, expanding use of cognitive radios using AI/ML-based techniques, and in other research areas. Additionally, the U.S. Government will work to strengthen spectrum science and engineering initiatives by encouraging greater participation by public and private organizations in spectrum activities like the National Science Foundation’s Spectrum Innovation Initiative.

Through the collaboration framework, stakeholders will assess analytical and statistical modeling of EM interference and propagation (particularly for mid-band and millimeter wave spectrum) used to perform data-driven, risk-informed spectrum sharing compatibility and coexistence analyses. The assessment will include recommendations on approaches to improve modeling and mitigate potential harmful interference among Federal and non-Federal uses of the spectrum. In conjunction with these assessments, stakeholders will develop guidance on the best use of well-established and widely used EM compatibility modeling software and tools. This will bring needed clarity to the proper application of these models and support efforts to establish best practices for conducting spectrum studies.

The U.S. Government will establish a national testbed for dynamic spectrum sharing. This testbed will be a critical part of the U.S. Government’s effort to advance the technology for spectrum access within 12-18 months, in collaboration with industry, with an emphasis on dynamic spectrum sharing. Specifically, this testbed will enable the identification, in collaboration with national policymakers, of short-term access for experimentation in Federal and non-Federal spectrum segments. The testbed will serve as a technical demonstration platform, enabling national policymakers to identify and assess spectrum access technologies through experimentation in Federal and non-Federal spectrum segments.

This national testbed for dynamic sharing will take into consideration specific areas for testing and measurement to improve study efforts going forward across other bands. The overall intent of the initiative is to assess some of the Nation’s most pressing spectrum access challenges as part of a “band-agnostic” and technology-neutral approach, so that solutions are extensible across a range of possible bands. This program will enable Federal agencies and national policymakers to work cooperatively with industry, researchers, and academia to objectively examine new technologies that can improve management of the Nation's airwaves. To reduce or eliminate duplication of other efforts, this initiative will synchronize other relevant research and engineering activities already under way across the government with respect to AI/ML, zero-trust networks, data-source management, autonomy and autonomous systems, and advanced radar technologies. NTIA will take ownership of the testbed following the initial demonstration period.

To increase available data for fine-tuning or validating EM models, the U.S. Government will encourage real-world measurements through field testing whenever possible and increase awareness and availability of outdoor wireless testbeds. Moreover, the U.S. Government will consider deploying such measurement campaigns on Tribal lands with consent from Tribal governments and consistent with Executive Order 13175 of November 6, 2000, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, to gather better information regarding spectrum access for Tribal communities and spectrum utilization or buildout on Tribal lands.

The U.S. Government also will promote and facilitate the research community’s continued exploration of dynamic and secure spectrum sharing to improve coexistence among spectrum-utilizing systems (e.g., radar, passive scientific measurements, and wireless broadband communications technologies) and to advance the effectiveness of dynamic spectrum management systems (e.g., Spectrum Access Systems and Automated Frequency Coordination).

The U.S. Government will better leverage existing innovation areas, as well as consider establishing spectrum “sandboxes” or geographic areas where spectrum research can be performed and technologies can be assessed with expedited approval of experimental licenses. Such efforts could explore research in spectrum efficiency or the use of underutilized spectrum bands such as sub-terahertz frequencies (e.g., above 100 GHz), which could help address the rapidly growing demand for spectrum.