Alion wins $1.5M contract to help DOD with radio frequency strategy

Alion Science and Technology has won a $1.5 million contract with the Defense Department to study the impact of potentially reallocating or sharing radio frequency spectrum bands with the commercial sector.

The Defense Department requires radio frequency spectrum availability to run its communications systems, and the commercial sector has been increasingly looking to these radio frequency spectrum bands to increase broadband capacity, Alion said in a release.

The company will help the department develop a long-term spectrum strategy that will anticipate, guide and respond to changes to technology, policy and regulation, thereby ensuring spectrum access for current and future Defense Department systems.

To this end, Alion will perform analyses of potential impacts to these systems that are presently using these bands, and will provide the department with recommendations, the company said.

This plays into the 2009 Congressional enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which Alion said directs the Federal Communications Commission to develop a national broadband plan for greater transparency in spectrum allocation and utilization over the next decade.