IEEE 1900.6b: Sensing support for spectrum databases

A number of key examples of spectrum databases in wireless communications either persist or are in the process of being instantiated. Perhaps one of the most notable recent developments in this area is the spectrum databases that enable secondary usage of TV White Space (TVWS), authorized by regulators such as the FCC in the US, Ofcom in the UK, and various others internationally. Such developments have moved away from spectrum sensing for detection and secondary usage of TV band spectrum opportunities. However, it is clear that spectrum sensing might still viably assist opportunistic spectrum usage, even from a regulatory point of view, both in TVWS and in other forms of spectrum sharing. This also might be the case in wireless communications in general (e.g., in the context of self-organizing networks), particularly when spectrum sensing methods are employed to enhance or verify the operation of spectrum databases. To this end, the IEEE 1900.6 working group is undertaking an amendment standard project, IEEE 1900.6b, on spectrum sensing support for spectrum databases. This paper addresses the IEEE 1900.6 background, and reasoning for the 1900.6b amendment standard, as well as the use cases for the amendment standard and the deployment scenarios and benefits for such standardized spectrum sensing support for spectrum databases. It also provides qualitative arguments of the benefits of the approach using real information from an operational TVWS spectrum database compared with measurements at the same location. It is shown that spectrum sensing to support such a database might viably increase the amount of TV band spectrum available at that location for opportunistic usage, with 4 Watts EIRP, from around 24 MHz to around 240 MHz.