Interference Study of Micro Licensing for 5G Micro Operator Small Cell Deployments

Abstract

5G brings along very dense small cell deployments in specific locations such as hospitals, campuses, shopping malls, and factories. This will result in a novel 5G deployment scenario where different stakeholders, i.e., micro operators, are issued local spectrum access rights in the form of micro licenses, to deploy networks in the specific premises. This new form of sharing-based micro licensing guarantees that the local 5G networks remain free from harmful interference from each other and also protects potential incumbent spectrum users’ rights. It admits a larger number of stakeholders to gain access to the 5G spectrum to serve different vertical sectors’ needs beyond traditional mobile network operators (MNO) improving the competition landscape. We characterize the resulting interference scenarios between the different micro operators’ deployments and focus on the building-to-building scenario where two micro operators hold micro licenses in separate buildings in co-channel and adjacent channel cases. We analyze the resulting allowable transmit power levels of a base station from inside one building towards an end user mobile terminal inside another building as a function of the minimum separation distance between the two micro operator networks. Numerical results are provided for the example case of the 3.5 GHz band with different building entry losses characterizing the impact of propagation characteristics on the resulting interference levels. The results indicate that the building entry losses strongly influence the interference levels and resulting required minimum separation distances, which calls for flexibility in determining the micro license conditions for the building specific situation.