Channel Assignment Algorithm for Shared Spectrum Fairness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current frequency channel allocation methods for Priority Access License (PAL) users in shared spectrum bands, such as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band, face challenges in ensuring fair, contiguous, and high-quality channel assignments across counties, leading to inefficiencies and potential legal issues due to lack of transparency and computational complexity.
Innovation Solution
A multi-algorithmic approach is implemented to generate an initial assignment of logical channels to physical channels, prioritize counties with challenges, and update a similarity metric to ensure compliance with PAL user requirements, allowing for dynamic adjustment of constraints to optimize channel allocation across counties while maintaining fairness and transparency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single algorithm is used for channel assignment, then the device complexity is reduced, but the ability to ensure fair and contiguous channel assignments across counties deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the channel assignment problem into multiple independent algorithms, each responsible for specific aspects: Algorithm 1 handles verification of feasible assignments, Algorithm 2 manages physical undesired channels, Algorithm 3 optimizes for contiguity, and Algorithm 4 provides random fair assignment. This segmentation allows each algorithm to specialize in one function, improving overall reliability while keeping individual algorithm complexities manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple algorithms into a unified channel assignment system that combines their outputs. The algorithms work together in a coordinated manner where Algorithm 1 verifies feasibility, Algorithm 2 filters undesired channels, Algorithm 3 optimizes contiguity, and Algorithm 4 ensures fairness, creating a comprehensive solution that addresses all requirements simultaneously.
2Reliability
If multiple algorithms are implemented for channel assignment, then the channel assignment fairness is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the complex channel assignment task into four distinct algorithms, each handling a specific aspect of the problem. This division allows the system to achieve high reliability through specialized functions while managing complexity by keeping each individual algorithm relatively simple and well-defined.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a coordinating mechanism that acts as an intermediary between the multiple algorithms. This coordinator manages the interaction between Algorithm 1 (verification), Algorithm 2 (undesired channel filtering), Algorithm 3 (contiguity optimization), and Algorithm 4 (fair assignment), ensuring they work together harmoniously without creating excessive complexity.
3Ease of operation
If fixed constraints are used in channel assignment, then the ease of operation is improved, but the adaptability to channel impairments deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic constraints that can be adjusted based on channel conditions and user requirements. The system allows constraints to be modified during operation, enabling adaptation to changing channel impairments while maintaining a relatively simple operational framework through the structured algorithmic approach.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables changes in assignment parameters such as contiguity requirements, desired channel preferences, and constraint weights based on channel impairment conditions. This allows the system to adapt to different scenarios by adjusting parameters rather than requiring complete reconfiguration, maintaining ease of operation while improving adaptability.
4Reliability
If transparency is increased in channel assignment, then the legal issues are reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms that provide transparency into the channel assignment process. The system tracks and reports which algorithm produced which assignment, the constraints applied, and the reasoning behind decisions. This feedback loop ensures legal compliance through auditability while managing complexity through systematic documentation of the decision-making process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a coordination layer that acts as an intermediary between the multiple algorithms and the external system. This intermediary manages the complexity of coordinating four algorithms while providing a simplified, transparent interface that tracks and reports assignment decisions, ensuring legal compliance without exposing the underlying complexity to external systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes generating an initial assignment, for a plurality of counties, of a logical channel obtained by a priority access license user to a physical channel, considering a plurality of preferred channel assignments of the users within each county; generating a county prioritization list that prioritizes counties having challenges resulting from the initial assignment; executing a series of algorithms, for each county within the county prioritization list, to continue to assign the physical channels to comply with a set of requirements of the priority access license users; and updating, for each priority access license user, a similarity metric that measures a similarity between a desired physical channel assignment and an actual physical channel assignment, wherein the metric is used during the continuation of the assignment of the physical channels.