Innovative Approaches to Interference Protection in Next-Gen Wireless Networks

Technology advancements fueled by 5G and upcoming 6G standards are driving the expansion of wireless services across various industries. However, this growth presents challenges for regulatory bodies tasked with managing harmful interference. Current interference protection criteria (IPC), which rely solely on radio frequency (RF) signal power levels, have limitations as they overlook the inherent robustness and adaptability to interference of the diverse technologies. This article explores how different RF interference threshold values impact communication quality across different layers of the protocol stack. It argues that significant improvements in spectrum usage can be achieved by adopting a data-driven approach and considering information about the services and technologies used by current or anticipated spectrum users when assessing suitable IPC.