Douglas Sicker, Dirk Grunwald, Eric Anderson, Christian Doerr, Anmol Sheth, and Brita Munsinger
Examining the Wireless Commons

Proceedings of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) 2006


Abstract:
Debates about the efficient use of radio spectrum are beset by a fundamental conundrum: although unli-
censed spectrum has fostered tremendous innovation, is it plagued by a potential ”tragedy of the commons”
in which unfettered access renders it useless. Given this situation, what, if anything, can be done in tech-
nology and policy to delay or defuse such an effect? Surprisingly given the heat of the debates, current
evidence of a tragedy in the wireless commons is mostly anecdotal. In this paper, we propose a program of
theoretically modeling and empirically measuring the presence and effects of such a tragedy in this wireless
commons. Although the models focus on technical solutions, we ask these questions to consider the policy
issues surrounding unlicensed spectrum.
The fundamental questions we seek to address include: 1) what defines a tragedy in unlicensed spec-
trum and 2) how serious is the problem? An initial desire of this work is to clearly distinguish between the
tragedies that occur as a result of radio frequency interference and those that occur because of the design
of the protocols associated with specific technologies. Defining what constitutes a tragedy is more complex
than it might first appear. The answer includes such dynamic factors as; the density of the devices, the envi-
ronmental conditions, the usage patterns, the application demands, the protocols employed and the existing
of other interferers. Modeling the problem is also difficult in that it requires combining theoretical capacity
models with geographic information systems and other dynamic factors in a way that connects micro and
macro models into a realistic depiction of the problem.