Independence and Fairness Analysis of 5G mmWave Operators Utilizing Spectrum Sharing Approach

Abstract

The spectrum sharing approach (SSA) has emerged as a cost-efficient solution for the enhancement of spectrum utilization to meet the stringent requirements of 5G systems. However, the realization of SSA in 5G mmWave cellular networks from technical and regulatory perspectives could be challenging. Therefore, in this paper, an analytical framework involving a flexible hybrid mmWave SSA is presented to assess the effectiveness of SSA and investigate its influence on network functionality in terms of independence and fairness among operators. Two mmWave frequencies (28 GHz and 73 GHz) are used with different spectrum bandwidths. Various access models have been presented for adoption by four independent mobile network operators that incorporate three types of spectrum allocation (exclusive, semipooled, and fully pooled access). Furthermore, an adaptive multi-state mmWave cell selection scheme is proposed to associate typical users with the tagged mmWave base stations that provide a great signal-to-interference plus noise ratio, thereby maintaining reliable connections and enriching user experience. Numerical results show that the proposed strategy achieves considerable improvement in terms of fairness and independence among operators, which paves the way for further research activities that would provide better insight and encourage mobile network operators to rely on SSA.