Optimizing Receiver Performance Using Harm Claim Thresholds

Abstract

More and more systems need to be squeezed together in frequency, space and time in order to satisfy the growth in demand for radio services. However, greater proximity increases the risk of service breakdowns caused both by poor interference tolerance in receivers and by inappropriate signals radiated by transmitters.

In order to maximize the value of radio operation, a system view that facilitates trade-off between receiver and transmitter performance is required. However, radio operation has traditionally been regulated using limits on transmitters, with few if any explicit constraints on receivers. This paper proposes bringing receivers into the regulatory picture by using harm claim thresholds, that is, interfering signal levels set by the regulator or spectrum manager that have to be exceeded before a receiving system operator can claim harmful interference; receiver performance specification is left to manufacturers and operators.

The paper explains how harm claim thresholds would be defined in terms of both radio engineering and regulatory process, and suggests parameter values for a number of typical allocations such as television reception and cellular service in the adjacent band.

Harm claim thresholds benefit both radio system operators and regulators by providing greater clarity about the entitlements that are, and are not, entailed in assignments. They reduce business risk, and allow regulators to delegate both system design and boundary adjustment decisions to operators. These attributes will be particularly useful in bands with many, diverse and frequently emerging new services and devices.

Keywords: interference, radio, receivers, regulation,rights, spectrum,wireless