Spectrum sharing for unlicensed bands

13 years 4 months ago

Download www.eecs.berkeley.edu

We study a spectrum sharing problem in an unlicensed band where multiple systems coexist and interfere with each other. Due to asymmetries and selﬁsh system behavior, unfair and ineﬃcient situations may arise. We investigate whether eﬃciency and fairness can be obtained with self-enforcing spectrum sharing rules. These rules have the advantage of not requiring a central authority that veriﬁes compliance to the protocol. Any self-enforcing protocol must correspond to an equilibrium of a game. We ﬁrst analyze the possible outcomes of a one shot game, and observe that in many cases an ineﬃcient solution results. However, systems often coexist for long periods and a repeated game is more appropriate to model their interaction. In this repeated game the possibility of building reputations and applying punishments allows for a larger set of self-enforcing outcomes. When this set includes the optimal operating point, eﬃcient, fair, and incentive compatible spectrum sharing beco...

Raul Etkin, Abhay Parekh, David Tse

Real-time Traffic