UK SPF Event Round-Up: Cluste 3 Workshop on Specturm Sanboxes – Findings and Next Steps
The Cluster 3 event offered valuable insights into the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology’s (DSIT) spectrum sandbox initiatives, highlighting their role in advancing the UK’s approach to spectrum sharing and innovation. These initiatives are central to ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of wireless technology development.
Spectrum Sandboxes: Purpose and Progress
DSIT serves as the lead government department for spectrum policy, setting strategic direction for Ofcom and guiding international discussions. Through the publication of its Spectrum Statement, released alongside the Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, DSIT emphasized the importance of long-term planning to address the growing demand for spectrum. This strategy aims to balance current connectivity needs with future technological advancements, ensuring resilience and adaptability.
To support this vision, DSIT announced a £5 million investment as part of the 2023 Autumn Statement. The spectrum sandboxes are designed to explore innovative approaches to spectrum sharing under the Shared Access and Local Access Frameworks. They also focus on enabling new services and applications, particularly in the upper 6GHz band.
These sandboxes provide a controlled environment to test wireless network functionality, simulate complex scenarios, and evaluate both economic and strategic opportunities. The findings will directly inform policy development. DSIT has underscored its commitment to continued innovation, with stakeholder workshops playing a key role since summer 2024. The next workshop is scheduled for February 2025.
Advancing Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA)
Queen Mary University highlighted the UK’s promising foundation in Shared and Local Access spectrum frameworks but identified inefficiencies in the process. Currently, obtaining a Local Access License can take six to twelve months, which poses a challenge for adoption. To address this, the university presented a proof of concept for Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) systems aimed at automating and expediting licensing.
The research was structured around three work packages. The first developed a prototype DSA solution and conducted field measurements, uncovering significant under-utilized spectrum. The second extended these findings through simulations, establishing practical interference protection thresholds. The third focused on the economic benefits of DSA, demonstrating its potential to improve economic outcomes and community wellbeing. Moving forward, the goal is to transition this technology to a higher readiness level (TRL8) and test its feasibility at scale.
Path Loss, Interference, and Economic Modelling
Durham University explored path loss and interference in the 5.2GHz and 7.6GHz bands, focusing on the interaction of spectrum signals with building materials. Their findings highlighted the potential for the upper 6GHz band to support high-demand scenarios in dense urban areas, such as stadiums. In rural and low-density urban environments, the n77 band was deemed more suitable for mobile use.
Economic modelling by the consortium is still ongoing, with initial results expected in February 2025. These findings will provide critical insights into how spectrum sharing can impact the UK economy, helping policymakers make informed decisions about resource allocation.
Tackling Interference and Coexistence
Real Wireless presented their findings from two sandbox experiments focused on interference management and coexistence between Wi-Fi and mobile networks in the upper 6GHz band. Their tests included scenarios such as mobile-only, Wi-Fi-only, and shared usage. The experiments demonstrated the potential for new signalling techniques to detect and manage interference, enabling both technologies to coexist without degradation.
Further work is ongoing to refine these approaches, with demonstrations planned for December. Real Wireless aims to develop robust coexistence mechanisms that could support more efficient spectrum sharing in densely populated areas.
Next Steps for Spectrum Policy and Innovation
The spectrum sandbox findings represent a significant step forward in spectrum policy and technological development. With DSIT’s continued focus on stakeholder engagement and the innovative contributions from academic and industry partners, the UK is poised to create a more dynamic and efficient spectrum ecosystem.
Ongoing economic modelling and stakeholder workshops will provide additional insights into how these technologies can be scaled and implemented. These efforts will ensure the UK remains a leader in wireless innovation, balancing technological progress with practical spectrum management strategies.
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Sophie Greaves
Sophie Greaves is Head of Programme for Communications Infrastructure and Services at techUK, and oversees the UK Spectrum Policy Forum.
Tales Gaspar
Tales has a background in law and economics, with previous experience in the regulation of new technologies and infrastructure.
Matthew Wild
Matthew joined techUK in August 2023 as a Programme Assistant.
