Digital Regulator - Regulations on-the-fly
Wireless spectrum, although invisible to the naked eyes, is
a huge asset to any country. Spectrum regulators all over the world contributed
huge income to the nation through spectrum auctions. For example, Germany
raised over EUR 50 billion through their 3G auctions back in 2000. The auctioned
spectrum typically last for a certain period stipulated by the respective regulator,
e.g., 20 years, after which the regulator has the right to retrieve the
spectrum for other purposes. To put in perspective, EUR 50 billion over 20
years is equivalent to a whopping EUR 6.85 million per
day!
Side note: 3G licenses
for most countries will expire in early 2020’s.
On the other hand, regulators also allocate unlicensed
spectrum to serve different needs, e.g., cordless phone in your home or Wi-Fi
in your office. These wireless systems need to be setup quickly and easily by
end users and are best to avoid lengthy licensing process. In other words, the
end users do not need to get a spectrum license to own the networks operating
in unlicensed spectrum for their own use.
The decision to make certain spectrum licensed or unlicensed
is often complex and involves cost-benefit analysis in a bigger picture for the
benefits of the people. While collecting huge revenue allows the government to
implement initiatives to help the needy, empowering the people with access to
technologies increases their productivity and thus incomes. In some cases, the
government should catch the fish and feed the people; in other cases, the
government should teach the people how to fish.
Due to increasing demands for spectrum,
regulators find it harder and harder to fulfil spectrum needs – some called it SPECTRUM CRUNCH! However, when we look at the situation
closer, we realized that although spectrum is allocated, the utilization is
low. For example, measurements conducted in US found that spectrum occupancy is
on average <10%. Independent measurements done in Singapore showed similar
results. These alarming results called for a need to review the way spectrum is
being utilized.
Instead of static allocation and utilization, “dynamic
sharing” might be the answer. Imagine other sharing economies such as Uber and
Airbnb where resources are shared dynamically; the same concept is applicable
for spectrum.
TV White Space (TVWS) is one of the first wireless
communication systems to experiment with dynamic sharing of spectrum. In TVWS,
the network queries an online geo-location database (GLDB) to determine what
spectrum resources are available for sharing. The GLDB acts like the Airbnb
website where demands are matched with supplies, with slight difference which I
will discuss in my next article.
Due to the need to query the GLDB prior to start of
communications, the regulator has the flexibility to “change rules” on the fly,
e.g., changing the amount of spectrum available for sharing, or the timing of
such sharing. The pre-requisite for this to happen is the wireless system using
the spectrum on a sharing-basis must have intelligence built-in to react to
changes.
Extending GLDB to other frequency bands and wireless systems
will have the opportunity to increase spectrum utilization. A more genetic form
of GLDB called Spectrum-Access System (SAS) will be the tools to enable future “Digital
Regulator”.
In Digital Regulator era, access to spectrum will be done
dynamically. Certain spectrum will remain license-exempt whereas certain
spectrum will still require a license to operate. Instead of fixed allocation of
spectrum, unlicensed users use the spectrum in the bands allocated as
unlicensed by the regulator; and in the case of operators using licensed
spectrum, the spectrum may be obtained via real-time auctions. The enabler
behind this is likely to be an Artificial Intelligent (AI) engine running in
the background.
Achieving full digital is very challenging if not
impossible. A more likely scenario in the future will be a mixed of
pre-allocation and dynamic allocation. For instance, the regulator may allocate
N number of frequency channels to each operator while keeping M number of licensed
frequency channels as common pool for access dynamically, thus increases the
overall spectrum utilization and reduces the cost to the end customers.
The Digital Regulator era will come and regulations could
move at the speed of Moore’s Law. It is a matter of timing. Before that,
regulators and the stakeholders have to sort out various challenges such as
deterministic of connection costs (or is it required in the future?),
enforcement in case of misuse, security threats and many other potential new
issues that will surface. Meanwhile, let’s start thinking about this and be
prepared for the new and exciting things to come in the future!
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