A Comprehensive Survey on Networking over TV White Spaces

The 2008 Federal Communication Commission (FCC) ruling in the United States opened up new opportunities for unlicensed operation in the TV white space spectrum. Networking protocols over the TV white spaces promise to subdue the shortcomings of existing short-range multi-hop wireless architectures and protocols by offering more availability, wider bandwidth, and longer-range communication. The TV white space protocols are the enabling technologies for sensing and monitoring, Internet-of-Things (IoT), wireless broadband access, real-time, smart and connected community, and smart utility applications. In this paper, we perform a retrospective review of the protocols that have been built over the last decade and also the new challenges and the directions for future work. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive survey to present and compare existing networking protocols over the TV white spaces.Comment: 19 page

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

WhiteHaul: white space spectrum aggregation system for backhaul

Today almost half the world's population does not have Internet access. This is particularly the case in rural and undeserved regions where providing Internet access infrastructure is challenging and expensive. To this end, we present demonstration of WhiteHaul [5], a low-cost hybrid cross-layer aggregation system for TV White Space (TVWS) based backhaul. WhiteHaul features a custom-designed frequency conversion substrate that efficiently handles multiple noncontiguous chunks of TVWS spectrum using multiple low-cost COTS 802.11n/ac cards but with a single antenna. At the software layer, WhiteHaul uses MPTCP as a link-level tunnel abstraction to efficiently aggregate multiple chunks of the TVWS spectrum via a novel uncoupled, cross-layer congestion control algorithm. This demo illustrates the unique features of the WhiteHaul system based on a prototype implementation employing a modified version of MPTCP Linux Kernel and a custom-designed conversion substrate. Using this prototype, we highlight the performance of the WhiteHaul system under various configurations and network conditions

Radio Spectrum and the Disruptive Clarity OF Ronald Coase.

In the Federal Communications Commission, Ronald Coase (1959) exposed deep foundations via normative argument buttressed by astute historical observation. The government controlled scarce frequencies, issuing sharply limited use rights. Spillovers were said to be otherwise endemic. Coase saw that Government limited conflicts by restricting uses; property owners perform an analogous function via the "price system." The government solution was inefficient unless the net benefits of the alternative property regime were lower. Coase augured that the price system would outperform the administrative allocation system. His spectrum auction proposal was mocked by communications policy experts, opposed by industry interests, and ridiculed by policy makers. Hence, it took until July 25, 1994 for FCC license sales to commence. Today, some 73 U.S. auctions have been held, 27,484 licenses sold, and $52.6 billion paid. The reform is a textbook example of economic policy success. We examine Coase‘s seminal 1959 paper on two levels. First, we note the importance of its analytical symmetry, comparing administrative to market mechanisms under the assumption of positive transaction costs. This fundamental insight has had enormous influence within the economics profession, yet is often lost in current analyses. This analytical insight had its beginning in his acclaimed early article on the firm (Coase 1937), and continued into his subsequent treatment of social cost (Coase 1960). Second, we investigate why spectrum policies have stopped well short of the property rights regime that Coase advocated, considering rent-seeking dynamics and the emergence of new theories challenging Coase‘s property framework. One conclusion is easily rendered: competitive bidding is now the default tool in wireless license awards. By rule of thumb, about$17 billion in U.S. welfare losses have been averted. Not bad for the first 50 years of this, or any, Article appearing in Volume II of the Journal of Law & Economics.

TV White Spaces: A Pragmatic Approach

190 pages The editors and publisher have taken due care in preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information contained herein. Links to websites imply neither responsibility for, nor approval of, the information contained in those other web sites on the part of ICTP. No intellectual property rights are transferred to ICTP via this book, and the authors/readers will be free to use the given material for educational purposes.  e ICTP will not transfer rights to other organizations, nor will it be used for any commercial purposes. ICTP is not to endorse or sponsor any particular commercial product, service or activity mentioned in this book. This book is released under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives ¦.þ International license. For more details regarding your rights to use and redistribute this work, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

WhiteHaul: an efficient spectrum aggregation system for low-cost and high capacity backhaul over white spaces

We address the challenge of backhaul connectivity for rural and developing regions, which is essential for universal fixed/mobile Internet access. To this end, we propose to exploit the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum for its attractive properties: low cost, abundance in under-served regions and favorable propagation characteristics. Specifically, we propose a system called WhiteHaul for the efficient aggregation of the TVWS spectrum tailored for the backhaul use case. At the core of WhiteHaul are two key innovations: (i) a TVWS conversion substrate that can efficiently handle multiple non-contiguous chunks of TVWS spectrum using multiple low cost 802.11n/ac cards but with a single antenna; (ii) novel use of MPTCP as a link-level tunnel abstraction and its use for efficiently aggregating multiple chunks of the TVWS spectrum via a novel uncoupled, cross-layer congestion control algorithm. Through extensive evaluations using a prototype implementation of WhiteHaul, we show that: (a) WhiteHaul can aggregate almost the whole of TV band with 3 interfaces and achieve nearly 600Mbps TCP throughput; (b) the WhiteHaul MPTCP congestion control algorithm provides an order of magnitude improvement over state of the art algorithms for typical TVWS backhaul links. We also present additional measurement and simulation based results to evaluate other aspects of the WhiteHaul design