Census Tract License Areas: Disincentive for Sharing the 3.5GHz band?

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the 3.5GHz licensing framework based on census tracts, revealing significant inefficiencies and geographic mismatches that hinder spectrum sharing and utilization in U.S. cities.

Contribution

It demonstrates the limitations of census tract-based licensing for small cell networks and proposes the need for a revised licensing approach to improve spectrum efficiency.

Findings

Census tracts cause significant area loss for spectrum access.

Many U.S. cities are effectively excluded from 3.5GHz spectrum sharing.

Inappropriate licensing boundaries lead to spectrum wastage.

Abstract

Flexible licensing model is a necessary enabler of the technical and procedural complexities of Spectrum Access System (SAS)-based sharing framework. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of 3.5GHz Licensing Framework - based on census tracts as area units, areas whose main characteristic is population. As such, the boundary of census tract does not follow the edge of wireless network coverage. We demonstrate why census tracts are not suitable for small cell networks licensing, by (1) gathering and analysing the official census data, (2) exploring the boundaries of census tracts which are in the shape of nonconvex polygons and (3) giving a measure of effectiveness of the licensing scheme through metrics of area loss and the number of people per census tract with access to spectrum. Results show that census tracts severely impact the effectiveness of the licensing framework since almost entire strategically important cities in the U.S. will not avail from spectrum use in 3.5GHz band. Our paper does not seek to challenge the core notion of geographic licensing concept, but seeks a corrective that addresses the way the license is issued for a certain area of operation. The effects that inappropriate size of the license has on spectrum assignments lead to spectrum being simply wasted in geography, time and frequency or not being assigned in a fair manner. The corrective is necessary since the main goal of promoting innovative sharing in 3.5 GHz band is to put spectrum to more efficient use.