An Integrated Spectrum and Information Market for Green Cognitive Communications

A database-assisted TV white space network can achieve the goal of green cognitive communication by effectively reducing the energy consumption in cognitive communications. The success of such a novel network relies on a proper business model that provides substantial incentives for all parties involved. In this paper, we propose an integrated spectrum and information market for a database-assisted TV white space network, where a geolocation database acts as an online platform providing services to both a spectrum market and an information market. We model the interactions among the database operator, the spectrum licensee, and the unlicensed users as a three-stage sequential decision process. Specifically, Stage I characterizes the negotiation between the database and the spectrum licensee, in terms of the commission for the licensee to use the spectrum market platform, Stage II models the pricing decisions of the database and the spectrum licensee, and Stage III characterizes the subscription behaviors of the unlicensed users. Analyzing such a three-stage model is very challenging due to the co-existence of positive and negative network externalities in the information market. We explicitly characterize the impact of network externalities on the equilibrium behaviors of all parties involved. We also analytically show that the spectrum licensee can never get a market share larger than half in the integrated market. Our numerical results further show that the proposed integrated market can outperform the pure information market in terms of network profit up to 87%.