c. The point in the life cycle where spectrum management must be
considered can best be through the life cycle. The AN/GRC-103 radio
relay equipment operating in the 200 to 1000 megahertz band will
serve as an example.
(1) Paragraph 836b(8) of the Combat Development Objectives
Guide of the Army Materiel Command during the early 1960's indicated
a requirement for a low-traffic-capacity radio relay set, which in
conjunction with pulse code modulation multiplex equipment, could
transmit in up to 12 channels. A qualitative materiel requirement--
called a required operational capability--was approved in early 1962.
The
Qualitative
Materiel
Requirement
provided
the
basis
for
initiating the development. Technical requirements were approved in
April, 1962, and a request for experimental frequency allocation was
submitted to Assistant Chief of Staff for Communications-Electronics.
The evaluation of the frequency allocation request included such
items as the following:
(a) Was the frequency band proposed for the relay equipment in
agreement with the international and national frequency allocation
tables?
Because of probable worldwide combat usage, any overall
restrictions against the use of the proposed band in other countries,
such as the allied nations of Europe, were investigated.
For
example, Assistant Chief of Staff for Communications-Electronics
would not approve a communications item of equipment in a band
reserved for aeronautical navigation.
(b) Were the basic technical characteristics of the proposed
equipment within the requirements as established by current standards
and design objectives?
(c) Did supporting
compatibility
analyses
indicate
potential
sources of interference?
(2) The development of the experimental equipment, based on the
proposed equipment specifications and the guidance provided with the
equipment allocation request approval, were then used as the basis
for submission of a developmental allocation request.
This new
allocation request included all detailed data regarding proposed
equipment usage and technical characteristics, including spectrum
signature data which were available by mid-1963.
This allocation
request was evaluated in more detail by the allocation engineers to
insure that further development of this radio was being carried out
in an appropriate frequency band.
Technical characteristics, which
now were available in more detail, were evaluated against standards
such as MIL-STD-188 and any applicable Military Communications-
Electronics Board military agreements. Assistant Chief of Staff for
Communications-Electronics obtained Joint Frequency Panel approval of
the request and provided further guidance regarding the technical
characteristics of the equipment.
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