Context-Based Spectrum Sharing in 5G Wireless Networks Based on Radio Environment Maps

Dynamic spectrum sharing can provide many benefits to wireless networks operators. However, its efficiency requires sophisticated control mechanisms. The more context information is used by it, the higher performance of networks is expected. A facility for collecting this information, processing it, and controlling base stations managed by various network operators is a so-called Radio Environment Map (REM) subsystem. This paper proposes REM-based schemes for the allocation of base stations power levels in 4G/5G networks, while considering interference generated to a licensed network. It is assumed that both networks have different profiles of served users, e.g., area of their positions and movement, which opens opportunities for spectrum sharing. The proposed schemes have been evaluated by means of extensive system-level simulations and compared with two widely adopted policy-based spectrum sharing reference schemes. Simulation results show that dynamic schemes utilizing rich context information outperforms static, policy-based spectrum sharing schemes.