Towards Harmonious Coexistence in the Unlicensed Spectrum: Rational Cooperation of Operators.

Area of Science:

• Telecommunications Engineering
• Wireless Communication Systems
• Spectrum Management

Background:

• 5G New Radio (NR) in unlicensed spectrum supports the Fourth Industrial Revolution, particularly for Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT).
• LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) aims for spectrum integration and coexistence with multi-radio access technology (multi-RAT) systems in unlicensed bands.
• The listen-before-talk (LBT) mechanism is essential for LTE operators to protect incumbent unlicensed systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the behavior of multiple LTE operators and WiFi networks in unlicensed spectrum.
• Analyze short-term and long-term coexistence dynamics.
• Evaluate the impact of LBT on spectrum sharing and network performance.

Main Methods:

• Simulation and analysis of LTE operator behaviors in unlicensed spectrum.
• Modeling of WiFi network interactions with LTE systems.
• Comparative study of scenarios with and without mandatory LBT.

Main Results:

• Without mandatory LBT, LTE operators can collude to monopolize unlicensed spectrum by falsely indicating channel occupancy.
• This collusion negatively impacts other wireless networks, including WiFi.
• Mandatory LBT implementation is shown to be effective in preventing such exploitative behavior.

Conclusions:

• Mandatory nationwide implementation of LTE with LBT is highly recommended for harmonious coexistence in unlicensed spectrum.
• Addressing operator collusion is vital for efficient unlicensed spectrum utilization among multi-RAT systems.
• Proposed coexistence scenarios offer viable solutions for future multi-RAT deployments.