An analysis of spectrum occupancy upon the analog switch-off in the City of San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Abstract

Telecommunications authorities are interested in knowing the real spectrum occupancy with the aid of several participants in the field of telecommunications. Therefore, several spectrum measurement campaigns have been made around the world. The results show a low spectrum occupancy leading to an inefficient use of the spectrum. This suggests the use of technologies like cognitive radio as a solution to improve the issue of spectrum inefficiency. Besides, the regulatory authorities are considering to cease some obsolete services so as to improve the use of the spectrum. For example, analog TV broadcasting is being replaced with digital TV, which is a process called Analog Switch-Off (ASO). In a previous work, before ASO we conducted spectrum measurements in the City of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, for the frequency range between 30 MHz and 910 MHz. In this paper, we perform a new measurements campaign with the same methodology. The aim of this new study is to analyze how the spectrum occupancy has evolved after the Mexican government and telecommunications companies implemented ASO. Thus, we present the results of spectrum occupancy after ASO with an average duty cycle of 15% for the frequency range just mentioned.