PREDATOR: A Protocol for Ad-hoc and Brokered Dynamic Spectrum Management

If technological trends are any indication, we are coming upon a future where we will have highly-cognitive transmitters and receivers capable of using many different frequencies, transmission powers, modulation schemes and MAC protocols. Future generations of mobile devices will be able to bid for the spectrum that they require from a broker, or will have ways of automatically reducing interference by negotiation with other devices. Despite the many different algorithms and policies that could be used to support this, to the best of our knowledge, there is currently a lack of a unified protocol to allow negotiation of spectrum for brokered and non-brokered environments. The proposed protocol, PREDATOR (protocol for equitable, dynamic allocation of radio spectrum), accommodates both brokered and ad hoc configurations. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of how the protocol works, as well as results from a sample application environment to show its efficacy.