CHANNEL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NETWORK ELEMENTS IN A SHARED SPECTRUM COMMUNICATION NETWORK

A method for selecting a channel for a network element in a shared spectrum communication system is provided. The method comprises identifying a plurality of candidate channels of a frequency band of the shared spectrum communication system. For each of the plurality of candidate channels, the method further comprises determining at least one transmit power estimate based on at least one available interference margin. The at least one available interference margin is based on a power allocation protocol for the shared spectrum communication system. The method further comprises scoring each of the plurality of candidate channels based on the at least one transmit power estimate. The method further comprises ranking the plurality of candidate channels based on the scores for each of the plurality of candidate channels. The method further comprises selecting one of the plurality of candidate channels based on the ranking of the plurality of candidate channels.