Spectrum Markets and Sharing via Spectrum Consumption Models

The continuous development of new technologies and uses for wireless radio spectrum has prompted spectrum management agencies and wireless service providers to consider flexible spectrum assignment mechanisms as a means to be able to respond in the near future to the changing spectrum management landscape. The regulatory, technological and economic changes that are now driving the wireless services industry will spawn new technical and business models in wireless service provision, many of which will rely on Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) methods to enable efficient use of spectrum resources. However, the use of DSA methods also requires using policy-based mechanisms in radio devices to facilitate and control the assignment of spectrum given the wide range of communication scenarios in which there may be conflicting goals for the use of this resource (e.g. public safety vs. profit-based services). Spectrum consumption modeling attempts to capture spectral, spatial, and temporal consumption of spectrum of any specific transmitter, receiver, system, or collection of systems. The information contained in the models enable better spectrum management practices and allows for the identification of spectrum reuse opportunities. The characteristics and structure of spectrum consumption models are being standardized within the newly formed IEEE P1900.5.2 group in which the authors participate. Spectrum consumption models (SCM) allow for a fine grained management of spectrum resources in spectrum sharing and market scenarios. This paper presents and discusses our research in establishing a techno-economic framework for the use of SCM to enable spectrum sharing markets. We focus on exchange based spectrum trading markets where the entities wanting to use spectrum resources (spectrum users) make use of SCMs to express the characteristics of their desired spectrum use and based on them a spectrum exchange entity can determine the range of frequencies within the service area that can satisfy a particular requesting entity’s demand and the charge that it should pay. Several trading scenarios and criteria are also explained. We also discuss the use of SCMs and their integration with Policy-based spectrum management in the context of standardization efforts ongoing in IEEE and the WinForum. We hope that the results and insights of this paper are of use to regulators and policy makers and that it provides them an initial exposure to the potential uses of Spectrum Consumption Models and policy-based spectrum management