The Method of Measuring the Occupancy of the Radio Frequency Spectrum, Varying According to the Daily Cycle

Relevance. Management of the use of the radio frequency spectrum requires taking into account the actual occupancy of radio channels and frequency bands. However, the patterns of occupancy change underlying the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) Radiocommunication Sector documents do not fully meet the needs of practice. Some of the ITU-R recommendations are focused on estimating local occupancy for short time intervals; other recommendations involve measurements in stationary radio channels, although only a small part of real radio channels can be counted on to have the constant occupancy throughout the time axis. At the same time, the activities of many organizations, and therefore the resources they use, are subject to a daily cycle of activity, which allows us to recommend for consideration a model of occupancy change in accordance with the daily cycle. The aim of the work is to develop a methodology for collecting information and forming an estimate of the daily occupancy change for the analyzed radio channels. Methods used. The development of recommendations for the collection of data for occupancy monitoring is based on the practical approaches of radio monitoring services and classical methods of statistical analysis. Novelty. In this paper, a new model for changing the occupancy of radio frequency channels in accordance with the daily cycle is proposed for use, as well as a statistically justified method for measuring occupancy. Result. The proposed methodology allows us to obtain a practically oriented assessment of occupancy changes, which does not require replacing the fleet of equipment traditionally used by radio monitoring services; the necessary changes can be implemented with relatively simple software modification. The paper provides preliminary recommendations for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of measurements, based on a traditionally used mathematical apparatus, which involves limiting the relative measurement error. This entails the need for very long measurements for the most important low-occupied radio channels. So, it is necessary to look for alternative measurement accuracy requirements that would meet the real needs of radio monitoring services. Practical significance. The acceptance of the developed methodology will eliminate the currently existing contradiction between the theoretical provisions underlying the ITU recommendations and the practice of conducting radio-controlled measurements.