Spectrum Pooling in MmWave Networks: Opportunities, Challenges, and Enablers

Abstract

Motivated by the intrinsic characteristics of mmWave technologies, we discuss the possibility of an authorization regime that allows spectrum sharing between multiple operators, also referred to as spectrum pooling. In particular, considering user rate as the performance measure, we assess the benefit of coordination among the networks of different operators, study the impact of beamforming both at the base stations and at the user terminals, and analyze the pooling performance at different frequency carriers. We also discuss the enabling spectrum mechanisms, architectures, and protocols required to make spectrum pooling work in real networks. Our initial results show that, from a technical perspective, spectrum pooling at mmWave has the potential for a more efficient spectrum use than a traditional exclusive spectrum allocation to a single operator. However, further studies are needed in order to reach a thorough understanding of this matter, and we hope that this paper will help stimulate further research in this area.F. Boccardi's work was carried out in his personal capacity and the views expressed here are his own and do not reflect his employer's ones.

A Hybrid Model-Based and Data-Driven Approach to Spectrum Sharing in mmWave Cellular Networks

“…Notice there should be some inter-operator architectural support whose design is out of the scope of this paper. Interested readers are referred to [3] and references therein. To implement the penalty matrix, we recall the set of BSs and UEs of all operators.…”

Uplink Interference Mitigation Techniques for Coexistence of 5G Millimeter Wave Users With Incumbents at 70 and 80 GHz

“…10e) has a similar PDF to the one used in the random model (cf. (13) and Fig. 10f) We then look at the INR performance when the 3GPP LOS model is used instead of the actual building layout.…”

A Spectrum Sharing Solution for the Efficient Use of mmWave Bands in 5G Cellular Scenarios

“…However, in all these survey works simulation results are missing and a detailed mmWave environment was not considered. Some simulations and numerical evaluations were presented in [9], [10] and [11]. In both [9] and [10] it is shown that spectrum sharing at mmWave has the potential for a more efficient spectrum use than a traditional exclusive spectrum allocation to a single operator.…”

“…Some simulations and numerical evaluations were presented in [9], [10] and [11]. In both [9] and [10] it is shown that spectrum sharing at mmWave has the potential for a more efficient spectrum use than a traditional exclusive spectrum allocation to a single operator. Work [11] introduces a hybrid spectrum access scheme for mmWave networks, where data packets are scheduled through two mmWave carriers with different characteristics.…”