Spectrum Sharing Among Wireless Systems

According to conventional wisdom, we currently suffer from a shortage of spectrum. This supposedly limits our ability to introduce new wireless products and services such as ubiquitous broadband Internet access, limits our ability to make current systems like cellular telephony more common and less expensive, limits our ability to increase the data rates and ranges of existing products like wifi, and even limits our ability to provide firefighters, police, and paramedics with the communications systems they need to do their jobs. In actuality, if one measures spectrum utilization (as CMU students have), it is clear that much of the spectrum sits idle at any given time. One reason is that we often prevent interference between systems by giving each system exlusive access to a block of spectrum. Thus, whenever such a system is not transmitting, spectrum sits idle. In this project, we seek new methods that allow disparate wireless systems to share spectrum without causing excessive harmful interference to their neighbors. Our goal is to increase the amount of communications that can take place in a given amount of spectrum by orders of magnitude, which would lead to a revolution in wireless products and services.

This work has been supported in part by the National Science Foundation, and by Intel.

Some sample papers:

• J. M. Peha, "Sharing Spectrum through Spectrum Policy Reform and Cognitive Radio," Proceedings of the IEEE, 2008.
• H. J. Kim, J. M. Peha, "Detecting Selfish Behavior in a Cooperative Commons," IEEE DySPAN, 2008.
• R. Saruthirathanaworakun and J. M. Peha, "Dynamic Primary-Secondary Spectrum Sharing with Cellular Systems," IEEE Crowncom, June 2010.
• J. M. Peha, "Emerging Technology and Spectrum Policy Reform," Proceedings of United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Workshop on Market Mechanisms for Spectrum Management, Geneva, Jan.2007.
• J. M. Peha, "Competing Models for Spectrum Sharing," presentation for the National Academy of Sciences, Feb. 28, 2006.
• J. M. Peha and S. Panichpapiboon, "Real-Time Secondary Markets for Spectrum," Telecommunications Policy Journal, August 2004.
• S. Panichpapiboon and J. M. Peha, "Providing Secondary Access To Licensed Spectrum Through Coordination," to appear in ACM/Baltzer Wireless Networks.
• J. M. Peha, "Spectrum Management Policy Options," IEEE Communications Surveys , 1998.
• D. P. Satapathy, J. M. Peha, "Spectrum Sharing Without Licenses: Opportunities and Dangers," Interconnection and the Internet: Selected Papers From the 1996 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference.
• J. M. Peha, " Approaches to Spectrum Sharing," IEEE Communications, Feb. 2005.
• D. P. Satapathy, J. M. Peha, ``A Novel Co-existence Algorithm for Unlicensed Variable Power Devices," IEEE ICC, 2001.
• H. Salgado, M. Sirbu, J. M. Peha, "Spectrum Sharing Through Dynamic Channel Assignment For Open Access To Personal Communications Services," IEEE ICC-95. (PDF)