Auctioning Airspace

The commercialization of air taxis and autonomous passenger drones will one day congest urban airspace. Operators expect that, once flights are autonomous and the cost of service falls, high-traffic urban “vertiports” could see hundreds of air taxi takeoffs and landings per hour. Low-altitude airspace—between 200 feet and 5,000 feet above ground level—offers a relatively blank slate to explore new regulatory models for air traffic management and avoid command-and-control mistakes made in the past in aviation. Regulators’ current proposals would centralize air taxi traffic management into a single system to coordinate air taxi traffic, but this approach likely creates technology lock-in and unduly benefits the initial operators at the expense of later innovators. To facilitate the development of the air taxi market, regulators should consider demarcating aerial travel corridors and auctioning exclusive-use licenses to operators for use of those corridors, much like regulators auction radio spectrum licenses and offshore wind energy sites. Exclusive rights to routes would allow transfer and sale to more efficient operators and would also give operators the certainty they need to finance the substantial capital investments

Spectrum utilization using game theory

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Spectrum utilization is the most recent communications issue which takes great deal of attention from communication researchers where most of the efforts have been dedicated for spectral efficient utilization. Spectrum sharing is one of the solutions considered in the problem of lack of available frequency for new communication services which are unlicensed. In this work we propose an optimal method for spectrum utilization to increase spectral efficiency. It considers the problem of spectrum holes found in Primary User's (PU) band and detected using one of the spectral sensing methods. The solution is formulated with the help of Game theory approach in such a way that the primary user who has unoccupied frequency can share it with a group of secondary users (SU) in a competitive way. One of the SUs will be a secondary primary user (SPU), share available frequency from PU then offer his sharing to serve other SUs in different rate of sharing. Each user in the group of secondary users has a chance to be secondary primary user depending on reputation of each SU. Enhancing reputation is the only way for any SU to assure a share in the spectrum where it considered the factor of increasing or decreasing rate of sharing as well as factor of being SPU or an ordinary SU. A theoretical non-cooperative game model is introduced in a comparison with a proposed non-dynamic technique which depends on number of subscribers who occupy frequency in each time period. Multi-users compete on sharing the frequency from one of the users who offers sharing at a time when he has low number of subscribers that occupy his band. It is found that non-dynamic sharing results in inefficient spectrum utilization which is one of the reasons of spectrum scarcity where this resource is allocated in fixed way. Spectrum sharing using game theory solves this problem by its ability to make users compete to gain highest rate of spectrum allocation according to the real requirement of each user at each time interval. The problem of urgent case is also discussed when the primary user comes back to using his band which is the specific band of sharing with the secondary users group. SPU makes it easy to unload the required band from multi-users because PU does not need to request his band from each SU in the group

Resource management for virtualized networks

Network Virtualization has emerged as a promising approach that can be employed to efficiently enhance the resource management technologies. In this work, the goal is to study how to automate the bandwidth resource management, while deploying a virtual partitioning scheme for the network bandwidth resources. Works that addressed the resource management in Virtual Networks are many, however, each has some limitations. Resource overwhelming, poor bandwidth utilization, low profits, exaggeration, and collusion are types of such sort of limitations. Indeed, the lack of adequate bandwidth allocation schemes encourages resource overwhelming, where one customer may overwhelm the resources that supposed to serve others. Static resource partitioning can resist overwhelming but at the same time it may result in poor bandwidth utilization, which means less profit rates for the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). However, deploying the technology of autonomic management can enhance the resource utilization, and maximize the customers’ satisfaction rates. It also provides the customers with a kind of privilege that should be somehow controlled as customers, always eager to maximize their payoffs, can use such a privilege to cheat. Hence, cheating actions like exaggeration and collusion can be expected. Solving the aforementioned limitations is addressed in this work. In the first part, the work deals with overcoming the problems of low profits, poor utilization, and high blocking ratios of the traditional First Ask First Allocate (FAFA) algorithm. The proposed solution is based on an Autonomic Resource Management Mechanism (ARMM). This solution deploys a smarter allocation algorithm based on the auction mechanism. At this level, to reduce the tendency of exaggeration, the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) is proposed to provide a threat model that penalizes the exaggerating customers, based on the inconvenience they cause to others in the system. To resist the collusion, the state-dependent shadow price is calculated, based on the Markov decision theory, to represent a selling price threshold for the bandwidth units at a given state. Part two of the work solves an expanded version of the bandwidth allocation problem, but through a different methodology. In this part, the bandwidth allocation problem is expanded to a bandwidth partitioning problem. Such expansion allows dividing the link’s bandwidth resources based on the provided Quality of Service (QoS) classes, which provides better bandwidth utilization. In order to find the optimal management metrics, the problem is solved through Linear Programming (LP). A dynamic bandwidth partitioning scheme is also proposed to overcome the problems related to the static partitioning schemes, such as the poor bandwidth utilization, which can result in having under-utilized partitions. This dynamic partitioning model is deployed in a periodic manner. Periodic partitioning provides a new way to reduce the reasoning of exaggeration, when compared to the threat model, and eliminates the need of the further computational overhead. The third part of this work proposes a decentralized management scheme to solve aforementioned problems in the context of networks that are managed by Virtual Network Operators (VNOs). Such decentralization allows deploying a higher level of autonomic management, through which, the management responsibilities are distributed over the network nodes, each responsible for managing its outgoing links. Compared to the centralized schemes, such distribution provides higher reliability and easier bandwidth dimensioning. Moreover, it creates a form of two-sided competition framework that allows a double-auction environment among the network players, both customers and node controllers. Such competing environment provides a new way to reduce the exaggeration beside the periodic and threat models mentioned before. More important, it can deliver better utilization rates, lower blocking, and consequently higher profits. Finally, numerical experiments and empirical results are presented to support the proposed solutions, and to provide a comparison with other works from the literature

Application of the Public-Trust Doctrine and Principles of Natural Resource Management to Electromagnetic Spectrum

The Electromagnetic spectrum is among our most valuable natural resources. Yet while the past few decades have seen a rich body of environmental law develop for other natural resources, this movement has largely passed over the electromagnetic spectrum. This Article argues that to remedy that situation, the public-trust doctrine, which is now a cornerstone of modern environmental law, should be extended to the electromagnetic spectrum. This extension would not be a leap: the public-trust doctrine has already been used to guarantee the public access to various bodies of water (not just navigable water), and to protect recreational lakes and beaches, wildlife preserves, and even the air. Electromagnetic spectrum is at least as valuable as these other resources, so access to it should be similarly guaranteed in order for the public to enjoy its full potential. This Article will first show that there is a problem with the way that the electromagnetic spectrum is regulated, that its regulation stifles innovation and has favored incumbents by wrongly giving them exclusive access to a natural resource at no charge, and that the situation has been exacerbated by mistakenly assuming that auctions are a panacea for past spectrum-allocation problems. The Article will then argue that the public- trust doctrine, as well as other more general concepts borrowed from environmental-law scholarship-such as sustainable consumption, electromagnetic pollution, and ecological imbalance-should be imported into a new spectrum-management paradigm. Two technologies, Ultra-Wideband and Software Defined Radio, may be well-suited for a new regulatory paradigm that is freer than the one that the spectrum has always had, and that provides for access to the spectrum\u27s being guaranteed by the public-trust doctrine

Market Mechanisms Towards Secondary Spectrum Usage

Widespread adoption of smartphones, tablets and other smart devices has resulted in mobile operators (MOs) making a transition from voice to data centric business model. As a consequence there has been an increase in demand for radio spectrum. Spectrum availability in the future can be a cause of concern, the main reason of which is being attributed to the traditional and inflexible approach towards spectrum management. Hence it is required to overhaul the existing spectrum management techniques and adopt those models which aim at higher spectrum utilization. As part of our research methodology we first perform a state-of-the-art review on secondary usage of radio spectrum. We observe that most research assumes a clean slate approach towards the emergence of secondary spectrum markets which are typically designed with an underlying assumption of participating actors being of homogeneous type. In contrast with above we take an evolutionary approach while designing market mechanisms towards heterogeneous secondary usage of spectrum. The evolution of trading markets is reflected in the incremental steps used in our research, i.e. starting from Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11) capacity markets, followed by super Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11af) capacity markets and finally TV White Spaces (TVWS) spectrum leasing markets. We make use of Value Network Configuration (VNC) methodology for illustrating the design of market mechanism and further evaluate the designed mechanism using Agent Based Modeling (ABM). Based on our simulation results we observe that a generic trade-off exist between the length of lease time, trade facilitation cost and the extent of trading activity within the markets. We also observe that there exists an optimal range of lease time for which all the market players find themselves in economically favourable situation. We compare super Wi-Fi capacity markets and TVWS spectrum leasing markets over performance of MOs and TV broadcasters and according to our evaluation local area strategy seems to offer more benefits for TVWS spectrum usage

Leasing Consumer Goods: The Spotlight Shifts to the Uniform Consumer Leases Act

As a participant throughout the drafting process for the Uniform Consumer Leases Act ( U.C.L.A. or the Act ), I believe that the Act deserves serious consideration in the state legislatures to fill gaps in existing consumer protections for consumer lessees. The Act complements the Uniform Commercial Code ( U.C.C. ) Article 2A (Leases), which creates a basic legal framework for all leases of goods, commercial and consumer alike, and the federal Consumer Leasing Act, which prescribes advertising and disclosure rules for consumer leases. The U.C.L.A. is also intended to reinforce, or be reinforced by, certain existing state laws, such as those prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices ( U.D.A.P. ) laws and lemon laws, which provide remedies for defective goods. There are scattered existing state laws specifically dealing with consumer leases, some of which are limited to motor vehicle leases. These laws would, for the most part, be repealed if the U.C.L.A. is enacted. The U.C.L.A. can be compared generally to the various state retail installment sales acts applicable to credit sales of motor vehicles and other consumer goods. It provides for disclosure of lease terms, restricts (or in some cases requires) certain lease provisions and practices, regulates the process of terminating a consumer lease, and provides an enforcement structure that includes private and public remedies

Establishing a generic systems model of port clusters and their associated port logistics process

Ports are playing an ever pivotal role in the development and operation of industrial supply chains. Port management has historically been reactive to legislative and customer pressures. Such a reactive approach has resulted in ad hoc infrastructure development including physical facilities and information technology. Ports may thus be viewed as large scale complex systems where there is a need to define a more holistic perspective of their design and operations. Recent developments in the construct of port clusters and maritime clusters have led to increased complexity. The advantage in these developments is that greater integration between the port and associated services and users in the supply chain in port should be realised. However, there is a need to apply appropriate industrial engineering tools and techniques in order to visualise such clusters as whole systems without the need for excessively complex models. Such visualisations will help in developing our understanding of the interrelationships between the various parts and aid in the development of structured design methods. The thesis presents a structured analysis and design technique (SADT) in order to visualise a port cluster as a system of systems wherein hierarchy lies. This research identifies a port cluster and within that a port logistics process. SADT has been chosen as there are readily available software tools to aid in the visualisation and it provides a robust structured method by which to model hierarchical systems. This study applies SADT to the port cluster system that has distributed around the Port of Busan in Korea but has not been organised systematically. This dissertation shows that SADT does provide an opportunity to define and analyse the cluster in terms of the port logistics process, port activities and actors. In conjunction with the calculation of the industrial productivity of the cluster, it will be able to distinguish who could be the leading industry or leading company in the cluster. Finally, the results of the industrial productivity analysis also will be express using SADT diagram, so that it could provide the clear picture which industry/business should be the leader in each port logistics process

The drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility in the supply chain. A case study.

Purpose: The paper studies the way in which a SME integrates CSR into its corporate strategy, the practices it puts in place and how its CSR strategies reflect on its suppliers and customers relations. Methodology/Research limitations: A qualitative case study methodology is used. The use of a single case study limits the generalizing capacity of these findings. Findings: The entrepreneur’s ethical beliefs and value system play a fundamental role in shaping sustainable corporate strategy. Furthermore, the type of competitive strategy selected based on innovation, quality and responsibility clearly emerges both in terms of well defined management procedures and supply chain relations as a whole aimed at involving partners in the process of sustainable innovation. Originality/value: The paper presents a SME that has devised an original innovative business model. The study pivots on the issues of innovation and eco-sustainability in a context of drivers for CRS and business ethics. These values are considered fundamental at International level; the United Nations has declared 2011 the “International Year of Forestry”