Spectrum Sharing for LTE-A Network in TV White Space

Rural areas in the developing countries are predominantly devoid of Internet access as it is not viable for operators to provide broadband service in these areas. To solve this problem, we propose a middle mile Long erm Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) network operating in TV white space to connect villages to an optical Point of Presence (PoP) located in the vicinity of a rural area. We study the problem of spectrum sharing for the middle mile networks deployed by multiple operators. A graph theory based Fairness Constrained Channel Allocation (FCCA) algorithm is proposed, employing Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Listen Before Talk (LBT) features of LTE-A. We perform extensive system level simulations to demonstrate that FCCA not only increases spectral efficiency but also improves system fairness.Comment: 5 page

Co-primary inter-operator spectrum sharing over a limited spectrum pool using repeated games

We consider two small cell operators deployed in the same geographical area, sharing spectrum resources from a common pool. A method is investigated to coordinate the utilization of the spectrum pool without monetary transactions and without revealing operator-specific information to other parties. For this, we construct a protocol based on asking and receiving spectrum usage favors by the operators, and keeping a book of the favors. A spectrum usage favor is exchanged between the operators if one is asking for a permission to use some of the resources from the pool on an exclusive basis, and the other is willing to accept that. As a result, the proposed method does not force an operator to take action. An operator with a high load may take spectrum usage favors from an operator that has few users to serve, and it is likely to return these favors in the future to show a cooperative spirit and maintain reciprocity. We formulate the interactions between the operators as a repeated game and determine rules to decide whether to ask or grant a favor at each stage game. We illustrate that under frequent network load variations, which are expected to be prominent in small cell deployments, both operators can attain higher user rates as compared to the case of no coordination of the resource utilization.Comment: To be published in proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) at London, Jun. 201

Hybrid Decision Algorithm for Access Selection in Multi-operator Networks

In this paper, we propose a hybrid decision algorithm for the selection of the access in multi-operator networks environment, where competing operators share their radio access networks to meet traffic and data rate demands. The proposed algorithm guarantees the user satisfaction and a global gain for all cooperating operators. Simulation results prove the efficiency of the proposed scheme and show that the cooperation between operators achieves benefits to both users and operators; user acceptance as well as the operator resource utilization and the operator revenue increase.Comment: WCNC, Istanbul : Turkey (2014

Sharing of Unlicensed Spectrum by Strategic Operators

Facing the challenge of meeting ever-increasing demand for wireless data, the industry is striving to exploit large swaths of spectrum which anyone can use for free without having to obtain a license. Major standards bodies are currently considering a proposal to retool and deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies in unlicensed bands below 6 GHz. This paper studies the fundamental questions of whether and how the unlicensed spectrum can be shared by intrinsically strategic operators without suffering from the tragedy of the commons. A class of general utility functions is considered. The spectrum sharing problem is formulated as a repeated game over a sequence of time slots. It is first shown that a simple static sharing scheme allows a given set of operators to reach a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium for mutually beneficial sharing. The question of how many operators will choose to enter the market is also addressed by studying an entry game. A sharing scheme which allows dynamic spectrum borrowing and lending between operators is then proposed to address time-varying traffic and proved to achieve perfect Bayesian equilibrium. Numerical results show that the proposed dynamic sharing scheme outperforms static sharing, which in turn achieves much higher revenue than uncoordinated full-spectrum sharing. Implications of the results to the standardization and deployment of LTE in unlicensed bands (LTE-U) are also discussed.Comment: To appear in the IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Special Issue on Game Theory for Network

Comparison between access selection algorithms in multi-operator wireless networks

International audienceIn fifth generation mobile network, Radio Access Network sharing is an attractive solution for operators to counter the traffic growth and build cost-effective networks in order to improve coverage and capacity at reasonable investments and operational costs. It consists of sharing radio access resources between two or more operators. In such multi-operator environment access selection decision is an important issue for the mobile user and his home operator which the user has contract with. In literature, the majority of access selection algorithms are based on game theory which is very complex for implementation and the decision is slower in comparison with Multiple Attributes Decision Making (MADM) methods. In this paper, we use Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) methods and Nearest Performance Handover (NPH) algorithm for the access selection in a multi-operator environment. These algorithms based on MADM were initially conceived for the selection decision in a single operator environment. In addition, we compare the performance of these algorithms with our previously proposed cost function for the access selection in a multi-operator sharing network. Performance analyses are made in terms of user blocking percentages and global achieved profit. Simulation results showed that our decision algorithm guarantee the lowest blocking probability for all operators, it prevents overloading operator's with high numbers of guest users which affect own clients acceptance. In addition, it improves global achieved profits for all cooperating operators. However, SAW methods showed better performance than NPH concerning users blocking percentages, but NPH guarantees higher profits than SAW methods for the operators with limited capacity

In-Building Capacity Enhancement using Small Cells in Mobile Networks: An Overview

In this paper, we give an overview of the state-of-the-art research studies to present the potential of small cells to address the high capacity demands of in-building users in mobile networks. In doing so, we discuss relevant theoretical backgrounds and carry out performance evaluations of key enabling technologies along with three major directions toward improving the network capacity, including spectrum accessibility, Spectral Efficiency (SE) improvement, and network densification. For the spectrum accessibility, numerous types of Small Cell Base Station (SBS) architectures of a Mobile Network Operator (MNO) are evaluated. For the SE improvement, cognitive radio techniques are evaluated for the Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) among multiple MNOs in a country. For the network densification, the spectrum reuse is evaluated at both intra-and inter-building levels for a given Co-Channel Interference (CCI) constraint. It is shown that multi-band multi-transceiver enabled small cells operating in the high-frequency millimeter-wave licensed or unlicensed spectrum to realize DSS techniques by exploiting SBS architectures for the spectrum accessibility, a hybrid interweave-underlay spectrum access in Cognitive Radio Networks for the spectral efficiency improvement, and both vertical and horizontal spectrum reuse in small cells deployed densely within buildings for the network densification can address high capacity demand in indoor mobile networks

Inter-operator spectrum sharing for cellular networks using game theory

International audienc