Enhancing Spectral Usage Through Full Duplex Communication

In the following years, network speeds, devices connected to the internet, and data traffic will continue to increase. As a result, the demand for the radio spectrum will also increase. Due to the inefficient method in which the radio spectrum is used today, in the upcoming years, the radio spectrum will be reallocated and used to its potential. In order to reallocate the spectrum, one must understand how it is used today. In this project, I study LTE bands in the radio spectrum to determine underutilized frequencies. My advisor, mentor and I, use a software defined radio (SDR), model NI USRP 2930, to receive the signal, then follow this with a combination of Matlab/ LabVIEW to pre-process the signals and then apply the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and a detection algorithm to identify the frequencies present in the spectrum.