Martin B. H. Weiss

Consortia in the Standards Development Process.

Among the many new phenomena that have arisen since the divestiture of AT&T in the United States, and the liberalization of information technology markets worldwide, the emergence of consortia explicitly related to the standards setting process. While R&D consortia and user groups have existed for many years, consortia in the standards-setting process possess unique properties. This article develops a classification of the standard-setting consortia and develops a theoretical basis for their emergence. This theory is based on the confluence of two classical economic theories: political theory and the theory of markets where network externalities exist. We also consider the implications of these consortia on the standards-setting process from theoretical and practical perspectives.

Technological choice in voluntary standards committees : an empirical analysis

Vendors frequently compete to have their technology adopted as part of a voluntary consensus standard. In this paper we report the results of an empirical study of the factors that influence the choice of technologies in voluntary technical standards committees. Participation in standards committees is viewed as an aspect of the product development process of corporations involved in markets where network externalities are present. The factors hypothesized to affect the technology decision are: the market power of the coalition sponsoring the technology, the installed base of the products containing the technology, the size of the firms that make up the coalition, the promotional activities of the sponsors (such as technical contributions submitted), the perceived superiority of the technology, and the political skills of the coalition. These hypotheses were tested by collecting data concerning specific technical decisions that were made in several standards committees in the area of computer communicatio...

Sensing as a Service: An Exploration into Practical Implementations of DSA

The cognitive radio literature generally assumes that the functions required for non-cooperative secondary DSA are integrated into a single radio system. It need not be so. In this paper, we model cognitive radio functions as a value chain and explore the implications of different forms of organization of this value chain. We initially explore the consequences of separating the sensing function from other cognitive radio functions.

The viability of spectrum trading markets

Spectrum trading markets are of growing interest to many spectrum management agencies. They are motivated by their desire to increase the use of market based mechanisms for spectrum management and reduce their emphasis on command and control methods. Despite the liberalization of regulations on spectrum trading in some countries, spectrum markets have not yet emerged as a key spectrum assignment component. The lack of liquidity in these markets is sometimes cited as a primary factor in this outcome. This work focuses on determining the conditions for viability of spectrum trading markets by considering scenarios with different market structures, number of trading participants and amount of tradable spectrum. We make use of Agent-Based Computational Economics (ACE) to analyze each market scenario and the behaviors of its participants. Our models indicate that spectrum markets can be viable in a service if sufficient numbers of market participants exist and the amount of tradable spectrum is balanced to the demand. We use the results of this analysis and the characteristics of the viable markets found to make recommendations for the design of spectrum trading markets. Further work will explore more complicated scenarios.

The Viability of Spectrum Trading Markets

Spectrum trading markets are of growing interest to many spectrum management agencies. They are motivated by their desire to increase the use of market-based mechanisms for spectrum management and reduce their emphasis on command and control methods. Despite the liberalization of regulations on spectrum trading in some countries, spectrum markets have not yet emerged as a key spectrum assignment component. The lack of liquidity in these markets is sometimes cited as a primary factor in this outcome. This work focuses on determining the conditions for viability of spectrum trading markets. We make use of agent-based computational economics to analyze different market scenario and the behaviors of its participants. Our results provide guidelines regarding the number of market participants and the amount of tradable spectrum that should be present in a spectrum trading market for it to be viable. We use the results of this analysis to make recommendations for the design of these markets.

The standards development process: a view from political theory

The process in use today for developing voluntary consensus standards id often criticized for its slowness and inefficiency. This paper presents a model of the process and examines some possible alternatives to the present process and their consequences. This analysis is based on some classical results from political theory and group decision making theory.

An agent-based model for secondary use of radio spectrum

Transaction costs are a critical factor to the success of secondary spectrum markets. This paper proposes a novel approach to study the effects of transaction costs on secondary use of radio spectrum. We develop an agent-based spectrum access model to examine the pre-conditions as to when and why the secondary use would emerge and in what form. The agent-based model allows us to study both economic and technical aspects of the spectrum sharing

Spectrum Trading: An Analysis of Implementation Issues

The assignment of spectrum licenses through spectrum trading markets can be used as a mechanism to grant access to spectrum to those who value it most and can use it more efficiently. Although various methods for improved spectrum assignment have been proposed along the lines of Dynamic Spectrum Allocation (DSA) and others, several issues related to their implementation are still unsolved. Among them, how to deal with interference in a multi-provider environment and determining the elements and architectures for feasible implementations of spectrum trading markets. This paper analyzes several proposed kinds of trading interactions that may arise in a spectrum trading market and proposes a taxonomy of architectures that could be used to implement them. We also discuss the benefits and limitations of using a single or restricted set of wireless standards in the implementation of a spectrum trading infrastructure as a step towards Wireless Bandwidth Trading which is proposed as a possible path for a realizable instance of markets based on spectrum trading concepts.

When is electromagnetic spectrum fungible

Fungibility is a common assumption for market-based spectrum management. In this paper, we explore the dimensions of practical fungibility of frequency bands from the point of view of the spectrum buyer who intends to use it. The exploration shows that fungibility is a complex, multidimensional concept that cannot casually be assumed. We develop two ideas for quantifying fungibility - (i) of a fungibility space in which the “distance” between two slices of spectrum provides score of fungibility and (ii) a probabilistic score of fungibility.

Secondary use of spectrum: a survey of the issues

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to construct a framework for discussion and future studies of the secondary use of electromagnetic spectrum.Design/methodology/approach – The paper establishes some useful definitions and then systematically applies them to the secondary use case. This is extrapolated to develop a framework.Findings – It is important to be careful to circumscribe discussions around secondary use, as each component of the framework poses different problems for implementation and research.Originality/value – The paper proposes a way to structure the discussion of and research into secondary use of electromagnetic spectrum, which can apply significant clarity to future work in this area.