Spectrum commons theory

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The Spectrum Commons theory states that the telecommunication radio spectrum should be directly managed by its users rather than regulated by governmental or private institutions. Spectrum management is the process of regulating the use of radio frequencies to promote efficient use and gain a net social benefit. [1] The theory of Spectrum Commons argues that there are new methods and strategies that will allow almost complete open access to this currently regulated commons with unlimited number of persons to share it without causing interference. This would eliminate the need for both a centralized, governmental management of the spectrum and the allocation of specific portions of the spectrum to private actors. [2]

Radio spectrum part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 3 Hz to 3000 GHz (3 THz)

The radio spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum with frequencies from 30 Hertz to 300 GHz. Electromagnetic waves in this frequency range, called radio waves, are extremely widely used in modern technology, particularly in telecommunication. To prevent interference between different users, the generation and transmission of radio waves is strictly regulated by national laws, coordinated by an international body, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Spectrum management

Spectrum management is the process of regulating the use of radio frequencies to promote efficient use and gain a net social benefit. The term radio spectrum typically refers to the full frequency range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz that may be used for wireless communication. Increasing demand for services such as mobile telephones and many others has required changes in the philosophy of spectrum management. Demand for wireless broadband has soared due to technological innovation, such as 3G and 4G mobile services, and the rapid expansion of wireless internet services.

Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around twenty thousand times per second to around three hundred billion times per second. This is roughly between the upper limit of audio frequencies and the lower limit of infrared frequencies; these are the frequencies at which energy from an oscillating current can radiate off a conductor into space as radio waves. Different sources specify different upper and lower bounds for the frequency range.

Contents

The Spectrum debate

The Spectrum Commons theory was developed to open up the spectrum to everyone. Users can share a spectrum as a commons without prior authorization from higher governance or regime. Proponents of spectrum commons theory believe government allocation of the spectrum is inefficient, and to be a true commons one must open up the spectrum to the users and minimize both government and private control. [3] The promise of the commons approach as one technologist, George Gilder once put it, "You can use the spectrum as much as you want as long as you don't collide with anyone else or pollute it with high-powered noise or other nuisances." [2]

The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned privately. Commons can also be understood as natural resources that groups of people manage for individual and collective benefit. Characteristically, this involves a variety of informal norms and values employed for a governance mechanism. Commons can be also defined as a social practice of governing a resource not by state or market but by a community of users that self-governs the resource through institutions that it creates.

The most basic characteristic of spectrum commons theory is the unlimited access to spectrum resources, but as most modern theorists point out, there is a need for some constraint of those resources. [4] A commons by definition is a resource that is owned or controlled jointly by a group of individuals. In order for a commons to be viable, someone must control the resource and set orderly sharing rules to govern its use. [2]

The radio spectrum is a shared resource that perhaps most strikingly affects the well being of society. Its use is governed by a set of rules and narrow restrictions, designed to limit interference, whose origins go back nearly a century. While in recent years some of those rules have been replaced by more flexible market like arrangements, the fundamental approach of this institution remains essentially unchanged. [5]

The early days of radio communication had no regulations, and everyone could use the spectrum without limitation. When a particular spectrum was filled up or overused, it created harmful interference. In order to manage the spectrum and prevent harmful interference, the NRA began to regulate the use of the spectrum. The period without regulation only lasted a few years, but this concept guided Spectrum Commons Theory. [4]

Time Event
1897 Marconi invented a radiocommunications device
1910 First attempt to regulate radio frequency by the US Navy
1912 Radio Act of 1912 authorized Secretary of Commerce and Labor and President to regulate Communication
1921 Secretary of Commerce and Labor refused to renew a license
1922 Inter-department Radio Advisory Committee set up
1923-1926 Court rejected Secretary of Commerce and Labor attempt to regulate radio communication
1926 Joint Resolution 90-day licenses for use of spectrum
1927 Radio Act of 1927
1934 Federal Communications Commission-founded
1940-1954 Highly regulated by authority-licensed renewal

In the 1950s, economist Ronald Coase pointed out that the radio spectrum was no scarcer than wood or wheat, yet government did not routinely ration those items. Coase instead proposed the private ownership of, and a market in, spectrum, which would lead to a better allocation of the resource and avoid rent seeking behavior by would be users of the spectrum. In the late 1990s, it seemed like the property rights view might carry the day as Congress finally allowed the FCC to auction licenses to use spectrum.

Ronald Coase British economist and author

Ronald Harry Coase was a British economist and author. He was the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, where he arrived in 1964 and remained for the rest of his life. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1991.

Radio spectrum is doled out to users by what the Federal Communications Commission calls a “command-and-control” process. The [FCC] first carves out a block of spectrum and decides to what use it will be put (e.g., television, mobile telephony). Then, the agency gives away, at no charge, the right to use the spectrum to applicants it deems appropriate. The FCC makes its choices based largely on a public record generated by a regulatory proceeding. The rationale for such a system has been that the radio spectrum is a scarce resource, that there are more people who would like to use it than there is space available, and thus that the government must apportion it lest there be chaos. [2]

Types of Commons

Complete Open Commons

Spectrum Commons Theory although conceptually tries to focus on functioning as a completely free and open environment, facts points to this idea as flawed. Complete open commons, is a regime under which anyone has access to an unowned resource without limitation; no one controls access to the resource under open access. As previously mentioned however, in order for a commons to be viable, someone must control the resource and set orderly sharing rules to govern its use. [2] While it is true that access to a commons can be open, this does not mean there is no central rule-setting authority. [3]

Complete open commons is not a feasible regime for spectrum because, as a scarce resource, it will be subject to tragedy. Even given new spectrum-sharing technologies, a controller is still needed because these technologies require standards setting and enforcement in order to function. [3]

Market Based Commons

Economists, who have long been skeptical about the ability of government agencies to allocate resources efficiently by “picking winners,” have preponderantly favored a market approach to the allocation of resources generally, and to the allocation of the spectrum in particular. As early as 1959, Ronald Coase wrote that spectrum was a fixed factor of production, like land or labor, and should be treated in the same way, with its use determined by the pricing system and awarded to the highest bidder. Coase concluded that government allocation of spectrum-use rights was not necessary to prevent interference and that, in fact, by preempting market allocation of spectrum, regulation was the source of extreme inefficiency.

Economists since Coase have favored a market-based approach if there is profit to be made from the charge of an entrance fee to such a park, then private enterprise and the profit motive can be relied upon to lead firms to carry out the necessary arrangements. And if entry into the commons is sufficiently beneficial to the entrants, there will indeed be profits to be made by giving them the opportunity to do so. [5]

Supercommons

Another way to expand on the Spectrum Commons Theory is looking at it as a supercommons. As Werbach points out, a supercommons can operate alongside the property and commons regimes, which are just different configurations of usage rights associated with spectrum. In other words, the commons would be the baseline, with property encompassed within it, rather than the reverse. Bandwidth would not need to be infinite to justify a fundamental reconceptualization of the spectrum debate. Even with real-world scarcity and transaction-cost constraints, a default rule allowing unfettered wireless communication would most effectively balance interests to maximize capacity. [6] The initial legal rule for this spectrum should be universal access. Anyone would be permitted to transmit anywhere, at any time, in any manner, so long as they did not impose an excessive burden on others. [6]

Modern Examples

Propagate Network's Swarm Logic Software

Which enables different communicate with one another and to choose nonconflicting frequencies or access points that will adjust their power levels to eliminate overlap. If this technology were able to reach a critical mass of adoption, even in localized areas, it could conceivably minimize those transaction costs necessary to adapt to neighboring uses of commons access spectrum. For neighboring buildings with scores of Wi-Fi transmitters, such technologies could prove very important, ensuring that different signals did not overlap and interfere with each other-thereby slowing data transmission and possibly triggering the destructive cycle of behavior noted above. Moreover, a logical extension of the swarm logic software is a function that could enable neighbors to identify those who deviated from accepted social norms in using commons access spectrum and, concomitantly, lower enforcement costs. Indeed, collective efforts-such as the Broadband Access Network Coordination ("BANC")-have already taken root to facilitate joint and controlled efforts to limit interference. [7]

Related Research Articles

The industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands are radio bands reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency (RF) energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes other than telecommunications. Examples of applications in these bands include radio-frequency process heating, microwave ovens, and medical diathermy machines. The powerful emissions of these devices can create electromagnetic interference and disrupt radio communication using the same frequency, so these devices were limited to certain bands of frequencies. In general, communications equipment operating in these bands must tolerate any interference generated by ISM applications, and users have no regulatory protection from ISM device operation.

Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics that is concerned with environmental issues. It has become a widely studied topic due to growing concerns in regards to the environment in the twentyfirst century. Quoting from the National Bureau of Economic Research Environmental Economics program:

... Environmental Economics ... undertakes theoretical or empirical studies of the economic effects of national or local environmental policies around the world .... Particular issues include the costs and benefits of alternative environmental policies to deal with air pollution, water quality, toxic substances, solid waste, and global warming.

Federal Communications Commission independent agency of the United States government

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government created by statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. The FCC serves the public in the areas of broadband access, fair competition, radio frequency use, media responsibility, public safety, and homeland security.

Communications Act of 1934 US 1934 Act of Congress

The Communications Act of 1934 is a United States federal law signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 19, 1934 and codified as Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code, 47 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. The Act replaced the Federal Radio Commission with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It also transferred regulation of interstate telephone services from the Interstate Commerce Commission to the FCC.

Telecommunications policy of the United States

The Telecommunications policy in the US is a framework of law directed by government and the Regulatory Commissions, most notably the Federal Communications Commission. Two landmark acts prevail today, the Communications Act of 1934 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The latter was intended to revise the first act and specifically to foster competition in the telecommunications industry.

Open spectrum is a movement to get the Federal Communications Commission to provide more unlicensed radio-frequency spectrum that is available for use by all. Proponents of the "commons model" of open spectrum advocate a future where all the spectrum is shared, and in which people use Internet protocols to communicate with each other, and smart devices, which would find the most effective energy level, frequency, and mechanism. Previous government-imposed limits on who can have stations and who cannot would be removed, and everyone would be given equal opportunity to use the airwaves for their own radio station, television station, or even broadcast their own website. A notable advocate for Open Spectrum is Lawrence Lessig.

Low-power broadcasting Type of broadcasting station

Low-power broadcasting refers to a broadcast station operating at a low electrical power to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region, but often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" and broadcast translators. LPAM, LPFM and LPTV are in various levels of use across the world, varying widely based on the laws and their enforcement.

A cognitive radio (CR) is a radio that can be programmed and configured dynamically to use the best wireless channels in its vicinity to avoid user interference and congestion. Such a radio automatically detects available channels in wireless spectrum, then accordingly changes its transmission or reception parameters to allow more concurrent wireless communications in a given spectrum band at one location. This process is a form of dynamic spectrum management.

A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary from band to band.

Social peer-to-peer processes are interactions with a peer-to-peer dynamic. These peers can be humans or computers. Peer-to-peer (P2P) is a term that originated from the popular concept of the P2P distributed computer application architecture which partitions tasks or workloads between peers. This application structure was popularized by file sharing systems like Napster, the first of its kind in the late 1990s.

Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission, 395 U.S. 367 (1969), while strongly suggesting that broadcast radio stations are First Amendment speakers whose editorial speech is protected, upheld the equal time provisions of the Fairness Doctrine ruling that it was "the right of the public to receive suitable access to social, political, esthetic, moral, and other ideas and experiences which is crucial here." 395 U.S. at 390. In upholding the Fairness Doctrine, the Court based its rationale partly on a scarce radio spectrum.

Bandwidth allocation is the process of assigning radio frequencies to different applications. The radio spectrum is a finite resource, which means there is great need for an effective allocation process. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission or FCC has the responsibility of allocating discrete portions of the spectrum, or bands, to various industries. The FCC did this recently, when it shifted the location of television broadcasting on the spectrum in order to open up more space for mobile data. Different bands of spectrum are able to transmit more data than others, and some bands of the spectrum transmit a clearer signal than others. Bands that are particularly fast or that have long range are of critical importance for companies that intend to operate a business involving wireless communications.

In radio resource management for wireless and cellular networks, channel allocation schemes allocate bandwidth and communication channels to base stations, access points and terminal equipment. The objective is to achieve maximum system spectral efficiency in bit/s/Hz/site by means of frequency reuse, but still assure a certain grade of service by avoiding co-channel interference and adjacent channel interference among nearby cells or networks that share the bandwidth.

Radio resource management (RRM) is the system level management of co-channel interference, radio resources, and other radio transmission characteristics in wireless communication systems, for example cellular networks, wireless local area networks, wireless sensor systems radio broadcasting networks. RRM involves strategies and algorithms for controlling parameters such as transmit power, user allocation, beamforming, data rates, handover criteria, modulation scheme, error coding scheme, etc. The objective is to utilize the limited radio-frequency spectrum resources and radio network infrastructure as efficiently as possible.

The 2200 meter or 136 kHz band is the lowest frequency band in which amateur radio operators are allowed to transmit. It was formally allocated to amateurs at the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07). The band is available on a secondary basis in all ITU regions with the limitation that amateur stations have maximum radiated power of 1 Watt effective isotropic radiated power.

The Spectrum Policy Task Force was established in June 2002 to assist the Federal Communications Commission in identifying and evaluating changes in spectrum policy that will increase the public benefits derived from the use of the radio spectrum.

Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) is a 150 MHz wide broadcast band of the 3.5 GHz band. Some of this spectrum will continue to be used by the United States government for radar systems, but will be available for others where not needed by the Navy. In 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) completed a process begun in 2012 to establish rules for commercial use of this band. Wireless carriers using CBRS might be able to deploy 5G mobile networks without having to acquire spectrum licenses.

References

  1. ↑ Martin Cave, Chris Doyle, William Webb, Modern Spectrum Management, Cambridge University Press, 2007 ISBN   0-521-87669-9
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Brito, Jerry (2006). Regulation. Cato Institute. p. 7.
  3. 1 2 3 Brito, Jerry. "The Spectrum Commons in Theory and Practice" (PDF). Stanford Technology. Stanford Technology Law Review. Retrieved 2007.Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  4. 1 2 Nattawut, Paru. "History and Conceptual Development of Spectrum Commons in the USA" (PDF). Department of Technology Management and Economics. Chalmers University of Technology.
  5. 1 2 William, Baumol (2005). Toward an Evolutionary Regime for Spectrum Governance. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
  6. 1 2 Werbach, Kevin. "Supercommons:Toward A Unified Theory of Wireless Communication" (PDF). Texas Law Review.
  7. ↑ Philip J. Weiser and Dale N. Hatfield, Policing the Spectrum Commons, 74 Fordham L. Rev. 663 (2005). Available at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol74/iss2/12
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