A Future Wireless Internet Beyond Generations Gunnar Karlsson ACCESS Linnaeus Center KTH, Royal Inst. of Tech. 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden gk@kth.se Emre A. Yavuz ACCESS Linnaeus Center KTH, Royal Inst. of Tech. 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden emreya@kth.se George C. Polyzos Mobile Multimedia Laboratory Athens University of Economics and Business 113 62 Athens, Greece polyzos@aueb.gr ABSTRACT The use of licensed spectrum for wireless communication is driven by the need to control interference between operators. This regula- tion leads to inefficient utilization of spectrum and causes shortage of free spectrum that hinders the entry of new operators and intro- duction of new wireless technologies. In this work, we present an evolutionary model for which license-free operation is the spectrum sharing mode so that networks can be built freely by anyone and new technologies can be deployed as soon as they become avail- able. The paradigm assumes users to have open access to all pub- lic networks without prior contracts with operators. Hence, freely roaming users will drive competition among wireless network ac- cess providers, who in turn can meet demand quickly by offering access at low price, high quality, in hitherto uncovered areas, and by means of novel superior technology. We present a straw-man design and discuss the inherent technical challenges that must be addressed. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.2.1 [Computer-Communication Networks]: Network Archi- tecture and Design—Wireless Communication General Terms Design Keywords Spectrum licensing, Radio spectrum management, Spectrum Shar- ing, Open spectrum access, Wireless network deployment 1. INTRODUCTION The roll out of each new generation of mobile wireless networks is stymied by a complex interplay of technical, regulatory and busi- ness factors. Each new generation of wireless networks requires standardization with support from a wide community-ideally global, but at least continental. Reaching consensus on solutions with many business, national and regional interests warrants both com- promises and time. The standardized system needs then to be allo- cated spectrum bands to operate in. Once spectral bands have been allotted to the new system, the bands are sub-divided into spectrum stripes that are licensed to operators. The full process could take a decade from conception of a new system until it is standardized and licenses for operation have been provided. Regulatory restrictions for the use of spectrum for wireless com- munication are driven by the need to guarantee absence of inter- ference across different technologies and their intended uses (e.g., public broadcast and personal communication) and between oper- ators. Poor spectrum management has caused spectrum allocation charts to become saturated and thus have conspired to exorbitant costs of spectrum. The business implication of this is a slow and legal process of acquiring a license to operate a wireless network that usually is expensive, since licenses are either sold by auctions or awarded in beauty contests in which the players who promise most capital investment win. Licensing has caused a big player syndrome where only large network operators who are interested and able to cover a full country can compete for a few licenses. This eventually leads to slow innovation and an oligopolistic mar- ket. In contrast to the regulated spectrum, the industrial, scien- tific and medical spectrum band at 2.4 GHz (of 100 MHz width) has shown the dynamism that is enabled by license-free operation: Witness the quick spread of IEEE 802.11 networks, its fast tech- nical evolution to the current n-protocol, as well as the availability of short-range Bluetooth radios in mobile devices and peripheral computer equipment. The license cost, regulatory and standardization delays and in- convenience of the generational model of mobile wireless network- ing are acting as a barrier to the adoption of new technologies. We argue that it is necessary to break away from this model by creat- ing a new one that will exploit the existing wireless spectrum better while allowing continuous and graceful evolution of mobile wire- less networks, both technically and business-wise. To achieve this, it is necessary to make a radical shift from the described process of developing and introducing wireless technology in today’s cellular networks; spectrum management is restricting innovation and must be re-thought. This shift will create a set of deeply challenging scientific and engineering issues at all levels of networking from the physical to the services. It also has a revolutionary impact on how wireless networks and mobiles will be constituted, managed, and regulated. Our proposal is a description of a model that aims a removing restrictions on operators, technology and users. We de- scribe the model, a straw-man architecture and the research issues that must be addressed in order to make the model a reality. The paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we give an over- view of the proposed model. Section 3 describes the set of chal- Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. CFI ’10 June 16-18, 2010, Seoul, Korea Copyright 2010 ACM 978-1-4503-0230-2/10/06 ...$10.00.