Spectrum Management: The Killer Application
of Ad Hoc and Mesh Networking
October 2005
John A. Stine, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
The traditional approach to managing radio
frequency (RF) spectrum concludes with a spectrum
management administration identifying how a band of spectrum
may be used in a region it administers and who may use it. This
approach to spectrum management is encumbered with political
process that is challenged to keep pace with the rapid advances in
technologies that exploit RF spectrum. Recognizing that this
process can stifle innovation, the FCC has proposed new
spectrum management models and the use of a measure of
interference temperature. Unfortunately, they too result in
picking winners and losers and can have detrimental effects on
legacy users. In this paper we review these concepts and then
describe how ad hoc networks can offer new solutions. Three
different spectrum management ideas are described. The
Synchronous Collision Resolution* (SCR) MAC protocol enables
a strict arbitration of spectrum access based on spectrum rights
thus enabling a hierarchy of networks in the same spectrum that
always guarantees the primary rights holder precedence.
Second, it autonomously manages the use of an arbitrary number
of channels in the same network all of which support the network
achieving a higher capacity. The third and most exciting idea is a
new Fast Command and Control model for spectrum
management. An underlying ad hoc network built using the
Nodes State Routing* (NSR) protocol is used to track and
manage the use of spectrum of attached RF emitters. NSR tracks
the state of the network by collecting and disseminating the states
of the nodes. These states can include relevant information on
the spectrum these nodes are using and are observing others use.
Thus the network supports tracking and monitoring spectrum
use spatially in near real time. Spectrum management utilities
built on top of the network could allow users and spectrum
managers to rapidly negotiate the use of spectrum for short
periods of time in small regions. This finer resolution command
and control model supports rapid prototyping of new services
while simultaneously giving spectrum managers the ability to
identify and turn off emitters that cause harmful interference to
higher precedence users. We conclude with proposed
standardization and regulatory changes to make this feasible.
*Patent pending
Additional Search Keywords
spectrum management, ad hoc networking, MANET,
synchronous collision resolution, SCR, node state routing, NSR,
fast command and control model, FCCM
|
