Standardized geolocation-based system for spectrum sharing and heterogeneous access management to support 5G

The performance of 5G systems will be greatly enhanced by the introduction of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radio access capabilities. However, it is clear that for coverage, continuity of capacity provision and complexity reasons, mm-wave cannot be the only spectrum for 5G. Mm-wave must be supported by widely-utilized lower-frequency spectrum (below 6 GHz, or likely even below 3 GHz for propagation reasons). A key to freeing of such lower-frequency spectrum is spectrum sharing. Moreover, it is noted that high-profile efforts in areas such as TV White Space (TVWS) and Licensed-Shared Access imply forms of geolocation database-assisted spectrum sharing as the solution. This paper proposes and argues for the standardization of a geolocation database-based system to assist spectrum sharing within 5G - both to enable 5G systems to use spectrum assigned to other services (e.g., TV spectrum, as in the case of the TVWS example), and to enable 5G systems (and potentially associated systems, such as 4G-LTE, 3G, etc.) operating under different operators/owners to share spectrum with each other. This paper also argues for the geolocation databases to act as a management capability among secondary/opportunistic networks and devices, to better allocate resources and links, or combinations (aggregations) thereof, in the light of traffic requirements. The benefits of this approach are shown through reference to the performances that have been achieved by the authors within a major regulator-driven trial of TVWS technology in the UK. It is important to note that this paper is not proposing the precise detail of such a system, as such detail would require extensive future work and such a task is indeed impossible at this time given that the basic architectural assumptions for 5G are not yet known. This paper merely aims to make the justification for such a standardized system clear, and also to provide thoughts on the form that such a system might eventually take.