United States Frequency Allocations 1.0.0

Society's increasing use of radio-based technologies, and the opportunities for development that these technologies provide, highlight the importance of the radio spectrum. The spectrum is used for all forms of wireless communication including: cellular telephone, radio and television broadcasting, GPS position locating, aeronautical and maritime radio navigation, and satellite command and control. Technological progress has continually opened doors to a variety of new radio applications that have spurred interest in, and demand for spectrum. The amount of available spectrum is a fixed resource. Increased demand requires that the radio spectrum be used efficiently and this means that effective spectrum management processes must be implemented. Spectrum management is the oversight of radio frequency spectrum use. The goal is to prevent users from harmful interference while allowing optimum use of the spectrum. There are four phases of spectrum management: