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Policies and regulations governing electromagnetic spectrum prioritize reducing conflict among active users of spectrum (transmitters), thereby enabling these active users to capture the values associated with property rights to spectrum. Coexistence of heterogeneous technologies and their enforcement have been well studied, but much less has been done to consider the coexistence of heterogeneous uses and the institutions that are necessary to address conflict arising among different users of spectrum.We argue that prevailing property-rights institutions that focus on reducing conflict among active users of spectrum generate a property mismatch that contributes to conflict with passive users of spectrum. Passive users are interested primarily in receiving signals transmitted by nature. The property-mismatch approach offers insight into how to redesign spectrum governance to balance the demands of both active and passive users. Particularly we argue that virtual parceling of the electromagnetic spectrum along a broader range of dimensions can better facilitate efficient spectrum sharing between active and passive users.
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Spectrum anarchy: why self-governance of the radio spectrum works better than we think
Abstract The exploitation of radio-electric spectrum bands for wireless transmission purposes has some features of the commons: it is subject to congestion and conflict without rules governing its use. The Coasean approach is to assign private property rights to overcome the tragedy of the spectrum commons. The process of assigning these rights is still centralized, with governments assigning property rights through agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the USA. We consider the possibility of self-governance of the spectrum. We use insights from the study of common pool resources governance to analyze the emergence of property rights to spectrum in a ‘government-less’ environment in which norms, rules, and enforcement mechanisms are solely the product of the repeated interactions among participants in the network. Our case study considers the spectrum-sharing arrangement in the 1,695–1,710 MHz band. Using agent-based modeling (ABM), we show that self-governance of the spectrum can work and under what conditions it is likely to improve the efficiency of the allocation of property rights.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1642949
- PAR ID:
- 10218701
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Institutional Economics
- Volume:
- 16
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1744-1374
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 863 to 882
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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We consider an approach based on property rights mismatch to analyze conflict over radio spectrum. A mismatch occurs when the bundle of property rights created to enable social coordination fails to achieve this objective, leading to missed opportunities for productive exchange. With radio spectrum, these conflicts often result from technological changes that increase prospects (and satisfy demand for) sharing spectrum. Our focus is on how property regimes contribute to conflict as a result of mismatch, as well as how they might be resolved, for two examples of spectrum: passive and active spectrum uses and mobile services on the unlicensed band.more » « less
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In 2020, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) adopted rules to expand unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band, opening up access to 1200MHz of spectrum to be shared by heterogeneous public and private network operators. This spectrum is anticipated to significantly expand access to much-needed mid-band spectrum for mobile and fixed broadband wireless uses. To manage the co-existence of these unlicensed users with legacy systems such as commercial microwave point-to-point links, the FCC’s rules provide for a mix of interference mitigation strategies, including geo-location (geo-fencing) to restrict unlicensed users in certain locations, different power limits for indoor and outdoor operations, and coordination of spectrum use via Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems. Akin to the role of the Spectrum Access Systems (SAS) operating in the CBRS 3.5 GHz band, the AFCs are tasked with enabling automated spectrum sharing between unlicensed devices and incumbent users. When operating outdoors, unlicensed devices (Standard Power Access Points) are required to communicate to an AFC certain relevant operating details that the AFC uses to then provide operational parameters to the unlicensed devices (e.g., available channels) such that no harmful interference is caused to protected incumbents. Unlike the SAS, the multiple AFCs do not coordinate their activities and so are unable to take account of aggregate interference levels. Additionally, the AFCs spectrum sharing and co-existence solutions are based on interference models and regulatory rules that may prove to be too conservative and a poor fit for some actual usage scenarios. Spectrum Consumption Models (SCMs), an IEEE-standards-based approach for describing the RF requirements of radios in a spectrum space and Spectrum Access Agreements (SAAs) that make use of SCMs provide a viable toolset for examining the efficiency and efficacy of the existing FCC 6GHz rules framework. In this paper, we review the 6 GHz rules and show how they could be implemented within a SCM framework. We also show how greater use of the 6GHz spectrum could be possible if more information was exchanged with an AFC using the standards-based framework of SCMs. We explore the policy and economic impacts of enabling this flexibility. For example, this approach could lead to higher computational costs for an AFC, which would need to be balanced with the benefits of increased spectrum utilization. Through the application of our 6GHz simulation platform and the SCM/SAA framework, we are able to suggest efficiency-enhancing reforms to the existing 6GHz FCC rules. We support those recommendations with an analysis of the economic and regulatory implications on key stakeholders in this important new band for wireless services.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744137420000259
