APPLICATION-BASED INCUMBENT INFORMING CAPABILITY FOR SPECTRUM SHARING

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable media directed to a software application that may be downloaded to and executed on any type of end terminal (may also be referred to as a user equipment), through which UEs of heterogenous systems sharing a frequency band can inform each other and coordinate usage and transmission in the shared frequency band in a distributed and near real-time manner to avoid and minimize interference. This software application can provide an application-based approach for wireless spectrum management.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter of this disclosure generally relates to the field of wireless network operations and, more particularly, to a wireless spectrum sharing mechanism that improve the ability of consumers of wireless services to share frequency bands.

BACKGROUND

Wireless broadband represents a critical component of economic growth, job creation, and global competitiveness because consumers are increasingly using wireless broadband services to assist them in their everyday lives. Demand for wireless broadband services and the network capacity associated with those services is surging, resulting in a growing demand for spectrum to support these services. Similarly, the number and type of devices being used by consumers to access content over wireless broadband networks has proliferated. All of these trends are resulting in more demand for network capacity and for capital to invest in the infrastructure, technology, and spectrum to support this capacity. The demand for increased wireless spectrum, moreover, is expected to continue increasing. In response, the Federal Communications Commission continues to work to make available additional licensed and unlicensed spectrum to meet this growing demand. Similarly, large enterprises, such as the Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and companies and organizations of various sizes, increasingly have a need to be efficient with the spectrum dependent systems they operate either as primary, co-primary or secondary licensees for the radio frequency bands they are assigned. Improved spectrum sharing mechanisms can greatly improve their efficient use of spectrum resources and give multiple stakeholders the confidence required to share frequency bands.

SUMMARY

One or more aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a software application that may be downloaded to and executed on any type of end terminal (may also be referred to as a user equipment), through which UEs of heterogenous systems sharing a frequency band can inform each other and coordinate usage and transmission in the shared frequency band in a distributed and near real-time manner to avoid and minimize interference. This software application can provide an application-based approach for wireless spectrum management.

In one aspect, a spectrum management system includes one or more incumbent user equipment configured to operate in a frequency band and one or more primary user equipment configured to operate in the frequency band. The spectrum management system further includes a software application installed and executed on each of the one or more incumbent user equipment and the one or more primary user equipment. The software application is configured to determine information related to a schedule of use of the frequency band by the one or more incumbent user equipment and coordinate use of the frequency band by the one or more incumbent user equipment and the one or more primary user equipment to ensure transmissions by the one or more incumbent user equipment and the one or more primary user equipment do not interfere.

In another aspect, the software application is configured to determine the information by receiving a number of parameters from a corresponding user of the software application.

In another aspect, the number of parameters include one or more of a location of a corresponding one of the one or more incumbent user equipment, a time of transmission by the corresponding one of the one or more incumbent user equipment, and a frequency at which the transmission occurs.

In another aspect, the software application is configured to coordinate the use of the frequency band by transmitting the information to a network controller of a system with which the one or more primary user equipment are associated, the network controller managing the transmissions by the one or more primary user equipment do not occur at the location, the time and the frequency identified in the information.

In another aspect, the software application on any of the one or more incumbent user equipment is directly connected with the software application on any one of the one or more primary user equipment, the one or more primary user equipment being one or more base stations of a radio access network.

In another aspect, the software application is indirectly connected to the network controller via one or more intermediary components.

In another aspect, the one or more intermediary components include at least one of a federally operated spectrum coordination system or a commercial spectrum access system.

In another aspect, the one or more incumbent user equipment operate in a Radar system and the one or more primary user equipment operate in a radio access network.

In another aspect, the one or more incumbent user equipment operate in a first radio access network and the one or more primary user equipment operate in a second radio access network.

In another aspect, the spectrum management system further includes one or more environmental sensing components configured to monitor and detect operations of the one or more incumbent user equipment, wherein information obtained from monitoring and detecting the operation of the one or more incumbent user equipment may be provided to a spectrum access system, the spectrum access system being configured to use the information provided by the one or more environmental sensing components and the software application to coordinate transmissions by the one or more primary user equipment.

In another aspect, the spectrum management system further includes a network controller communicatively coupled to the software application installed on the one or more incumbent user equipment and the one or more primary user equipment, the network controller being configured to perform automated dynamic spectrum sharing.

In another aspect, the network controller is configured to perform automated dynamic spectrum sharing using a trained machine learning model.

In another aspect, the machine learning model is configured to receive as input, near real-time transmission information for the one or more incumbent user equipment and the one or more primary user equipment, and provide as output, predicted future transmissions on the frequency band, wherein the network controller is configured to perform dynamic assignment of resource blocks in the frequency band to the one or more incumbent user equipment and primary user equipment, based on the predicted future transmissions.

In another aspect, the software application is configured to determine the information in real-time.

In another aspect, the spectrum management system further includes at least one secondary user equipment configured to operate in the frequency band with the one or more incumbent user equipment and the one or more primary user equipment, the at least one secondary user equipment being associated with a system independent of systems with which the one or more incumbent user equipment and the one or more primary user equipment are associated, wherein the software application is installed on the at least one secondary user equipment to enable the coordination among the one or more incumbent user equipment, the one or more primary user equipment, and the at least one secondary user equipment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Management of radio frequencies is typically divided between government use of spectrum (for national security, public safety, critical infrastructure purposes, etc.) and commercial use of spectrum for business related activities (e.g., wireless service providers, broadcasters, etc.). Regulatory authorities implement statutory frequency resource objectives through various mechanisms. In the United States, Federal Departments and Agencies coordinate their use of spectrum bands through the Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The ever-increasing demand for access to the frequency spectrum and the finite nature thereof has led to a need for dramatically improvements in spectral efficiency in order to unleash the full potential societal value of these finite resources. This presents challenges for governments and companies alike that for decades have counted on exclusive access to fixed blocks of spectrum.

This has led to governance decisions that allowed compatible activities to share given spectrum blocks. For the most part, spectrum deconfliction consisted of relatively static mechanisms to allow secondary spectrum use in a given band as long as that use would not interfere with the primary license. This approach improved the number of supported spectrum dependent systems but reached a practical limit driven by the challenges associated with more granular coordination required to implement ‘dense packing’ of spectrum dependent systems in a given area.

Objectively, the incorporation of dynamic spectrum sharing as an element of system design will greatly reduce the amount of spectrum that at any given time goes unused. These systems, however, require significant technical coordination throughout the lifecycle of spectrum dependent systems. While there has been a degree of success among homogeneous systems and systems with strong technical and program governance over the lifecycle of user equipment, in most cases interagency, government and commercial spectrum deconfliction continues to rely on static mechanisms to coordinate use.

One or more aspects of the present disclosure address the deficiencies of such static mechanism for managing access to shared spectrum that would greatly improve national spectral efficiency through a near-real time spectrum coordination mechanism that allows incumbent system operators to use their existing spectrum-dependent systems without modification. This near real-time mechanism includes an application downloadable and executable on end terminals and user equipment (UE) such as a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, a desktop, a wearable electronic device, etc., that facilitates increased spectrum sharing for radios, radars and other equipment between enterprises that have little to no means or reason to coordinate their operations in a shared frequency spectrum. Such an application would facilitate sharing with lower link margins and process overhead than today's more static deconfliction planning methods.

For purposes of describing the inventive concepts of the present disclosure, a non-limiting use case will be described for heterogenous spectrum dependent system. In this non-limiting use-case the application provides an Incumbent Informing Capability (IIC) (hereinafter, may be referred to as IIC application) for frequency operations deconfliction between military radio, radars, Tactical Data Links (TDLs) and commercial point-to-point radios used by the Broadcast industry for Electronic News Gathering (ENG) and other entertainment content requiring live backhaul over Broadcast Auxiliary Spectrum (BAS) to a central facility from which over-the-air broadcast television and radio signals are transmitted. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this non-limiting use case and may be used by any entity (end user) having access to and utilize available frequency band(s) shared by multiple entities/users.

Referring back to the static mechanisms currently in use, Broadcasters coordinate channel use between local stations through a local community of interests using email, spreadsheets and norms developed through local ad-hoc agreements between users. Each local BAS Channel coordinator executes the deconfliction responsibility in a manner that works for local users, but results in significant variation in the ‘roll up’ of channel use data at the national level. The ENG industry has assigned a National Coordinator to be the primary interface for BAS deconfliction with DoD. The relatively rudimentary systems support, variations in local collaboration and risk averse protection decisions contribute to significant periods of fallow BAS that could be more efficiently used. Near real-time coordination workflow, better confidence between communities of interest through shared situational awareness and semi-automated system controls would reduce spectrum use opportunities lost through the current manual deconfliction mechanism.

In another example of existing static mechanisms, DoD has built a Spectrum Management Coordination System (SMCS) Portal designed to connect the various military organizations planning and conducting operations as co-primary users in the BAS bands dedicated for ENG use. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made clear that while DoD enjoys co-primary status, DoD has the full onus to ensure that DoD system operations do not interfere with ENG incumbent use of the BAS band. The SMCS Portal serves as a repository for registered ENG operators and terminals, geographic limitations on DoD BAS Band operations, spectrum management and organizational contact information for military radio, radar and tactical data link operations. This portal replaced an e-mail coordination workflow whose ‘time-late’ nature and inherent ambiguities contributed to skepticism in the ENG community leading to resultant risk-averse protection of BAS with lower overall spectral efficiency. The Portal improves upon DoD coordination but will be sub-optimal without a complimentary coordinating mechanism for the ENG Broadcast community of interest (COI).

The near real-time coordination system and the IIC application disclosed herein will provide such a coordinating mechanism that is low cost, has a low barrier to entry, leverages existing wireless infrastructure and would provide affirmative feedback that ‘just in time’ BAS channel use notification is received, understood and acted upon by potentially interfering emitters. The distributed share situational awareness afforded by the SMCS Portal and the proposed BAS distributed IIC application results in reduced time and area protection declarations by the ENG COI, increasing the available periods of operations for military radio, radar and TDL use.

The proposed IIC application will have extensible utility in other shared bands, as governments continue to make legacy spectrum bands available for 5G and other new wireless systems. In some instances, the TIC application will provide optimal sharing coordination between enterprises. In other instances, the IIC application can serve as a useful stepping stone for automated dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) that will be designed into future systems. The metadata collected by the IIC application can support DSS system development and generate useful confidence building between organizations with disparate missions and business objectives.

In the non-limiting use-case described herein and as will be described in more detail below, the IIC application for BAS deconfliction will support ENG operations in the field, at fixed sites, at mobile ground stations and airborne BAS transmissions. The IIC application can pre-register BAS operators and their radios with the DoD operated SMCS portal. It can also collect definitive information on channel use (frequency), antenna selection (omni, directional, fixed, mobile), antenna orientation (azimuth or azimuth range), time, and geo-location, and use the collected data to generate protected BAS volumes in a temporal format that will support ‘just-in-time’ coordination with DoD. The IIC application can additionally support identification and rapid resolution of harmful interference between authorized BAS transmitters of differing co-primary priority status. The ENG community can rapidly communicate a ‘cease buzzer’ direction to DoD through SMCS should the de-confliction mechanism encounter an inappropriate transmission. In another use-case for the IIC application, a national defense organization such as DoD, may utilize the IIC application used on military 5G user equipment to enhance SMCS utility and provide out-of-band local validation for SMCS military system operations. The APIs used for the application would support simple integration with future radio, radar and TDL equipment and a wide range of Internet of Military Things (IoMT) wireless protocols.

Throughout the present disclosure references may be made to incumbent users or UEs, primary users or UEs, and secondary users or UEs. An incumbent user/UE may refer to any device of a system operating in a shared frequency band having the highest priority/privilege for transmission in the shared band (e.g., military radar systems and UEs associated therewith). A primary user/UE may refer to any device of a system having paid for a license or right to use the shared frequency band (e.g., UEs and base stations of a 4G/5G radio access network). A secondary user/UE may refer to any device of a system that uses the shared frequency band for transmission opportunistically and without paying for a license to use the shared frequency band.

FIG.1illustrates a currently utilized spectrum management coordination system. More specifically,FIG.1illustrates architecture100for spectrum sharing in the 2025-2110 MHz Band (hereinafter, shared band). However, a shared band may be any licensed and/or unlicensed frequency band in which multiple users/entities may operate.

SMCS102may be utilized to coordinate between the two systems having access to the shared band (e.g., 2025-2110 MHz). Two non-limiting examples of such systems can include DoD104and Society of Broadcasting Engineers (SBE)/BAS106.

DoD104may have a number of users accessing the shared band. Such users may include Tactical Radio Relay (TRR), Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS), High Resolution Video (HRV), Tactical Targeting Networking Technology (TTNT), which may collectively be referred to as users108. Operations of any one of users108may be processed through internal DoD mechanism and units. For example, requests for frequency band usage may be submitted by a user108to a unit referred to as Industrial Scientific and Medial (ISM)110, which would then be forwarded to and reviewed by Army Futures Command (AFC) unit112. Additionally, the spectrum usage may be coordinated with System Management Office114at DoD104. Upon approval, a coordination request workflow may be executed between AFC unit112and SMCS102to coordinate presence and operation of any one of users108in the shared band. DoD104may also have a DoD SMCS administrator115in charge of operating and administrating SMCS102.

At the same time, SBE/BAS106users may have incumbent operations in the shared band as well, which may have been licensed to them by FCC116or any other organization in charge of doing so. Operators118(e.g., local and national coordinators) of SBE/BAS106systems such as ENGs, may register into SMCS Portal120(e.g., using a coordination request workflow) and inform SMCS database122of current usage and/or planned usage of the shared band by SBE/BAS105users. Since news may happen at any time and at any place, such an approach where operators need to log into the portal and add the information is cumbersome and may not scale.

In one example, SMCS analytics124may be utilized to analyze spectrum usage by users108and/or users of SBE/BAS106as well as provide various types of known or to be developed insights into data collected on spectrum usage by all parties.

FIG.2illustrates an application-based spectrum management system according to some aspects of the present disclosure. A number of components of architecture200ofFIG.2are the same as those described above reference toFIG.1and hence will not be further described for sake of brevity. For example, DoD104, users108, ISM110, AFC112, SMO114, DoD SMCS administrator115, SMCS102, SMCS portal120, SMCS database122, and SMCS analytics124are the same as that described above with reference toFIG.1.

On the other hand, architecture200ofFIG.2differs from architecture100ofFIG.1in that a distributed such that IIC application of the present disclosure is used in a distributed fashion by BAS users to provide a near real-time coordination of operation by users108and/or BAS users in the shared band.

As shown inFIG.2, IIC application202may be downloaded on a respective user terminal of each BAS user such as UE204of BAS user206, UE208of BAS user210, and UE212of BAS user214. The number of UEs and/or users are not limited to that shown inFIG.2and may be more or less.

IIC application202may be hosted on a private and/or public cloud infrastructure. Using IIC application202, any one of users206,210, and/or212may access SMCS102. Such access may be an Application Programing Interface (API)-based access using any known and/or to be developed API.

IIC application202enables orchestration of the IIC from the Broadcasters (e.g., users206,210, and/or214) which are one type of users of the shared band to operators and users of another type of users of the shared band (e.g., DoD104). Such an approach provides a faster Machine-to-Machine spectrum sharing by leveraging well developed and secure Application Programming Interface (API) calls. In contrast to a user interface, which connects a computer to a person, an API can connect computers or pieces of software to each other. The calls that make up the API are also known as subroutines, methods, requests, or endpoints. An API specification defines these calls. An API may be custom-built for a particular pair of systems, or it may be a shared standard allowing interoperability among many systems.

In one example, a user (e.g., user206) wanting to use the shared band may open TIC application202on the corresponding UE204. In using IIC application202, user206may enter a number of different information which may then be conveyed to SMCS portal120via API calls, as shown inFIG.2. The information entered can include, but are not limited to, whether the Broadcast is LIVE (shown as element216inFIG.2), the geographical location of the operator, which may be captured from the location service of UE204itself (shown as element218inFIG.2), the frequency channel that is being used by the user206(shown as element220inFIG.2), a compass222which may be used to provide the direction of an ENG antenna (shown as element224inFIG.2), and transmit power if known to the operator (not shown), etc.

The application-based spectrum management system described above can support spectrum use coordination between any number of enterprise(s) and/or individual(s) wanting to rapidly confirm consideration and mitigation of harmful interference from systems using a shared band. While a BAS-DoD example described above with reference toFIG.2, shows Radio-to-Radio spectrum sharing, the same application-based spectrum management system can be used to deconflict RADAR-to-Radio spectrum sharing, Radio-to-Electronic Warfare (EW) sharing or any other sharing needs between spectrum dependent systems sharing one or more radio frequency bands. While DoD uses SMCS to extend the primary user's ‘intent to use’ notification to secondary users in the same band, any portal-based or other Enterprise IT communication mechanism can also be used to inform the parties wanting to deconflict their use.

A RADAR-to-Radio example, might work as follows. Both the RADAR Operator and the Radio Access Network Intelligent Controller (RIC) would be connected through the Spectrum Sharing Gateway API. A RIC assigned as a secondary licensee could be operating continuously in a region for which a primary user would need to assert periodic privilege for exclusive use consistent with the functional requirements of the RADAR. The RADAR owner/operator would use the smartphone, laptop or PC based application to communicate to the RIC the geographic polygon, time and duty cycle requirements that it wants to assert primary use privilege for. This sharing could be relatively coarse and time-based only. It could also be much more granular with a sharing profile unique to the RADAR registered in the APP Spectrum Sharing Gateway. For example, a rotating RADAR may have a fixed rotation rate of 10 seconds requiring exclusive use for 1 second on any given radial. This pre-configured profile would be invoked at the gateway and synchronized via a heartbeat between primary and secondary application or between the RADAR application and the RIC. The RIC would then have the information needed to generate Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM) Resource Block Blanking in a manner that is fully synchronized with the RADAR Incumbent's spectrum needs. OFDM is used in Wi-Fi, 4G/5G and various other commercial waveforms.

In this RADAR-to-Radio sharing scenario, trust between primary and secondary users is further enhanced by a ‘cease=buzzer’ override request feature. Should the primary user ever perceive that secondary user signaling has become harmful interference, the app supports rapid, semi-automatic communication of an order for the secondary user to cease operations in the shared band. This could also included pre-agreed issue escalation contacts between the organizations, to more rapidly deconflict sharing problems and restore maximum band efficiency.

FIG.3illustrates an example use of the application-based spectrum management system ofFIG.2according to some aspects of the present disclosure. More specifically, architecture300ofFIG.3illustrates the use of IIC application described with reference toFIG.2in the context of a RADAR-Radio spectrum sharing. As shown inFIG.3, two example systems include communications system302(may also be referred to as a radio access network302) and airborne radar system304. Communications system302may be a 5G wireless communication system with eNodeBs306, 5G core308(that may include any number of functions and components for operation of a 5G network as known and/or to be developed), a plurality of UEs310connected to 5G core308via eNodeBs306. The communication system302may further include a network optimizer312that can be configured to optimize various aspects of operations and signaling within communications system302. While a 5G network is mentioned as an example of communication system302, the present disclosure is not limited thereto and communication system302can be any other known or to be developed communication system such as a 4G/LTE system.

Example airborne radar system304may include a central component such as aircraft314with rotating radar316and any number of aircrafts communicating using services of rotating radar316such as aircrafts318. In one example, radar system304may be the primary user/licensee of a shared band while wireless communication system302may be the secondary user/licensee of the same shared band.

Airborne radar system304may be any type of airborne radar system, for example, Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). Airborne radar system304can transmit and receive RF signals (shown by the dotted lines inFIG.3). Airborne radar system304may transmit and receive RF signals corresponding to a particular frequency band or range, for example, FR1. FR1may be a shared band/range also used by wireless communication system302.

AWACS radar systems can be extremely sensitive, being designed to detect aircraft, ships, and vehicles at long ranges (e.g.,200km and more), and to distinguish between friendly and hostile targets. AWACS radar systems have sensitive receivers with high gain. The high gain helps the AWACS radar system to detect weak backscatter from targets. Energy directed into the AWACS radar may interfere with the receiver. For example, energy from 5G eNodeBs306and UEs310may desensitize the AWACS radar system and interfere with detection, or backscatter from targets may be lost in the noise generated by the transmissions from 5G eNodeBs306and UEs310. In some examples, spectrum sharing between 5G system302and the AWACS radar system304may reduce interference with detection and may reduce noise. In this particular example, incumbent user of spectrum may be radar system304while 5G communication system302may be the Primary or the Secondary user of the spectrum.

As noted above, an operator of aircraft314who may also operate and manage airborne radar system316, can install and access IIC application320(which may be the same as IIC application202ofFIG.2) on a UE. In another example IIC application320may be embedded in radar system316itself.

IIC application320may be communicatively coupled (via any known or to be developed secure logical connection) to Sharing and Coexistence System (SCS)322(which may also be referred to as a Spectrum Coordination System) that may be federally operated for coordinating spectrum licensing and usage. There may also be another commercial SCS or Spectrum Access System (SAS)324that may be communicatively coupled to federal SCS322, 5G core308, and Environmental Sensing Control (ESC) mechanism326. As noted above, RADAR owner/operator of radar system316can access IIC application320on a UE and communicate to a RIC (e.g., 5G core308and/or SAS324) the geographic polygon, time, and/or duty cycle requirements that it wants to assert primary use privilege/access for in order for 5G core308to ensure no transmission/interference in the shared band at the designated time/duty cycle specified by radar operator using IIC application320.

ESC326may detect signals transmitted by airborne radar system304and/or may collect other data. In some examples, ESC326may calculate the location of airborne radar system304, using any appropriate method such as Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA), Angle of Arrival (AoA) or some other interferometric technique. In some examples, ESC326may be prohibited from determining the location of airborne radar system304, for example, due to operational security concerns, and may instead sense the RF spectrum. ESC326may then provide the RF spectrum data it collects to SAS324.

In one example scenario ofFIG.3, 5G communications system302may operate within some geographical area and within some spectrum bands as Radar system304. IIC application320that may be collocated with the incumbent, may use APIs to convey the Radar spectrum usage schedule to Federal SCS322using some logical communications channel. The communications channel may be a direct wireless connection between IIC application320and Federal SCS322. Alternatively, IIC application320may use a satellite connection which provides the usage schedule to Federal SCS322via internet or, it may use some other known or to be developed communication medium/mechanism.

SCS322may be configured to detect the presence of radar signals, such as those from airborne radar system304, and can provide RF spectrum data and any information indicative of the presence of a radar to 5G core308and/or network optimizer312. For example, SCS322may provide information indicative of a location and/or approximate location of airborne radar system304and/or information indicative of the trajectory or approximate trajectory of airborne radar system304. SCS112may also receive other data from ESC326or directly collect data. For example, either ESC326or SCS322may collect data relating to the absence or presence of airborne radar system304, the location of airborne radar system304, or information pertaining to which 5G channels are available for use.

Federal SCS322may not want to provide the exact coordinates and the frequency of operation to commercial SAS324due to security concerns. Hence, it may obfuscate these parameters. As an example, rather than providing when Radar plans to use the spectrum, IIC application320and/or Federal SCS322may provide SAS324information on what is available to 5G communications system302to use. Communications system302may then operate within the bounds of what is available without knowing the exact truth of the state of Radar system304. This may be carried out by computing some obfuscated time and frequency schedule which may be available to 5G communications system302to operate at a particular location. This information is conveyed to the communications system302as a tuple of (Location, Times, Frequencies) that are available.

FIG.4illustrates example spectrum availability maps as a function of time and location according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Specifically, example map400may be used to indicate groups of resource blocks (e.g., groups402and404) are available to 5G communications system302for use. In another example, map406may be provided with groups408,410, and412available to 5G communications system302for use.

Commercial SAS324which interfaces with Federal SCS322may then pull this information periodically and convey the same to network optimizer312(which may also be referred to as a controller or a RIC described above that is configured to perform the Wide Area Network Optimization (WAN Optimization)).

In some examples, network optimizer312may receive information from SCS322, SAS324, and/or 5G core308. Network optimizer312may analyze the data received to determine if a radar system, for example, airborne radar system304, is present and/or active in a given area. Network optimizer312may also analyze the data received from 5G core308to determine 5G network's operational parameters and/or state. Network optimizer312may analyze the data provided to it to determine adjustments to the operational parameters and/or state of the 5G network which would minimize or eliminate interference by 5G communications system302with airborne radar system304.

FIG.5illustrates an example use of the application-based spectrum management system ofFIG.2according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Architecture500ofFIG.5and operational thereof is exactly the same as that described above with reference toFIG.3except that commercial SAS324and/or ESC326may not be present as intermediary node(s). In this instance, functionalities of ESC326may be performed by radar system304itself and/or federal SCS322. Additionally, Federal SCS322may directly interface with and communicate with 5G core308/network optimizer312. However, the remaining components ofFIG.5and functionalities thereof are the same as that described with reference toFIG.3and hence will not be further described for sake of brevity.

FIG.6illustrates an example use of the application-based spectrum management system ofFIG.2according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Architecture600ofFIG.6and operational thereof is exactly the same as that described above with reference toFIG.3except that federal SCS322, commercial SAS324and/or ESC326may not be present as intermediary node(s). In this instance, functionalities of ESC326may be performed by radar system304itself and IIC application320may directly interface with and communicate with 5G core308/network optimizer312. However, the remaining components ofFIG.6and functionalities thereof are the same as that described with reference toFIG.3and hence will not be further described for sake of brevity.

In one example, the direct communication may be between TIC application320of airborne radar system304and a corresponding IIC application installed on each of eNodeBs306of 5G system302. In this example, the direct communication will allow the eNodeBs306to determine a spectrum sharing schedule based on the availability of the shared band received from IIC application302and schedule transmission or the UEs310according to the schedule.

FIG.7illustrates an interference control mechanism when operating in a shared spectrum according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Such interference control mechanism may be implemented via resource block sharing between a communications system such as wireless communications system302and radar system304ofFIG.3. As shown inFIG.7, in a frame700subcarriers702may be reserved for radar system304to be use while subcarriers704may be reserved for use by communications system302and subcarrier706are not used. Such spectrum sharing may also be carried out at a much coarser granularity where the communications system302is provided a list of channels that are available to it at designated times and/or locations.

FIG.8is a flow chart of an example process for spectrum management using TIC application according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

At step800, the method can include receiving information related a schedule of use of a frequency band by one or more UEs of a system designated as incumbent user of the frequency band. Alternatively, the information received may be related to a schedule of use of the frequency band by one or more UEs of a system designated as a primary user of the frequency band. In another example, the information received may be related to a schedule of use of the frequency band by one or more UEs of a system designated as a secondary user of the frequency band,

The UEs can include any component in the corresponding incumbent, primary, and/or secondary network capable of transmitting radio frequency signals that may cause interference with signals of another system operating in the same frequency band. For example, a UE can be a user terminal such as UEs310, eNodeBs306, radar316, receivers/transmitters associated with airplanes318, antennas of BAS users206,210, and/or214ofFIG.2, etc.

The frequency band can be the shared band described above with reference toFIGS.2-7. The one or more UEs can be DoD users108ofFIG.2, aircrafts of airborne radar system304ofFIGS.3-7, etc.

The information received at step800can be the tuple information described above with reference toFIGS.3-7, the information entered via IIC application202described for ENG users with reference toFIG.2, etc.

In some examples, information at step800may not be received by instead can be queried by IIC applications in real-time and/or periodically (e.g., via ESC326).

In some other examples, the information received may be obfuscated due to security concerns and limitations.

At step802, the method can include coordinating use of the frequency band (e.g., shared frequency band described above) by one or more incumbent UEs of the shared band, primary UEs of the shared band, and one or more secondary UEs of the shared band. This coordination can be performed according to various examples described above with reference toFIGS.2-7above. For example, the information can be provided directly by IIC application via which the information is received at step800to a network controller (e.g., 5G core308or network optimizer312), as described with reference toFIG.7. Alternatively, the coordination may be performed by a network controller. The network controller can be the SMCS102ofFIG.2, federal SCS322ofFIGS.3-6, and/or commercial SAS324ofFIGS.3,5, and6.

In some examples, this coordination may include aggregating information received from any incumbent, primary, and/or secondary UE operating in the shared frequency band and generating a spectrum sharing schedule according to which the incumbent, primary, and any secondary UE may transmit signals in a manner that would eliminate or minimize interference with signal transmission by other UEs that may have priority for transmission in the shared band.

While in examples described above with reference toFIGS.2-7, it is the incumbent system's UEs that provide notification of their usage of the shared band to the primary and/or secondary system in order to ensure no interference on the incumbent system by transmissions in the primary and/or secondary system, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some aspects, to maximize efficiency in utilization of resources available in the shared band, UEs and components of any system, whether incumbent, primary, or secondary, intending to use the shared band for transmission of RF signals, can provide that information (e.g., schedule of use) via a corresponding IIC application to the UEs and controllers of the other systems using the same shared band such that a comprehensive spectrum sharing schedule may be created for all devices operating in the shared band.

Optionally, the method ofFIG.8, when performed by a network controller (e.g., SMCS102, federal SCS302, commercial SAS324, and/or any other network controller associated with IIC applications described above), can include a step804for dynamic spectrum sharing using a trained machine learning model. In some instances, a machine learning model or a neural network may be trained to received as input information associated with real-time usage of the shared band by various primary and secondary users, and provide as output a prediction of future use of the shared band. The network controller may then use this predict to perform resource allocation for primary and/or secondary users in the shared band (e.g., provide a map of allocated resource blocks in a manner similar to that shown inFIG.4. An example neural network will be described below with reference toFIG.11.

Various examples of application-based spectrum management have been described above with reference toFIGS.2-8. In these examples, non-limiting scenarios are described with UEs of two different systems (e.g., a RAN system and a Radar system, two RAN systems such as BAS and DoD system). However, the present disclosure is not limited to sharing of a frequency band by UEs of two systems. In some examples, UEs of multiple independent systems (RANs, Radars, BASs, etc.) may cohabitate in and use resources of a particular frequency band and hence the application-based approach described above can be utilized by all systems sharing a band to provide a distributed and near real-time coordination of transmissions in the shared band to avoid interference.

FIG.9illustrates an example network device according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Example of computing system900ofFIG.9can be used to implement one or more component of the example systems and architectures described above with reference toFIGS.2-8including, but not limited to, any UE on which IIC application is installed, SCS322, SAS324, SMCS102, etc. Connection905can be connection connecting various components of the computing system900. For example, connection905can a physical connection via a bus, or a direct connection into processor910, such as in a chipset architecture. Connection905can also be a virtual connection, networked connection, or logical connection.

Example system900includes at least one processing unit (CPU or processor)910and connection905that couples various system components including system memory915, such as read only memory (ROM)920and random access memory (RAM)925to processor910. Computing system900can include a cache of high-speed memory912connected directly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of processor910.

Processor910can include any general purpose processor and a hardware service or software service, such as services932,934, and936stored in storage device930, configured to control processor910as well as a special-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporated into the actual processor design. Processor910can essentially be a completely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores or processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processor can be symmetric or asymmetric.

To enable user interaction, computing system900includes an input device945, which can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as a microphone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech, etc. Computing system900can also include output device935, which can be one or more of a number of output mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodal systems can enable a user to provide multiple types of input/output to communicate with computing system900. Computing system900can include communications interface940, which can generally govern and manage the user input and system output. There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here can easily be substituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

The storage device930can include software services, servers, services, etc., that when the code that defines such software is executed by the processor910, it causes the system to perform a function. In some embodiments, a hardware service that performs a particular function can include the software component stored in a computer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardware components, such as processor910, connection905, output device935, etc., to carry out the function.

FIG.10illustrates an example network device1000suitable for performing switching, routing, load balancing, and other networking operations. The example network device1000can be implemented as switches, routers, nodes, metadata servers, load balancers, client devices, and so forth.

Network device1000includes a central processing unit (CPU)1004, interfaces1002, and a bus1010(e.g., a PCI bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, the CPU1004is responsible for executing packet management, error detection, and/or routing functions. The CPU1004preferably accomplishes all these functions under the control of software including an operating system and any appropriate applications software. CPU1004can include one or more processors1008, such as a processor from the INTEL X86 family of microprocessors. In some cases, processor1008can be specially designed hardware for controlling the operations of network device1000. In some cases, a memory1006(e.g., non-volatile RAM, ROM, etc.) also forms part of CPU1004. However, there are many different ways in which memory could be coupled to the system.

The interfaces1002are typically provided as modular interface cards (sometimes referred to as “line cards”). Generally, they control the sending and receiving of data packets over the network and sometimes support other peripherals used with the network device1000. Among the interfaces that can be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces, and the like. In addition, various very high-speed interfaces can be provided such as fast token ring interfaces, wireless interfaces, Ethernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, ATM interfaces, HSSI interfaces, POS interfaces, FDDI interfaces, WIFI interfaces, 3G/4G/5G cellular interfaces, CAN BUS, LoRA, and the like. Generally, these interfaces can include ports appropriate for communication with the appropriate media. In some cases, they can also include an independent processor and, in some instances, volatile RAM. The independent processors can control such communications intensive tasks as packet switching, media control, signal processing, crypto processing, and management. By providing separate processors for the communication intensive tasks, these interfaces allow the master CPU (e.g.,1004) to efficiently perform routing computations, network diagnostics, security functions, etc.

Regardless of the network device's configuration, it can employ one or more memories or memory modules (including memory1006) configured to store program instructions for the general-purpose network operations and mechanisms for roaming, route optimization and routing functions described herein. The program instructions can control the operation of an operating system and/or one or more applications, for example. The memory or memories can also be configured to store tables such as mobility binding, registration, and association tables, etc. Memory1006could also hold various software containers and virtualized execution environments and data.

The network device1000can also include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which can be configured to perform routing and/or switching operations. The ASIC can communicate with other components in the network device1000via the bus1010, to exchange data and signals and coordinate various types of operations by the network device1000, such as routing, switching, and/or data storage operations, for example.

FIG.11illustrates an example neural network architecture according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Architecture1100includes a neural network1110defined by an example neural network description1101in rendering engine model (neural controller)1130. Neural network1110can be used for the dynamic spectrum allocation described above with reference to step804ofFIG.8. Neural network description1101can include a full specification of neural network1110. For example, neural network description1101can include a description or specification of the architecture of neural network1110(e.g., the layers, layer interconnections, number of nodes in each layer, etc.); an input and output description which indicates how the input and output are formed or processed; an indication of the activation functions in the neural network, the operations or filters in the neural network, etc.; neural network parameters such as weights, biases, etc.; and so forth.

In this example, neural network1110includes an input layer1102, which can receive input data such as information of spectrum usage by UEs of various systems operating with the shared band, as described above with reference toFIGS.2-8.

Neural network1110includes hidden layers1104A through1104N (collectively “1104” hereinafter). Hidden layers1104can include n number of hidden layers, where n is an integer greater than or equal to one. The number of hidden layers can include as many layers as needed for a desired processing outcome and/or rendering intent. Neural network1110further includes an output layer1106that provides as output, predicted future use/transmission of signals in a shared frequency band by one or more (or all) UEs of various systems utilizing and cohabitating in a shared frequency band. This output may be based on processing performed by hidden layers1104.

Neural network1110in this example is a multi-layer neural network of interconnected nodes. Each node can represent a piece of information. Information associated with the nodes is shared among the different layers and each layer retains information as information is processed. In some cases, neural network1110can include a feed-forward neural network, in which case there are no feedback connections where outputs of the neural network are fed back into itself. In other cases, neural network1110can include a recurrent neural network, which can have loops that allow information to be carried across nodes while reading in input.

Information can be exchanged between nodes through node-to-node interconnections between the various layers. Nodes of input layer1102can activate a set of nodes in first hidden layer1104A. For example, as shown, each of the input nodes of input layer1102is connected to each of the nodes of first hidden layer1104A. The nodes of hidden layer1104A can transform the information of each input node by applying activation functions to the information. The information derived from the transformation can then be passed to and can activate the nodes of the next hidden layer (e.g.,1104B), which can perform their own designated functions. Example functions include convolutional, up-sampling, data transformation, pooling, and/or any other suitable functions. The output of the hidden layer (e.g.,1104B) can then activate nodes of the next hidden layer (e.g.,1104N), and so on. The output of the last hidden layer can activate one or more nodes of output layer1106, at which point an output is provided. In some cases, while nodes (e.g., nodes1108A,1108B,1108C) in neural network1110are shown as having multiple output lines, a node has a single output and all lines shown as being output from a node represent the same output value.

In some cases, each node or interconnection between nodes can have a weight that is a set of parameters derived from training neural network1110. For example, an interconnection between nodes can represent a piece of information learned about the interconnected nodes. The interconnection can have a numeric weight that can be tuned (e.g., based on a training dataset), allowing neural network1110to be adaptive to inputs and able to learn as more data is processed.

Neural network1110can be pre-trained to process the features from the data in the input layer1102using the different hidden layers1104in order to provide the output through output layer1106. In an example in which neural network1110is used to predict usage of the shared band, neural network1110can be trained using training data that includes past transmissions and operation in the shared band by the same UEs or UEs of similar systems (e.g., Radar systems, RAN systems, etc.). For instance, past transmission information can be input into neural network1110, which can be processed by neural network1110to generate outputs which can be used to tune one or more aspects of neural network1110, such as weights, biases, etc.

In some cases, neural network1110can adjust weights of nodes using a training process called backpropagation. Backpropagation can include a forward pass, a loss function, a backward pass, and a weight update. The forward pass, loss function, backward pass, and parameter update is performed for one training iteration. The process can be repeated for a certain number of iterations for each set of training media data until the weights of the layers are accurately tuned.

For a first training iteration for neural network1110, the output can include values that do not give preference to any particular class due to the weights being randomly selected at initialization. For example, if the output is a vector with probabilities that the object includes different product(s) and/or different users, the probability value for each of the different product and/or user may be equal or at least very similar (e.g., for ten possible products or users, each class may have a probability value of 0.1). With the initial weights, neural network1110is unable to determine low level features and thus cannot make an accurate determination of what the classification of the object might be. A loss function can be used to analyze errors in the output. Any suitable loss function definition can be used.

The loss (or error) can be high for the first training dataset (e.g., images) since the actual values will be different than the predicted output. The goal of training is to minimize the amount of loss so that the predicted output comports with a target or ideal output. Neural network1110can perform a backward pass by determining which inputs (weights) most contributed to the loss of neural network1110, and can adjust the weights so that the loss decreases and is eventually minimized.

A derivative of the loss with respect to the weights can be computed to determine the weights that contributed most to the loss of neural network1110. After the derivative is computed, a weight update can be performed by updating the weights of the filters. For example, the weights can be updated so that they change in the opposite direction of the gradient. A learning rate can be set to any suitable value, with a high learning rate including larger weight updates and a lower value indicating smaller weight updates.

Neural network1110can include any suitable neural or deep learning network. One example includes a convolutional neural network (CNN), which includes an input layer and an output layer, with multiple hidden layers between the input and out layers. The hidden layers of a CNN include a series of convolutional, nonlinear, pooling (for downsampling), and fully connected layers. In other examples, neural network1110can represent any other neural or deep learning network, such as an autoencoder, a deep belief nets (DBNs), a recurrent neural networks (RNNs), etc.