1. Current and Future Directions in Spectrum Sharing
Martin Weiss
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh PA USA

2. Overview Current actions in the US Underlying factors
Conclusions & research frontier

3. Overview
Recent developments in spectrum bands (covered in more detail by Doug Sicker)
TV White Spaces
CBRS in the 3.5 GHz band
5.8 GHz
Satellite C-Band downlinks
Other sharing
Model city (from PCAST)
Philadelphia spatial measurement project
More generally
CSMAC process
“Bi-directional” sharing

4. Underlying questions
How do we build “social capital” in the spectrum sharing ecosystem?
What is the “low hanging fruit” of the spectrum sharing ecosystem that we can focus on?
What are we building the ecosystem for?

5. What do we mean by the “spectrum sharing ecosystem”?
Constituents
Regulators
Incumbents
Entrants
Spectrum Managers/Database operators
NGOs
Governments
Military
Broadcasters
Institutions
Resource definition
Resource governance
Enforcement
Technologies
Software/Cognitive radios
Spectrum Access Systems
Environmental Sensing

6. Institutions Resource definition Resource governance Enforcement
Spectrum allocation and assignment methods
Framework for negotiating the terms of sharing
Resource governance
Nested hierarchy?
Collective action rights
Enforcement

7. What is “social capital” and how do we build it?
The foundation on which we interact with each other
Reduces “transaction costs”
Building social capital
Experience and history
Clear rights and rules
Predictable outcomes from dispute adjudication
A note on rights enforcement
Involves potentially all stakeholders
Goes beyond usage rights (i.e., interference) and includes collective action rights

8. Enforcing collective action rights
Including governance mechanisms enables CPR governance
Accountability
Locally devised rules
Nested governance
Enforcement
We can modify this figure as illustrated, which improves the likelihood of effective CPR governance and sustainable management. This may be desirable because decentralized management can be more efficient than centralized management. Engaging stakeholders also can reduce the perceived risk, enhancing the likelihood of spectrum sharing.

9. What is the “Low Hanging” fruit?
What I learned from 15 years of DSA research
We (the community) were seduced by the challenging technical problem of distributed “non-cooperative” cognitive radio systems
Bypassed the “cooperative” approaches – until TV White Spaces
How does this apply?
Address the “easy” problems first
Address the “most likely to occur” problems first
Address problems that have a greater impact on building social capital first

10. “Low hanging fruit” examples
Enforcement infrastructure for “routine” events
Fixed sensor network (sensing as a service) for environmental sensing
Use “citizen science” framework to build data about spectrum environment

11. Purpose of the sharing infrastructure
Lessons from unlicensed services
Platform for innovative new service

12. Toward a research agenda
Numerous meetings have taken place
Research future meeting at DySPAN 2015
US National Science Foundation (NSF)
Enhance Access to Radio Spectrum (EARS) Report (
Spectrum Measurement workshop (
Wireless System Research and Development (WSRD) workshops ( _and_Development)
Perhaps others elsewhere in the world
What are the “tall poles in the tent”?

13. Example: Grand Challenges from the NSF EARS workshop
Achieving harmonious coexistence in heterogeneous wireless networks and systems
Development of automated enforcement mechanisms and compliance certification methods
Evolving spectrum sharing architectures for future wireless applications and usage scenarios
Exploration of emerging technologies as a vehicle for bold new approaches, including academic-industrial-regulatory interaction

14. Discussion?