Wireless Coexistence and Spectrum-Sharing

This list is out of date. For a more recent list, see http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~peha/papers.html#Wireless Jon M. Peha
Carnegie Mellon University
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~peha/

As consumers begin looking to their televisions for computing resources, and to the Internet for the latest music, seemingly unrelated systems are beginning to merge. Simultaneously, palmtop information devices and pagers are putting information processing in our pockets. Intelligent devices will become increasingly pervasive to form a smart environment, wherein personalized devices interact with users, sense their environment, and communicate with each other. Some devices will be fixed, connected to televisions, phone lines, desktop computers, and sensors. Other devices will be mobile, carried in cars, brief cases, and even clothing.

The communications resources to support such a system do not currently exist. Such a system requires open access to spectrum, i.e. it must be possible to begin transmissions in a particular location without prior consent or licensing procedures. The reasons are two-fold. First, because the number of deployed devices will be large, the overhead of a licensing process would be excessive. Second, some devices will be mobile, and it is not efficient to give a mobile device exclusive rights to spectrum at every location where the device might ever reside. Current allocations are likely to be inadequate for widescale deployment, and there are serious challenges to overcome in creating an open access environment.

Can a number of independent systems coexist and share spectrum without undue interference? When contention leads to congestion, will access be fair? Will performance degrade gracefully? Yes, if and only if the right access protocols are employed.

See the Wireless Andrew research project and experimental infrastructure.

Some relevant publications:

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