Spectrum Supportability Risk Assessment (SSRA)
Development or acquisition of systems that meet operational requirements, but fail to obtain spectrum supportability, means that the systems will not be allowed to be operated in the United States or in host nations. These systems create a potential for severe mutual interference between the system and other spectrum users, squander resources, and delay fielding warfighting capabilities to field units. Successful fielding of a spectrum-dependent system depends upon approval of a program's comprehensive assessment of the operational, regulatory, and technical aspects of the system's use of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum.
As outlined in DoD Instruction 4650.01, all DoD Components shall obtain U.S. Government (USG) certification of spectrum support prior to authorization to operate for experimental testing, developmental testing, or operations of spectrum dependent systems in the United States and its Possessions (US&P). USG certification of spectrum support shall be obtained prior to submission of cost estimates (i.e., prior to Defense Acquisition System Milestone B for development or procurement of major spectrum dependent systems and for all space and satellite systems. In addition, some host nations require their own certification before providing authorization to operate.
The purpose of the SSRA is to identify and assess regulatory, technical and operational spectrum issues with the potential to affect the required operational performance of the candidate system. For example, in addition to determining that a ystem's bandwidth requirement complies with an individual nation's frequency allocation scheme, a new or modified system must also be evaluated with respect to:
- The system's potential to cause interference to, or suffer from, other military or civilian RF systems currently in use or planned for operational environments.
- The effect of the system's proposed spectrum use on the ability of the extant force structure to access the RF spectrum without interference.
- How the system's spectrum use conforms to the tables of frequency allocation of intended host nations, ensuring regulatory protection from other national co-band spectrum users.
- If individual host-nation frequency allocations include enough bandwidth to fully support the system's operational mission, for example: required data rate.
In order to affect design and procurement decisions, DoD Components shall:
- Identify spectrum-related risks as early as possible via spectrum supportability risk assessments
- Review these assessments at acquisition milestones.
- Manage the risks throughout the system's lifecycle
The SSRA process consists of documenting the spectrum-dependent aspects of a systm during each phase of the acquisition life cycle. A JSC SSRA includes the following components:
- Spectrum regulatory component: Addressing the compliance of the RF system with U.S. national and international tables of frequency allocation as well as with regulatory agreements reached at the International Telecommunication Union, as well as a determination of the compliance of the system with pertinent national and international technical standards.
- Technical component: Quantifying the mutual interactions between a candidate system and other co-band, adjacent band, and harmonically related RF systems, including the identification of suggested methods to migrate the effects of possible mutual interference.
- Operational component: Identifying and quantifying the mutual interactions among the candidate system and other Army and U.S. military RF systems in the operational environment and identifying suggested methods to migrate for possible instances of interference.
White Paper - Spectrum Supportability Guide for Army Combat and Material Developers]
- Spectrum Planning Guidance: The JSC can help select the proper frequency band for your system that will optimize its chances for approval for use in both national and international areas. Our knowledge of spectrum use and planning is underscored by our support to hundreds of DoD programs and our active role in the spectrum certification process.
