Licensed or Unlicensed Spectrum: What are the options?

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Licensed or Unlicensed Spectrum: What are the options?

By: Frank Ohrtman WMX Systems So you want to roll out a WiMAX service for fun and profit? You go to WiMAX World and go from vendor booth to vendor booth checking out the vendors. They are uniformly professional and qualify you without asking any seemingly tough questions such as "So, what spectrum should we build your WiMAX radios for?" they politely ask. "Spectrum? What's that and why is it important?" you ask. Everything electromagnetic operates on a given frequency we call spectrum. Anything transmitting on the same frequency as your WiMAX radio will interfere with your WiMAX transmissions, potentially to a point where your service is rendered useless. In order to avoid this, government regulatory agencies seek to control interference by limiting the number of operators on a given frequency in a given geographic market. In the US, this was codified by the Radio Act of 1927 which essentially set the parameters of frequency and geography as the chief parameters for who would be a allowed to transmit where and at what frequency. Very simply put, spectrum policy around the world focuses on three factors: allocation, assignment and enforcement. Allocation sets aside spectrum for specific uses such as cell phones at 1.9 GHz, broadcast TV at 500 MHz, etc. Assignment is most widely represented by spectrum auctions such as the recent Advanced Wireless Services held by the Federal Communications Commission. Those who bid highest get the spectrum. Enforcement occurs when someone breaks the rules and the federal police show up to arrest the offending radios and take them away to radio jail. How does the newly minted WiMAX operator stay out of radio jail? The operators' options fall into two categories: a) operate on licensed or b) unlicensed spectrum. Licensed spectrum is protected by the government authorities and unlicensed is not protected. Those who trespass onto licensed spectrum may go to radio jail. In the US, that means Federal Marshalls can be called in to disband an illegal operation.

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Licensed or Unlicensed Spectrum: What are the options? WIMAX

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Table 1 Popular spectrum for WiMAX uses worldwide Licensed Spectrum So how does one get licensed spectrum? In the US, the answer is one of two avenues for the WiMAX-friendly bands: auction or sublease. Auctions are infrequent. Don't wait for one unless it fits directly into your business plans (example the 700 MHz auction will be the next big one held by the US FCC). Prospective auction participants apply to the FCC (or other regulatory agencies outside the US) to participate. The auction itself takes place online over a number of weeks. The more expeditious means of obtaining licensed spectrum is by sublease. Subleasing occurs when an operator negotiates a sublease from the primary license holder. In the US, license holders can be identified via the FCC's online database known as the Universal Licensing System (ULS). Contact information for both the license holder and their attorney is listed as well as frequencies and geographic areas covered. The FCC considers subleasing to be an efficient means of distributing spectrum after the auction. Pricing for spectrum follows the following equation: cents/MHz/POP. That is, X cents per one MHz multiplied by population in the geographic area in question. That geographic area is designated by the FCC for that allocation (BRA, MEA, etc). The population is determined by the most recent census (2000 in the US). For example, you're seeking 20 MHz at 2.5 GHz in a market that had 1 million people in the 2000 census and you settle on 5 cents as the price, then your cost for the duration of the license is .05 x 20 x 1 million = $1 million. Expect your negotiations to take many months or more. Finally, some high frequency spectrum can be obtained from the FCC via a simple application process. These frequencies (30/60/80 GHz for example) are used for backhaul (point to point) and, at that high frequency, have a maximum range of about 1 mile, ergo the probability of interfering with another operator is small.

Unlicensed spectrum Many are the successful Wi-Fi (unlicensed 2.4 GHz) service providers. They have learned to deal with interference from other unlicensed operators via agreements with the other operators, changing channels within the unlicensed bands, changing antenna polarity and other tricks of the trade to mitigate interference on open standards equipment using unlicensed frequencies. WiMAX operators expecting to use unlicensed spectrum can learn a lot from the experiences of Wi-Fi operators. Service providers using WiMAX on unlicensed frequencies will have more tools than Wi-Fi operators to use in overcoming interference from other operators. Some of those tools include: OFDM Dynamic Frequency Selection Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation

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Licensed or Unlicensed Spectrum: What are the options? WIMAX

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Adaptive Antenna Systems (beam forming/steering) Multiple In/Multiple Out (MIMO) Antennas Software Defined Radios (SDR) These technologies should not be thought of as panaceas or "get out of radio jail free cards" for the unlicensed operator, they may make the difference between acceptable and unacceptable services.

Conclusion As evidenced in the text and tables of this article, there are advantages to both licensed and unlicensed operations. Ultimately a service provider might use a balanced mix of licensed and unlicensed spectrum to serve their markets. The service provider will have to determine via a rigorous site survey as to what potential sources of interference exist in their markets. The service provider will also have to evaluate the trade offs of protected vs. unprotected spectrum when offering service to their customers be they business (very demanding) or residential (equally demanding, they just don't have an IT director).

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