Spectrum Management and the Impact of RFI on Science Sensors

The ever-increasing demand for the radio frequency (RF) spectrum is transforming radio regulations at national and international levels at an increasingly frenzied pace. Observations collected with radio-astronomy and Earth remote sensing instruments can easily be rendered unusable due to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) whether it is from out-of-band (OOBE) or spurious emissions in the bands used by these sensors. The RFI could originate from a single transmitter or the aggregate effects of a collection of many transmitting sources using the same frequency (e.g. spurious radiation from a poorly designed TV receiver) or different frequencies, e.g., OOBE. The aggregate case is particularly problematic because the collective signal can be indistinguishable from natural radiation. The Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) is a standing committee of the United States' National Academy of Sciences (NAS), that represents the scientific users of the radio spectrum at national and international fora. This paper will present a brief overview of spectrum management within the USA and the role of CORF. It will also describe some of the important issues to be dealt with at thr World Radiocommunication Conference-2019 (WRC19) and their potential impact on radio astronomy and passive remote sensing.