The electromagnetic spectrum, and the ways we use it, affect the everyday lives of almost everyone on Earth. Governments allocate the use of radio waves for innumerable commercial, non-profit, and public uses, with the goal of improving communication speed and ease around the world. Indeed, every piece of technology that involves wireless transmission — from televisions to cell phones to Wi-fi — is taking advantage of these waves as we speak. But as the image above shows, the airwaves are getting more and more crowded, to the point where big moves are necessary if we want to continue expansion.

Now, the U.S. government is making a move that could both expand available airwaves and raise much-needed funds. In his fiscal 2011 budget released this week, President Obama proposes allowing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue auctioning off parts of the radio spectrum until 2020 — an authority that was set to expire in 2012. In addition, the budget calls for allowing the FCC to sell the rights to small parts of the spectrum that are still not used; in total, the new fees will bring in an estimated $6 billion or more for the feds.

In addition to the money, these changes will bring important new capacity to the increasingly-overburdened airwaves, adding to last June’s conversion of all U.S. television broadcasting to digital signals — a monumental move, since it meant the government opened up a massive new block of transmission at frequencies of 700 MHz. The TV stations that had once broadcast at channels 52 to 69 were simply moved to lower channels, leaving the space open for other use.

Why are these specific frequencies so crucial? Unlike many other parts of the radio spectrum, they are ideal for transmitting information to pretty much anywhere — they can travel long distances and penetrate thick walls (which is why they were used for TV in the first place).

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