Dynamic spectrum management - applying optical networking techniques to wireless DSA networks

Abstract

We describe an enabling technology for spectrum management in wireless dynamic spectrum access (DSA) networks. The technology is based on an open architecture and protocols developed for optical networks, and deployed in an all-optical testbed that supports dynamic wavelength (i.e., optical spectrum) provisioning.We summarize the basic requirements for spectrum management in commercial-sector wireless DSA networks, and briefly describe a candidate architecture vis-à-vis its signaling protocols, message structure, dynamic provisioning features, and performance. The architecture supports signaling times on the order of a microsecond, and can manage applications with spectrum holding times ranging from a few milliseconds to months. I I. . I IN NT TR RO OD DU UC CT TI IO ON NWireless dynamic spectrum access (DSA) networks require: (1) knowledge of available spectrum through wide-band spectrum sensing, policies, etc.[1]; (2) real-time spectrum management -viz., provisioning and release of RF bandwidth; and (3) a network infrastructure and/or endpoints that support these technologies. The focus of this paper is requirement 2.Wireless DSA networks may require "new architectures and associated signaling and control protocols" for their real-time spectrum management component [2]. However, wireless DSA networks, and optical networks that support real-time dynamic provisioning of wavelengths, have very similar spectrum management requirements. Hence, we believe: (1) existing optical control plane architectures and protocols that support real time spectrum management can be adapted to manage wireless spectrum; and (2) methods used to improve the performance of dynamically provisioned optical networks can also be applied to commercial-sector wireless DSA networks.We review basic spectrum management requirements for commercial-sector DSA networks in Section II, briefly describe a candidate control plane architecture, protocols, and performance issues in Sections III and IV, describe usage scenarios in Section V, and our conclusions in Section VI. † Corresponding author: A. Bragg, 919-248-1988, email: abragg@rti.org .