Enabling 5G and IoT: In Search of More Spectrum for Connected Devices

1. Introduction

The United States seeks to lead the world in the next generation of wireless connectivity, namely 5G. “These new networks and technologies will enable faster speeds and low latency wireless broadband services, innovating the Internet of Things and modernizations not yet seen” (Ajit, 2018).

On February 2018, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai declared during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that the “28 GHz band is already approved as secondary market to be used for 5G” (Ajit, 2018).

Making spectrum available for companies to innovate is imperative. After careful investigation of the FCC move, we propose allocating the entire 28 GHz band as an unlicensed band, to maximize wireless deployment and investment and will be more beneficial for innovation.

To justify this position, this paper first provides an overview of the current state of spectrum allotment, and why it is necessary to review its current state.

Next, we provide a more specific description of the core problem necessitates allocation of millimeter wave (mmWave) band to 5G. Next, the policy that FCC is attempting to achieve and the role of technology for using the millimeter wave band is defined, a more efficient use of 28 GHz in the unlicensed band is proposed, and finally, the benefits is measured.

We then provide two specific case studies of organizations that are already successfully utilizing a flexible and open model for managing unlicensed spectrum, and lessons that might be drawn from these examples for application to 5G and IoT.

Finally, we provide our proposed governance model for enabling greater deployment of 5G and IoT technology through flexible and open spectrum management.

2. Overview: Necessity To Review Spectrum Allotment

Over the past decade, consumers have rapidly adopted new technologies, products, and services made possible by wireless radio spectrum - the unseen airwave frequencies that deliver information or data, from radio and TV broadcasts to Wi-Fi Internet connections, Bluetooth signals, and more. As wireless devices have become pervasive, congestion across these frequencies increases, and signal performance in certain areas and for certain applications has begun to degrade.

Anybody who has attempted to upload a picture to social media while at a sporting event or large concert can attest to this fact; chances are it will take several attempts for the upload to push its way through the data congested network. Similarly, modern families often find themselves contending with one another for Internet connectivity. One family member may be streaming a movie, while other is trying to conduct research with his tablet, and yet another is trying to catch up on news and impatiently waiting for headlines to load.

While such situations are frustrating, the emerging IoT (Chiang et al., 2016;Some et al., 2019), which encompasses a wide diversity of connected devices such as home appliances, fitness monitors, automobiles, roadways, and many other products that have not yet even been imagined will cause even greater congestion in our airwaves, if a thoughtful approach is not taken early on.

Closer than ever to Masayoshi Son’s vision as articulated, the next step in bringing wireless communication systems closer to that ideal vision is the deployment of a fifth generation of wireless telephony and data communication networks. Many radio standards are suitable for IoT. The optimal choice for a module will depend on the amount of data being transmitted, the required range and whether the user is willing to pay access charges for licensed spectrum (Sparks, 2017). IoT must deal with the numerous challenges of a massive number of cheap devices providing low energy consumption connected in a wider range. IoT devices connectivity is typically ranged in unlicensed spectrum, and also in licensed spectrum for cellular IoT (Elnashar, 2019).