Radio Spectrum Occupancy Measurements During COVID-19 Pandemic

NIST conducted a targeted campaign measuring channel power and occupancy rates across key wireless bands from late spring 2020 to autumn 2021. Measurements were performed at 13 residential telework sites and a local hospital, focusing on cellular bands below 1 GHz and unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The dataset includes time series of band power, occupancy durations, power histograms, and diagnostic network profiling data.

Use Cases

• Analyze occupancy durations derived from denoised band power time series to model spectrum usage patterns during pandemic telework.
• Compare band power histograms across the 13 residential sites to assess geographic variability in wireless signal strength.
• Use diagnostic network profiling data indicating PHY characteristics to classify cellular versus WLAN signal types.
• Study time series of band power integrated on 4-MHz bandwidth to detect temporal anomalies in spectrum occupancy.

Strengths

• Data collection spanned over a year, from late spring 2020 to autumn 2021, capturing pandemic-era changes.
• Measurements cover multiple key wireless infrastructure bands, including cellular, 2.4 GHz, and 5 GHz.
• Dataset includes five distinct data products, such as denoised time series and occupancy durations, enabling multifaceted analysis.

Limitations

• Sample size is limited to 13 primary residential sites and one hospital, which may not be representative of broader populations.
• The rapid engineering development effort suggests potential inconsistencies in measurement setup or calibration across sites.
• Lack of detailed metadata on specific measurement equipment or environmental conditions at each site.

Provenance

Source

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Collection Method

Targeted measurement campaign using distributed sensing at residential telework sites and a hospital.

Time Range

Late spring 2020 to autumn 2021

Freshness

Data last updated in July 2022, covering events through autumn 2021.

Geography

13 residential sites (home telework locations of NIST staff and students) and a local hospital; specific locations not detailed.