Spectrum Sharing in mmWave Cellular Networks via Cell Association, Coordination, and Beamforming

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which spectrum sharing in mmWave networks with multiple cellular operators is a viable alternative to traditional dedicated spectrum allocation. Specifically, we develop a general mathematical framework by which to characterize the performance gain that can be obtained when spectrum sharing is used, as a function of the underlying beamforming, operator coordination, bandwidth, and infrastructure sharing scenarios. The framework is based on joint beamforming and cell association optimization, with the objective of maximizing the long-term throughput of the users. Our asymptotic and non-asymptotic performance analyses reveal five key points: (1) spectrum sharing with light on-demand intra- and inter-operator coordination is feasible, especially at higher mmWave frequencies (for example, 73 GHz), (2) directional communications at the user equipment substantially alleviate the potential disadvantages of spectrum sharing (such as higher multiuser interference), (3) large numbers of antenna elements can reduce the need for coordination and simplify the implementation of spectrum sharing, (4) while inter-operator coordination can be neglected in the large-antenna regime, intra-operator coordination can still bring gains by balancing the network load, and (5) critical control signals among base stations, operators, and user equipment should be protected from the adverse effects of spectrum sharing, for example by means of exclusive resource allocation. The results of this paper, and their extensions obtained by relaxing some ideal assumptions, can provide important insights for future standardization and spectrum policy.

15 pages. To appear in IEEE JSAC Special Issue on Spectrum Sharing and Aggregation for Future Wireless Networks

References in corpus (9)

• Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications: New Results for Rural Connectivity
• Millimeter Wave Cellular Networks: A MAC Layer Perspective
• Downlink and Uplink Cell Association with Traditional Macrocells and Millimeter Wave Small Cells
• Capacity of Sparse Multipath Channels in the Ultra-Wideband Regime
• Towards an Appropriate Receiver Beamforming Scheme for Millimeter Wave Communication: A Power Consumption Based Comparison
• Optimizing Client Association in 60 GHz Wireless Access Networks
• Hybrid Spectrum Access for mmWave Networks
• Spectrum Pooling in MmWave Networks: Opportunities, Challenges, and Enablers
• Auction-based Resource Allocation in MillimeterWave Wireless Access Networks

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Modeling and Analyzing Millimeter Wave Cellular Systems
• Machine Learning for Wireless Communications in the Internet of Things: A Comprehensive Survey
• Fast Cell Discovery in mm-wave 5G Networks with Context Information
• Hybrid Spectrum Sharing in mmWave Cellular Networks
• A Hybrid Model-based and Data-driven Approach to Spectrum Sharing in mmWave Cellular Networks
• Big Data Goes Small: Real-Time Spectrum-Driven Embedded Wireless Networking Through Deep Learning in the RF Loop
• Low-latency Networking: Where Latency Lurks and How to Tame It
• On the Energy Efficiency of MIMO Hybrid Beamforming for Millimeter Wave Systems with Nonlinear Power Amplifiers
• Exploring the Trade-Off between Privacy and Coordination in Millimeter Wave Spectrum Sharing
• Interference Model Similarity Index and Its Applications to mmWave Networks: Extended version
• Modeling Infrastructure Sharing in mmWave Networks with Shared Spectrum Licenses