Hybrid Spectrum Sharing in mmWave Cellular Networks

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel hybrid spectrum access scheme for mmWave cellular networks, combining exclusive and pooled spectrum bands, demonstrating significant benefits over traditional schemes through quantitative analysis.

Contribution

It introduces the first hybrid spectrum access model for mmWave networks, analyzing its advantages over fully licensed or unlicensed schemes.

Findings

Hybrid scheme outperforms traditional access methods

Significant spectrum efficiency improvements

Potential for better coexistence and flexibility

Abstract

While spectrum at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies is less scarce than at traditional frequencies below 6 GHz, still it is not unlimited, in particular if we consider the requirements from other services using the same band and the need to license mmWave bands to multiple mobile operators. Therefore, an efficient spectrum access scheme is critical to harvest the maximum benefit from emerging mmWave technologies. In this paper, we introduce a new hybrid spectrum access scheme for mmWave networks, where data is aggregated through two mmWave carriers with different characteristics. In particular, we consider the case of a hybrid spectrum scheme between a mmWave band with exclusive access and a mmWave band where spectrum is pooled between multiple operators. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study proposing hybrid spectrum access for mmWave networks and providing a quantitative assessment of its benefits. Our results show that this approach provides major advantages with respect to traditional fully licensed or fully unlicensed spectrum access schemes, though further work is needed to achieve a more complete understanding of both technical and non technical implications.