Technology agnostic regulatory criteria for licence-exempt spectrum
| Pages | 1-13 |
| Date | 08 January 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-05-2017-0022 |
| Published date | 08 January 2018 |
| Author | Johannes Kruys,Peter Anker |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information policy |
Technology agnostic regulatory criteria
for licence-exempt spectrum
Johannes Kruys and Peter Anker
Johannes Kruys is Senior
Consultant at the Radio
Regulations and
Standards, Qorvo,
Utrecht BV,
The Netherlands.
Peter Anker is Specialist
Frequency Management
at the TU Delft,
The Netherlands.
Abstract
Purpose –Spectrum regulations have major impact on the development and deployment of
innovative technologies. Current regulations for license-exempt radio spectrum generally are given
in terms of technology-related criteria. This paper aims to propose a set of metrics that can be used
to define technology-agnostic spectrum regulations which encourage rather than restrict
technology innovation.
Design/methodology/approach –This paper builds on and expands two other papers on regulatory
criteria for license-exempt spectrum which define metrics for spectrum loading and spectrum sharing
efficiency. Here, we add metrics for Block Edge Masks and for medium access adaptivity. This gives a
complete toolset for the management of radio spectrum.
Findings –Because of the diversity of use of license-exempt spectrum, performance criteria must be
formulated in terms that abstract from the details of equipment properties. Instead, they must be
formulated in terms of spectrum utilization dimensions: RF power, time and frequency occupation. The
result is a concise set of metrics that can be applied to the regulation or management of shared
spectrum.
Research limitations/implications –The mathematics used in this paper deal with high-level
parameters and may ignore factors that are important in certain cases and may require refinement.
Practical implications –The implications of the proposed metrics include an increase emphasis on
the objectives of spectrum policy and on measures to assure efficient spectrum utilization both within
frequency bands and between adjacent bands.
Social implications –There are no social implications the authors are aware of.
Originality/value –The originality of this work lies in recognizing that the extreme variety of devices and
mode of operation deployed in license-exempt spectrum calls for spectrum management criteria that
are technology agnostic.
Keywords Regulation, Wireless, License exempt, Spectrum management
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
This paper proposes to expand the concept of generic radio regulation to the domain of
short-range devices (SRDs) and licence-exempt spectrum (LE spectrum) based on block
edge masks (BEMs) and in-band sharing criteria. Because of the great diversity of LE
equipment, a new approach to in-band sharing is proposed which uses multi-dimensional
metrics which are well suited for high-density, heterogeneous deployments of wireless
devices.
The scope of this paper is horizontal sharing[1] of radio spectrum, i.e. sharing of the same
frequency band by a population of devices with the same regulatory status[2]. No
assumptions are made about the applications or the technologies used in a given
frequency band.
Licence-exempt applications play an indispensable role in the daily lives of consumers,
businesses and public organizations. A clear example can be found in Wi-Fi, which carries
Received 12 May 2017
Revised 25 July 2017
Accepted 3 August 2017
DOI 10.1108/DPRG-05-2017-0022 VOL. 20 NO. 1 2018, pp. 1-13, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2398-5038 DIGITAL POLICY, REGULATION AND GOVERNANCE PAGE 1
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