Spectrum Access Rights, Operator Identification, and Consensus-Based Sharing Platform

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

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 regime to facilitate coordination, negotiation, and trading. The third thrust explores fault-tolerant protocols and a distributed ledger system for peer-to-peer cooperation among spectrum users to automate rights registration, monitor usage, and facilitate spectrum trading under the envisioned new spectrum regime. These mechanisms enable decentralized spectrum management approaches that evolve more quickly and achieve better reliability and resilience than today’s centralized monolithic solutions such as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service Spectrum Access Systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.