Contract-Based Spectrum Allocation for Wireless Virtualized Networks

Wireless virtualization has emerged as a promising technology to support a diverse multitude of wireless networks due to their efficient exploitation of network resources. In a mobile virtualized network, a network operator (NO) benefits from dynamically leasing its physical resources to multiple service providers (SPs). The SPs then make profits from offering wireless services to their end users. A key challenge for the NO is to captivate the SPs into the leasing and efficiently allocate its wireless resources. To achieve the maximum profit for the NO, specialized trading mechanism needs to be designed, especially when the NO is unable to access SPs' private information. This paper proposes a framework of contract-based allocation for efficient spectrum leasing under incomplete information. First, a general system model is developed with one NO and multiple SPs engaged in an exchange for spectrum resources and money. The NO provides spectrum leases in both downlink and uplink at different multiplexing gains. Optimal trading contracts are then derived to maximize the total utility at the NO, while satisfying the SPs' requirements for the trade. Numerical results confirm our analyses on the optimal contracts and their benefits, including higher utilities and lower spectrum usages for the NO.