Abstract Sharing is emerging as one of the megatrends influencing future business opportunities, and wireless communications is no exception to this development. Future mobile broadband networks will operate on different types of spectrum bands including shared spectrum, which calls for changes in the operation and management of the networks. The creation and capture of value by the different players in the mobile broadband ecosystem is expected to change due to regulation, technology, and business landscape related drivers that concern not only spectrum sharing, but also sharing of other resources such as infrastructure, technologies, or data. This thesis examines the key business and technology enablers needed to exploit spectrum sharing in mobile broadband networks, and presents the business model characteristics and strategic choices that spectrum sharing concepts support. Action research and integral scenarios methodologies were applied for strategic and business analysis utilizing the capacity and expertise of the policy, business and technology research communities. The thesis introduces a new approach to analyze the scalability of the spectrum sharing concepts and their business model elements utilizing sharing economy antecedent factors. The results indicate that all analyzed sharing concepts meet basic requirements to scale. The Licensed Shared Access (LSA) leverages existing assets and capabilities of the mobile network operator domain, the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) extends the business model dynamics from connectivity to content, context and commerce, and the hybrid usage of Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band by Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) and downlink Long Term Evolution (LTE) (HUHF) enables new collaborative opportunities between converging communication, Internet and media domains. The thesis validates the feasibility of spectrum sharing between mobile broadband networks and other types of incumbent spectrum users utilizing Finnish cognitive radio field trial environment (CORE), and expands the notion of spectrum sharing beyond the mobile broadband domain to be applied to other wireless systems including the media and broadcasting. The presented results can be used in developing the future mobile broadband systems enhanced with innovative spectrum sharing enabled business models to cope with the growing demand for capacity and new services by humans and machines. / Tiivistelmä Jakamistalous on yksi suurista tulevaisuuden liiketoimintamahdollisuuksiin vaikuttavista trendeistä, eikä langaton tietoliikenne ole tässä poikkeus. Tulevaisuuden laajakaistaiset matkapuhelinverkot tulevat hyödyntämään erityyppisiä radiotaajuuksia, kuten jaettuja taajuuskaistoja, mikä vaatii muutoksia verkkojen toimintoihin ja hallintaan. Eri toimijoiden arvonluonti- ja ansaintamahdollisuuksien odotetaan muuttuvan näissä liikkuvan laajakaistan ekosysteemeissä regulaation, teknologian ja liiketoimintaympäristön kehittyessä, ei vain taajuuksien jakamisessa, vaan myös kun kyseessä on muiden resurssien kuten infrastruktuurin, teknologioiden tai tiedon jakaminen. Väitöskirja tutkii teknologia- ja liiketoimintaedellytyksiä taajuusjakomenetelmille matkapuhelinverkoissa, sekä esittelee ja analysoi menetelmien mahdollistamia liiketoimintamalleja ja strategisia valintoja. Strategia- ja liiketoiminta-analyyseissä käytettiin toimintatutkimus- ja skenaariomenetelmiä poikkitieteellisissä tutkimusprojekteissa yhteistyössä reguloinnin, liiketoiminnan ja tekniikan tutkimusyhteisöjen kanssa. Tutkimus esittelee uuden lähestymistavan taajuusjakotekniikoiden liiketoimintamallien skaalautuvuuden analysointiin jakamistalouden määritelmiä hyödyntäen. Tulokset osoittavat, että kaikki tutkitut tekniikat täyttävät perusedellytykset skaalautuvuudelle; Licensed Shared Access (LSA) hyödyntäen matkapuhelinoperaattorin olemassa olevia resursseja ja kyvykkyyksiä, Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) laajentaen liiketoimintamalleja tietoliikenteestä sisältöön, kontekstiin ja kaupankäyntialustoihin, sekä digitaalitelevision ja langattoman LTE-tekniikan hybridikäyttö UHF-taajuuskaistalla (HUHF) mahdollistaen uusia liiketoimintamahdollisuuksia lähentyvien tietoliikenne-, Internet- ja mediaekosysteemien välillä. Väitöskirja tulokset vahvistivat taajuuden jakamisen soveltuvuuden liikkuvan laajakaistaverkon ja saman taajuusalueen eri teollisuudenalan haltijan välillä suomalaisessa CORE kenttätestausympäristössä, ja laajensivat taajuusjakotekniikan sovellettavuutta myös muihin langattomiin järjestelmiin sisältö- ja mediajakelussa. Esitettyjä tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää tulevaisuuden langattomien laajakaistaverkkojen kehitystyössä vastaamaan ihmisten ja koneiden kasvaviin tietoliikennepalveluiden ja -kapasiteetin tarpeisiin hyödyntäen tehokkaita taajuusjakotekniikoita ja niiden mahdollistamia innovatiivisia liiketoimintamalleja.

There has been a steady growth in the traffic generated by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), and by 2020 it is expected to overload the existing licensed spectrum capacity and lead to the problem of scarce resources. One method to deal with this traffic overload is to access unlicensed and shared spectrum bands using an opportunistic approach. The use of Licensed Shared Access (LSA) is a novel approach for spectrum sharing between the incumbent user (i.e., the current owner of the shared spectrum) and the LSA licensee (i.e., the temporary user of frequencies, such as an MNO). The LSA system allows the incumbent users to temporarily provide the LSA licensee with access to its spectrum resources. However, licensees must adopt vertical handover and traffic steering procedures to vacate their customers from the LSA band without causing interference, whenever this is required by the incumbent. These procedures should be carried out, de facto, before the base station is turned off as a part of a rapid release of unscheduled LSA band facing evacuation scenarios. Thus, in this dissertation, a cognitive mechanism is proposed to make decisions in advance to find the best target network(s) for evacuated customers in connected mode and with active traffic per class of service. On the basis of these decisions, the vertical handover and traffic steering procedures are carried out for the best target network(s), which are selected in advance and undertaken immediately to avoid interference between the licensee and incumbent services. Furthermore, this guarantees the seamless connectivity and QoS of evacuated customers and their traffic respectively, during and after the unscheduled evacuation scenarios. A performance evaluation conducted in a simulating scenario consisting of one LTE-LSA and three Wi-Fi networks, demonstrated that the proposed solution could be completed within the time required for the unscheduled evacuation, as well as, being able to ensure the QoS and seamless connectivity of the evacuees. The total execution time obtained during the performance evaluation of the proposed solution was around 46% faster than of two related works and could thus avoid interference between the licensee and incumbent services.

There has been a steady growth in the traffic generated by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), and by 2020 it is expected to overload the existing licensed spectrum capacity and lead to the problem of scarce resources. One method to deal with this traffic overload is to access unlicensed and shared spectrum bands using an opportunistic approach. The use of Licensed Shared Access (LSA) is a novel approach for spectrum sharing between the incumbent user (i.e., the current owner of the shared spectrum) and the LSA licensee (i.e., the temporary user of frequencies, such as an MNO). The LSA system allows the incumbent users to temporarily provide the LSA licensee with access to its spectrum resources. However, licensees must adopt vertical handover and traffic steering procedures to vacate their customers from the LSA band without causing interference, whenever this is required by the incumbent. These procedures should be carried out, de facto, before the base station is turned off as a part of a rapid release of unscheduled LSA band facing evacuation scenarios. Thus, in this dissertation, a cognitive mechanism is proposed to make decisions in advance to find the best target network(s) for evacuated customers in connected mode and with active traffic per class of service. On the basis of these decisions, the vertical handover and traffic steering procedures are carried out for the best target network(s), which are selected in advance and undertaken immediately to avoid interference between the licensee and incumbent services. Furthermore, this guarantees the seamless connectivity and QoS of evacuated customers and their traffic respectively, during and after the unscheduled evacuation scenarios. A performance evaluation conducted in a simulating scenario consisting of one LTE-LSA and three Wi-Fi networks, demonstrated that the proposed solution could be completed within the time required for the unscheduled evacuation, as well as, being able to ensure the QoS and seamless connectivity of the evacuees. The total execution time obtained during the performance evaluation of the proposed solution was around 46% faster than of two related works and could thus avoid interference between the licensee and incumbent services.

There has been a steady growth in the traffic generated by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), and by 2020 it is expected to overload the existing licensed spectrum capacity and lead to the problem of scarce resources. One method to deal with this traffic overload is to access unlicensed and shared spectrum bands using an opportunistic approach. The use of Licensed Shared Access (LSA) is a novel approach for spectrum sharing between the incumbent user (i.e., the current owner of the shared spectrum) and the LSA licensee (i.e., the temporary user of frequencies, such as an MNO). The LSA system allows the incumbent users to temporarily provide the LSA licensee with access to its spectrum resources. However, licensees must adopt vertical handover and traffic steering procedures to vacate their customers from the LSA band without causing interference, whenever this is required by the incumbent. These procedures should be carried out, de facto, before the base station is turned off as a part of a rapid release of unscheduled LSA band facing evacuation scenarios. Thus, in this dissertation, a cognitive mechanism is proposed to make decisions in advance to find the best target network(s) for evacuated customers in connected mode and with active traffic per class of service. On the basis of these decisions, the vertical handover and traffic steering procedures are carried out for the best target network(s), which are selected in advance and undertaken immediately to avoid interference between the licensee and incumbent services. Furthermore, this guarantees the seamless connectivity and QoS of evacuated customers and their traffic respectively, during and after the unscheduled evacuation scenarios. A performance evaluation conducted in a simulating scenario consisting of one LTE-LSA and three Wi-Fi networks, demonstrated that the proposed solution could be completed within the time required for the unscheduled evacuation, as well as, being able to ensure the QoS and seamless connectivity of the evacuees. The total execution time obtained during the performance evaluation of the proposed solution was around 46% faster than of two related works and could thus avoid interference between the licensee and incumbent services.

Abstract During the last couple of decades a lot of research efforts have been spent on developing different spectrum sharing concepts. As the traditional regulatory methods for spectrum allocation are proving inadequate in responding to a growing need for mobile spectrum in a timely manner and finding spectrum for exclusive use is getting increasingly difficult, the political atmosphere is also becoming more and more receptive to new innovative spectrum sharing concepts that increase the efficiency of spectrum use. These concepts also provide regulatory authorities an opportunity to fundamentally change the current major operator driven mobile market and thereby to allow new players and innovative services to surface. However, there is still a gap between the work done by the research community and the work of the regulatory authorities. In this thesis, the aim is to clarify the reasons behind this gap by analysing three prevailing regulatory spectrum sharing concepts: Licensed Shared Access, the three-tier model and TV white space concept. As different stakeholders involved in spectrum sharing – the incumbent user, the entrant user and the regulatory authority – have very diverse roles in spectrum sharing, their incentives and key criteria may vary significantly. In order for a spectrum sharing concept to have a chance in a real life deployment, all these perspectives need to be carefully considered. In fact, a feasible spectrum sharing concept is a delicate balance between the viewpoints of different stakeholders, not necessarily the one offering the most efficient spectrum utilization. This thesis analyses spectrum sharing concepts from all these perspectives and as a consequence unveils the common process model for implementing a spectrum sharing concept in real life, highlighting the distinct roles of different stakeholders in its phases. / Tiivistelmä Parin viimeisen vuosikymmenen aikana tutkimusyhteisö on kehittänyt valtavasti eri käsitteitä ja tuloksia taajuuksien yhteiskäyttöön. Matkapuhelinoperaattoreiden nopeasti kasvavan tiedonsiirto- ja taajuustarpeen myötä myös poliittinen ilmapiiri on muuttunut vastaanottavaisemmiksi uusille jaetuille taajuuksienkäyttömalleille, joilla voidaan sekä lisätä taajuuksien käytön tehokkuutta että mahdollistaa uusien toimijoiden ja innovatiivisten palvelujen kehitys. Taajuuksien yhteiskäyttömalleihin liittyvä tutkimustyö ei kuitenkaan usein palvele suoraan taajuusviranomaisten tarpeita. Tämän työn tavoitteena on selvittää syitä tähän kolmen vallitsevan joustavan taajuuksienkäyttökonseptin avulla: lisensoidun taajuuksien yhteiskäyttömallin, kolmitasoisen taajuuksien yhteiskäyttömallin ja TV kaistojen yhteiskäyttömallin. Eri toimijoilla on hyvin erilaiset roolit taajuuksien yhteiskäytössä ja siksi sekä heidän kannustimensa että keskeiset kriteerit voivat olla hyvin erilaiset. Käytäntöön sopiva jaetun taajuudenkäytön malli onkin usein kompromissi eri näkemysten omaavien toimijoiden kesken, ei välttämättä taajuuksien käytöltään tehokkain vaihtoehto. Tässä työssä analysoidaan eri taajuuksien yhteiskäyttömalleja sekä eri toimijoiden näkökulmia. Analyysin tuloksena luodaan yleinen prosessimalli taajuuksien yhteiskäyttömallien toteutukselle sekä identifioidaan eri toimijoiden roolit sen eri vaiheissa.

Předkládaná disertační práce je zaměřena na "heterogenní propojení mobilních zařízení v bezdrátových systémech 5. generace". Navzdory nepochybnému pokroku v rámci navržených komunikačních řešení postrádají mobilní sítě nastupující generace dostatečnou šířku pásma a to hlavně kvůli neefektivnímu využívání rádiového spektra. Tato situace tedy v současné době představuje řadu otázek v oblasti výzkumu. Hlavním cílem této disertační práce je proto návrh nových komunikačních mechanismů pro komunikaci mezi zařízeními v bezprostřední blízkosti s asistencí mobilní sítě a dále pak návrh a implementace algoritmů pro dynamické přidělování frekvenčního spektra v nastupujících mobilních sítích 5G. Navrhnuté komunikační mechanismy a algoritmy jsou následně komplexně vyhodnoceny pomocí nově vyvinutých simulačních nástrojů (kalibrovaných s využitím 3GPP trénovacích dat) a zejména pak v experimentální mobilní síti LTE-A, která se nachází v prostorách Vysokého učení technického v Brně, Česká Republika. Získané praktické výsledky, které jsou podpořeny zcela novou matematickou analýzou ve speciálně navržených charakteristických scénářích, představují řešení pro vlastníka spektra v případě požadavků na jeho dynamické sdílení. Tato metoda tedy představuje možnost pro efektivnější využití spektra v rámci mobilních sítí 5G bez degradace kvality služeb (QoS) a kvality zážitků (QoE) pro koncové uživatele. Vědecký přínos dosažených výsledků dokazuje fakt, že některé z principů představených v této disertační práci byly zahrnuty do celosvětově uznávaného standardu (specifikace) 3GPP Release 12.