RDZ-KIT – Radio Dynamic Zone Kit

Spectrum Experimentation Toolkit

Radio Dynamic Zone Kit
RDZ-KIT

A modular, portable toolkit that enables repeatable Radio Dynamic Zone experimentation — protecting spectrum incumbents, enabling plug-and-play deployments, and delivering independent spectrum science evaluation at real-world sites.

Three Core Capabilities

What RDZ-KIT Provides

RDZ-KIT makes Radio Dynamic Zone experimentation accessible and repeatable at real-world sites — from radio astronomy observatories to urban spectrum research platforms. Each capability addresses a critical gap in current spectrum research infrastructure.

CAPABILITY 01

Spectrum Incumbent Protection

Protect existing spectrum users — radio astronomy facilities and experimental performers — from harmful interference during RDZ experiments.

  • Continuous RDZ monitoring via RDZ Integrity Sensors
  • Automatic interference detection
  • Passive receiver coexistence support
  • Experiment-gated transmission control via ZMS
CAPABILITY 02

Plug-and-Play Experimentation

Create and execute RDZ spectrum experiments through the modular RDZ-KIT hardware/software toolkit — dramatically lowering the barrier for spectrum researchers.

  • Modular RDZ-KIT components (sensors, actuators, compute)
  • OpenZMS zone management system
  • Surrogate Smart Meter (SSM) waveform injection
  • Colosseum digital twin for pre-experiment simulation
CAPABILITY 03

Independent Spectrum Science Evaluation

Provide objective, third-party evaluation of spectrum sharing outcomes, DSP/ML algorithm performance, and coexistence results through validated scientific methods.

  • Correlation detector for known waveforms
  • Energy-based bounding box detection
  • RF dataset collection and annotation
  • AI/ML classifier development and validation
Technical Infrastructure

The RDZ-KIT Architecture

The Radio Dynamic Zone Kit (RDZ-KIT) is the hardware and software backbone enabling portable, repeatable RDZ experimentation. Developed and maintained by the MITRE EEL team in collaboration with Northeastern University.

System Stack

Layer 1
Sensing
RFS (Radio Frequency Sensors) from CU Boulder — continuous spectrum monitoring across site
Layer 2
Actuation
Surrogate Smart Meters (SSMs) generating 900 MHz ISM signals with configurable waveforms
Layer 3
Zone Management
OpenZMS (U. of Utah) — orchestrates experiment permissions, timing, and sensor coordination
Layer 4
Analytics
UT Austin AI/ML classifiers and DSP algorithms for spectrum awareness and event detection
Layer 5
Digital Twin
Colosseum platform (NEU) for pre-deployment simulation and algorithm validation
Project Year 2 — Active Phase

RDZ-KIT Development Progress

SPARKIE EEL is in Project Year 2 (Sept 2025 – Aug 2026). The November 2025 HCRO exercise was the first integrated RDZ-KIT field demonstration — a critical proof-of-concept milestone.

PY1 — SEPT 2024 – AUG 2025
Foundation: Subaward Execution & Site Surveys
Established team subawards with all six university partners. Completed site surveys at HCRO and POWDER. Initiated RDZ-KIT framework design and RDZ-KIT component development. NSF Award #2431961 (Phase 2) activated.
NOV 7–20, 2025
HCRO Field Exercise — First Integrated RDZ-KIT Demonstration ✓
Deployed RDZ-KIT at Hat Creek Radio Observatory for the first end-to-end RDZ-KIT exercise. Demonstrated OpenZMS + RDZ-KIT sensors + SSMs operating in 900 MHz ISM band. Successfully demonstrated ATA radio telescope coexistence. Starlink used for remote operations. Post-exercise data analysis confirmed two signal detection approaches: correlation detector and energy-based bounding-box algorithm.
FEB 19, 2026
Government Stakeholder Briefing
Presented HCRO exercise results and Capstone A planning to NSF government stakeholders. Demonstrated validated detection methods and outlined the path to long-duration persistent experimentation at HCRO.
SUMMER 2026 — IN PROGRESS
Capstone A Preliminary Design Review (PDR)
Conducting systems engineering PDR for the Capstone A long-duration experiment at HCRO. Addressing key technical challenges including EMI from radio receivers, power at remote sites, and third-party terrestrial system coordination. Estimated start of Capstone A experiment: October 2026 (PY3).
SPRING 2027 — UPCOMING (PY3)
Capstone A Experiment Begins
Long-duration (~3 months) persistent RDZ-KIT experiment at HCRO. Full RDZ monitoring, ZMS control validation, multi-sensor event annotation, remote operations from off-site. See the Capstone page for full details.

The November 2025 HCRO exercise confirmed that end-to-end RDZ-KIT infrastructure works in a realistic radio astronomy environment. Key lessons — EMI management and power requirements for permanent deployment — are now informing the Capstone A design. RDZ-KIT deployment is on track for persistent operation beginning Spring 2027.

Next: Capstone Experiments

See How RDZ-KIT Scales to Long-Duration Experiments

The Capstone A experiment at HCRO will be the first persistent, continuous RDZ deployment — a critical step toward validating spectrum sharing at scale.

Explore Capstone Plans →