Spectrum eXperience Management (SXM)

Maximize your spectrum assets

Wireless network monitoring & intelligence in real-time. Characterize, optimize and protect
vital RF spectrum networks with real-time insights on the state of wireless technologies.

Ibrahim Gedeon, CTO | TELUS

“thinkRF’s leading spectrum analysis technology, married with TELUS’ market insights and resources,
provides a powerful combination.”

TELUS is a dynamic, world-leading communications technology company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products & services including voice, internet access, entertainment, healthcare, video, & IPTV television.

Dr. Nikhil Adnani, CTO | thinkRF

“thinkRF’s SXM identified an operator using a band that was not licensed to them. We knew that this operator had a network sharing agreement with the licensee of that particular band. Transmission on this band by the operator, though, is a violation of the license terms by the licensee. “This is exactly the kind of thing regulators are hoping SXM would deliver for them.”

Spectrum Monitoring & Intelligence Revolution

The RF spectrum is a public resource of tremendous value to society. Spectrum eXperience Management (SXM) empowers the mobile system operators and national regulatory agencies to have ultimate visibility to optimize and utilize RF spectrum networks.
SXM is a subscription-based service. No CAPEX! No maintenance costs! Simply, subscribe to the areas and data you need and start gathering competitive intelligence about network deployments and configurations.

SXM

SPECTRUM MONITORING SIMPLIFIED!​

Using a distributed network of powerful thinkRF IoT sensors, combined with advanced analytics, SXM characterizes, optimizes and protects RF spectrum assets. SXM insights are delivered to your desktop, empowering you to eliminate threats and seize opportunities.

The SXM System

SXM is comprised of powerful thinkRF IoT sensors (SXM nodes) to collect RF spectrum data, a cloud to store data with maximum cybersecurity and an insightful software (SXM API) that provides advanced analytics to users.

SXM Node

Sophisticated fault tolerant RTSA with powerful signal processing & networking features.

SXM Node Deployment

thinkRF installs, owns, operates, and maintains all SXM nodes across a region. No CAPEX required!

SXM Cloud

SXM nodes collect RF spectrum data 24/7 which is stored in the SXM cloud.

SXM API

Access real-time mobile network intel 24/7 e.g. Operators, location, protocol, shared spectrum (DSS, CA, LAA, …), occupancy

What is the cost of entry?

SXM is a subscription
based service.

Pay only for the data you need. All you need to do is to subscribe to areas and data you need e.g. you can get 24/7 real-time data or historical data in a city or certain neighborhoods in that city. You decide on what you need and when you need.

Autonomous

Trusted! Independence
from biased sources

Ubiquitous

Regional & national
coverage

24/7

Real-time! Act now on wireless
network changes

Subscription-based

Cost-effective! Pay only for
the data you need!

Critical SXM Applications for Operators & Regulators

  • Detect and identify newly deployed competitive infrastructure, e.g. 5G and mmWave.
  • Detect and identify new technologies on existing competitive infrastructure e.g. MIMO beamforming or changes to frequencies and bandwidths.
  • Coverage, bandwidth and utilization contrasting levels of service.

Model real world propagation characteristics to select the optimal location for a new site.

  • Detect inter-cell interference, in particular from competitors’ transmitters.
  • Detect anomalous in-channel interference, typically from a faulty, or unlicensed transmission.

  • Explore quality and potential utility of the spectrum, especially for urban mmWave deployments to make an informed decision about whether to acquire spectrum in a particular region and how much it is worth.

  • Access competitor’s current occupancy levels for their spectrum in a region for intelligent spectrum acquisition strategies e.g., if a competitor is barely using their 700MHz spectrum in a city, that information can be used to assess how much that competitor might bid in a new C band spectrum auction.
  • Assess the occupancy of spectrum in an area, and as such provide a benchmark on how efficiently that asset is being used.
  • Empower financial judgements on whether that significant asset is being well used.
  • Track spectrum license holders’ base stations and cells location and characteristics to the transmission.
  • Detect spectrum squatting (acquiring a license and then not using or minimally using it to block their competitors from using it).
  • Identify unlicensed transmitters.
  • Compare the quality of transmission in rural areas to urban counterparts to ensure equal service quality.
  • Build strategies for spectrum sharing and auction bidding.
  • As a limited and highly in demand resource, regulators must regularly justify incumbent allocation of spectrum. Ongoing reallocations are expected to continue among all national regulators which will be driven in part through an understanding of incumbent occupancy of spectrum conducted on a regular basis.
  • Regulators need to monitor license holders for whether they are meeting their license conditions.

Always, Stay Ahead of Your Competition with SXM

  • Real-time reporting
  • Continuous monitoring
  • Enables proactive decisions
  • Characterizes competitive RANs
  • Reports changes in competitive RANs
  • Detects unlicensed RANs
  • RAN quality & loading monitoring
  • Interference detection
  • Supports unlicensed & private bands
  • Identifies spectrum sharing
  • Identifies spectrum squatting
  • Integration to existing data banks

SXM

Crowd Source

RF Drive Test

SXM Node Installations

SXM | FAQ Help Center

How can we help you?
Below are the questions we get asked the most about SXM.

The RF spectrum is a public resource of tremendous value to society. In Canada, leading mobile operators have spent tens of billions of dollars to acquire spectrum license rights. In the US, operators have spent close to half a trillion and worldwide, this figure exceeds a trillion dollars. In addition, trillions more and the safety of millions relies on the efficient, reliable use of those spectrum assets. Through measurement, monitoring and protection of spectrum assets, thinkRF’s SXM system enables owners, users and society in general to receive maximum benefit of this critical resource.

The SXM System detects and demodulates all LTE and 5G NR downlink transmissions within the range of its Node to the PDSCH channel. This means it extracts 3GPP parameters such as the originating eNodeB ID, Operator IDs, MIMO configurations and so forth. It also extracts RF parameters such as signal strength, noise and other related parameters. For full details refer to the specifications page of the SXM Datasheet.

The SXM System uses Power of Arrival algorithms to geolocate a base station using multiple SXM Nodes. Accuracy varies significantly with field conditions, but is generally 10 – 20% of the distance between Nodes.

The SXM System uses Power of Arrival algorithms to geolocate a base station using multiple SXM Nodes. Accuracy varies significantly with field conditions but is generally 10-20% of the distance between SXM nodes.

Simply sign up for a subscription by contacting thinkRF or your local thinkRF partner and begin receiving insights immediately. A subscription is for a particular geographical area and for a set segment of the data (e.g. LTE vs 5G NR vs both). Real-time notifications of infrastructure changes are also available as a subscription option.

Yes! Your SXM subscription includes everything associated with managing the underlying SXM network. thinkRF will update and maintain all SXM Nodes.

There are two options for accessing data from the SXM Cloud. The first is through the GUI which will allow you to download data subsets in CSV format. Alternatively, a powerful API is available to directly access data in the SXM Cloud. This API can be implemented in your own data centre to integrate SXM data together with other data sources, enabling more powerful insights.

Notifications are currently provided by email, with optional SMS notifications in the future. Notifications can be custom configured for:
• New cells and base stations
• Terminated cells and base stations
• Changed cells (static parameters like MIMO characteristics or DSS)
• Changed dynamic data (RSSI, RSRQ, etc.) beyond a configurable
threshold

SXM Nodes are operating 24 hours a day, every day.  If you have set event notifications in your subscription, you can expect to be notified within 24 hours of any events of interest. Data is available continuously through your SXM subscription.

Two options are provided: Either view and export desired data directly from the SXM GUI interface; or extract data continuously as needed directly through the SXM API, available with every SXM subscription.

You don’t need to do anything! If a SXM Network is already operational in your region, you just need to subscribe to start receiving wireless infrastructure insights. If a SXM Network is not already operating in your area, please contact us to find out when you can expect one to be operational.

An SXM Node will detect and record all base stations transmission up to the limit of the transmit distance of that base station. Base station power levels vary with the population density, and as such more SXM Nodes will be required in  a high population area and a low one. A good rule of thumb is that for every 10 base stations required to provide coverage to any area, there will be 3 SXM Nodes.

An SXM Node requires the SXM Cloud to provide a complete solution.  Private Nodes are available on a subscription basis, with the subscriber installing the Node at the location of their choice. Data from that Private Node is available through the SXM Cloud, and exclusively available to that subscriber.

Yes. A SXM Node will detect a LTE or 5G NR base station operating on any frequency band.

Yes. SXM will identify and characterize any base station within its detection range.

Currently SXM can detect transmissions in the FR1 bands (below 8GHz). FR2 bands will be supported in a future release. Contact thinkRF directly for more details.

SXM only monitors the broadcast, and unencrypted portions of downlink cellular transmissions. In most jurisdictions, because this information is broadcast and available to anyone with a cell phone, it is considered public domain.

Can’t find an answer?

We’re here to help. Please submit the form below for your question.

Ready to Join the SXM Network?
Unlock the value in your spectrum assets!