Distributed and directional spectrum occupancy measurements in the 2.4 GHz ISM band

This paper presents distributed and directional spectrum occupancy measurements in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. Spectrum occupancy measurements can be used to assess how efficiently the spectrum bands are used today. Future cognitive radio systems can improve the spectrum occupancy by filling the gaps in the prevailing spectrum by opportunistically using unoccupied channels. Most of the spectrum occupancy measurements in the literature have been conducted by using a single measurement device with an omnidirectional antenna. The resulting spectrum occupancy values have presented an average of the overall situation. To characterize the influence of the spatial dimension on the spectrum occupancy in a given area, we introduce the directional spectrum occupancy metric. Directional spectrum occupancy is defined as the fraction of time that the received power in a channel exceeds a threshold in a given measurement direction. We have used two separately located measurement devices with directional antennas to measure the directional spectrum occupancy in an office area with heavy traffic load. The results indicate that the spectrum occupancy is heavily dependent on the measurement location and direction. The influence of the spatial dimension is therefore very crucial in the development of future cognitive radio systems.