This project investigates an approach for managing the radio spectrum that is fundamentally different from today. A new approach is needed because of high congestion of the limited airwaves caused by growing demand from all sectors of society. The project combines analysis of an innovative regulatory model, based on assigning rights to receivers compared to today’s approach of licensing transmitters, with development of innovative technical solutions for automatic spectrum management and peer-to-peer cooperation within the context of that regulatory model. The goal of the new approach is to increase total wireless capacity, enable a wide range of applications, assure spectrum access for the common good, and promote innovation. The project has three interrelated research thrusts grounded in case studies of the 7-8 GHz and 12 GHz bands. The first thrust investigates how a receiver-centric rights regime should be structured to minimize transaction costs, encourage sharing, and discourage hoarding of spectrum resources. The second thrust develops watermarking techniques that enable interference victims to robustly identify the operator responsible for the interference. Two techniques are developed and evaluated, one that is universal and one that is tailored for the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) physical layer commonly used in modern broadband. Rapid identification of the operator responsible for interference is essential in the envisioned new spectrum reg