Spectrum occupancy measurements and analysis methods on the 2.45 GHz ISM band

We performed spectrum occupancy measurements on the 2.45 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band in the area of Oulu, Finland. The comprehensive measurement campaign consisted of eight different locations and ten different measurement occasions, each with approximately one week of continuous spectrum monitoring. The measurement data is analyzed from the viewpoint of fitting new systems on 2.45 GHz ISM band, rather than pure duty cycle analysis. To aid accurate analysis, we propose Transmission Encapsulation based on the Connected Component Labeling (TECCL). This novel method searches for the clusters of connected signal components in the time-frequency grid and provides the extreme dimensions of each cluster for the subsequent analysis. It is shown that the TECCL does not cause a significant increase in the false alarm probability. Our results indicate that new systems with cognitive radio capabilities could be introduced to 2.45 GHz ISM band.