Autonomous spectrum sharing in heterogeneous White Space networks

Regulation of cognitive radio access to spatially unused portions of TV spectrum (TV White Spaces (TVWS)) via a geolocation database was recently finalized in the US and is under way in the UK. Regulators elsewhere are also evaluating secondary use of TV and other bands. The question of how multiple potentially competing networks should share the TVWS spectrum is yet to be addressed. This is an important challenge as future deployment scenarios are expected to involve a heterogeneous mix of low-power and high-power, narrow-band and wide-band systems. This paper investigates through quantitative modelling aspects of heterogeneous spectrum sharing, taking as example TVWS sharing among low-power, e.g., the IEEE 802.11af standard, and high-power, e.g., the IEEE 802.22, standards.