Dupont Circle Spectrum Utilization During Peak Hours

On Tuesday, June 10, 2003, Mark McHenry from Shared Spectrum and Max Vilimpoc from New America measured the utilization of the radio frequency spectrum in the immediate vicinity of New America’s offices (38°54’43.8”N, 77°02’43.2”W) over a period of several hours. The location of the measurement site in an urban and highly pedestrian area just north of Dupont Circle offered an ideal vantage from which to measure spectrum utilization during peak business hours. Accordingly, the analysis was performed between the hours of 9AM to 5PM over a range of frequencies covering both civilian and military use. The purpose of the measurements was to experimentally demonstrate that a large proportion of urban radio spectrum remains unused on a regular basis. The experimental results add additional weight to the policy proposals offered by both participants: that more license-exempt use of spectrum is possible through opportunistic sharing.