NeTS: Small: Spectrum Sharing Systems for Wireless Networks: Performance and privacy challenges

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The rapid increase in the quantity and capability of consumer mobile wireless devices has accelerated the growth in demand for radio frequency spectrum. In recent years, to address congestion in allocated spectrum bands and allow for continued growth opportunities, national and international regulators have taken steps to identify new spectrum for use by mobile wireless services such as cellular and Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, myriad other systems and services already make use of spectrum in the frequency ranges that could be useful for mobile wireless. With limited opportunities to open up new unencumbered bands for spectrum hungry mobile wireless services, regulators are turning to spectrum sharing among increasingly broad system types as their only recourse. In two recent examples, the US Federal Communications Commission auctioned for cellular services two bands used by meteorological satellite services and US Navy radars, raising concerns about the interference to the incumbent services as well as the ability of incumbent services to maintain the privacy of their operations. This project explores a general framework for architecting spectrum sharing systems and examining design trades rigorously. The design goals of a spectrum sharing system will fall into three categories, namely, performance, privacy and complexity. The project will conduct formal optimization analysis to study the allocation of resources (time, frequency and power) among the various networks in terms of the resulting utility of the spectrum for those networks to maximize performance subject to interference constraints. Since the operational information about wireless systems needed to effect spectrum sharing, such as locations, frequencies, time of use, and susceptibility to interference, may be considered sensitive, this project will answer whether, under what conditions, and how a spectrum sharing system can be designed to protect a critical level of privacy for the systems it enables. To do so, the project will consider the scope of operational scenarios, adversary exploitation techniques, and obfuscation strategies to protect privacy, developing relevant metrics for the analysis.