Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES): Enabling Spectrum for All | 19 529

Opportunity Information: Apply for 19 529

The Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES): Enabling Spectrum for All opportunity is a National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant program designed to push forward new ideas for using wireless radio spectrum far more efficiently, while also tackling two issues that increasingly come along with modern wireless systems: energy use and security. The solicitation is jointly driven by NSF's Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), which signals that NSF is looking for work that blends hardware, communications, networking, algorithms, and computing in ways that do not fit neatly inside a single traditional research program. The overall goal is to enable spectrum access for all users and devices, with an explicit emphasis on ensuring that populations that have historically been underserved can benefit from wireless-enabled services and technologies.

At its core, SpecEES is aimed at the growing mismatch between demand for wireless connectivity and the limited nature of usable spectrum. Many existing spectrum management approaches rely on static allocation or assumptions that no longer reflect how densely connected today's environments are, especially with the rise of smartphones, Wi-Fi, the Internet of Things, and emerging applications that require reliable low-latency links. SpecEES seeks "bold new concepts" that can significantly improve spectrum utilization, meaning approaches that can increase capacity, reduce interference, support more simultaneous users, or enable more dynamic and intelligent spectrum sharing. This can include new architectures, protocols, and cross-layer designs that treat spectrum as a resource to be sensed, negotiated, shared, and protected rather than simply assigned.

The program also makes clear that spectrum efficiency alone is not enough. It specifically calls out energy efficiency and security as central, not optional, concerns. Energy efficiency matters because wireless systems increasingly include battery-powered devices at massive scale and because network infrastructure has real operational and environmental costs. Security matters because more dynamic and software-driven wireless access can create new vulnerabilities, including attacks on sensing and sharing mechanisms, spoofing, jamming, privacy leakage, or manipulation of control signals that coordinate spectrum use. SpecEES therefore encourages research that addresses the tension and tradeoffs among performance, energy use, and security, rather than optimizing one dimension while ignoring the others.

NSF frames the societal motivation in terms of "enabling spectrum for all" and explicitly connects the work to expanding access and benefits for traditionally underserved Americans. In practice, that emphasis points toward innovations that can help close connectivity gaps, improve the affordability and reach of wireless services, and support robust operation in diverse environments, including rural areas, dense urban neighborhoods, and communities with limited existing infrastructure. The program description suggests that NSF is interested in advances that make wireless systems more inclusive by making more effective use of existing spectrum resources and by strengthening the reliability and trustworthiness of the underlying wireless technologies.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary NSF grant opportunity in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category, with CFDA numbers 47.041 and 47.070. The funding instrument is a grant, and the solicitation anticipated around 15 awards. The listing shows an award ceiling of 0, which typically indicates that the ceiling is not specified in the summary record and that applicants needed to consult the full solicitation for budget guidance and award sizes. The opportunity was created on November 16, 2018, and the original closing date was February 13, 2019. Eligibility is listed as "Others" with clarification in the solicitation's additional eligibility text, which is common for NSF programs that may allow proposals from a range of institution types while still following NSF's standard eligibility rules and proposal requirements.

A defining feature of SpecEES is the emphasis on collaborative team research that "transcends the traditional boundaries of existing programs." That means NSF is looking for multi-investigator, possibly multi-institution teams that integrate expertise across domains such as communications and signal processing, networking, embedded systems, cybersecurity, machine learning, and systems engineering. The program is positioned to support research that is both technically ambitious and integrative, aimed at creating new directions for wireless access and spectrum use rather than incremental improvements confined to a single layer of the stack or a single discipline.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Spectrum Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, and Security (SpecEES): Enabling Spectrum for All" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.070.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 16, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 13, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 15 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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