| NSF Org: |
AST Division Of Astronomical Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 11, 2013 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 12, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1343381 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Jon Williams
jonwilli@nsf.gov (703)292-2455 AST Division Of Astronomical Sciences MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2013 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,200,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,200,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
633 CLARK ST EVANSTON IL US 60208-0001 (312)503-7955 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2145 Sheridan Rd. Evanston IL US 60208-3118 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | EARS |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
Sharing of spectrum among government and/or commercial entities has the potential to unleash large amounts of spectrum to meet the dramatic increase in demand for mobile broadband services. Although there has been substantial work on developing technologies for such sharing, the adoption of extensive sharing by commercial service providers is by no means a forgone conclusion. This project is addressing three fundamental issues that need to be resolved in order for spectrum sharing to realize its potential.
The first issue is concerned with developing models and techniques for mitigating the risks associated with secondary spectrum sharing. Such risks arise, for example, due to uncertainty in a primary user?s activity. The impact of both different technologies (e.g., more flexible devices) and different contractual arrangements (e.g., the possibility of offering "spectrum insurance") on such risks are being studied.
The second issue is addressing how different spectrum agreements and associated risk may affect competition and strategic behavior among service providers. That affects their decisions to invest in both infrastructure and develop new spectrum sharing technologies.
The final issue is understanding how to balance the benefits of using spectrum to provide a public good, such as defense, against its use to provide commercial broadband access. Identifying associated incentive issues and transaction costs with each type of service can lead to better sharing mechanisms that produce efficient outcomes.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Sharing of spectrum is viewed as a key technique to meet the ever-growing demand for wireless data. However, sharing also raises to new risks for commercial wireless service providers; in particular, a shared resource may be less predictable. This project used a combination of approaches from economics and wireless networking to study how service providers can successfully utilize shared spectrum while accounting for these risks. As one example, models have been developed in which spectrum is shared in a tiered framework as in the recently established rules for the 3.5 GHz band. Under these rules, lower tier users can only utilize the spectrum when higher tier users are not present. This makes the spectrum intermittently available to the lower tier users. The market impact of different ways of licensing such intermittent spectrum has been studied utilizing game theoretic models. These results provide guidance in future policy decisions for such bands.
One way to improve the utilization of shared spectrum is by deploying sensor networks to measure spectrum occupancy. Models in which such spectrum measurement are made available by a third party have also been developed (again motivated by the recent 3.5 GHz rules). Again, the market impact of such an approach has been studied including characterizing the impact of different qualities of spectrum measurements.
Another issue with spectrum sharing is the increasing heterogeneity of spectrum characteristics and of use cases. Market models that capture this heterogeneity have been developed. Other aspects of spectrum markets such as long-term contracts, data rewards given to customers for watching ads, bundling different types of spectrum, and the role of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) have also been examined.
Three PhD theses resulted from work on this project and several undergraduate and high school students were involved in the research.
Another goal of the project was to publicize the benefits and challenges of spectrum sharing to the broader community. To meet this, numerous invited talks were given in industry and academia, and several panels and keynotes were organized at major conferences.
Last Modified: 01/05/2020
Modified by: Randall A Berry
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