Quiet Zone Could Help Test Radio Interference Tech, Researchers Say

A "national radio dynamic zone" could be a lab for testing receiver and transmitter tech to protect radioastronomy from the growing proliferation of communications satellites in orbit, researchers Christopher De Pree, Christopher Anderson and Mariya Zheleva blogged Monday in the Space Review. They said it would function akin to existing radio quiet zones, with restrictions on radio transmissions nearby but outfitted with spectrum monitors. A zone near a radio telescope could test ways of providing broader bandwidth access for active uses like cell towers and passive uses like radio telescopes, they said. De Pree is deputy electromagnetic spectrum manager at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Anderson is Naval Academy electrical engineering associate professor. Zheleva is State University of New York at Albany computer science assistant professor.