Blockchain-Based Solution for Multiple Operator Spectrum Sharing (MOSS) in 5G Networks

The fifth-generation (5G) and beyond networks will benefit billions of endpoint devices, machines, and users by enabling the wide-area data collection and transmission. This massive growth in these endpoints will require sharing spectrum resources to enable ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLCC) and to use enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), which is connectable via over-the-air (OTA) interfaces. These requirements create opportunities for carrier-service providers (CSPs) to dynamically share their bandwidth among on-network and cross-network endpoints. To date, the existing centralized dynamic spectrum sharing solutions do not involve the endpoints. Moreover, these solutions are monopolized by CSPs, and hence raise the users' concerns over the security and privacy of their endpoint data. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based smart contract (SC) solution to enable secure and dynamic spectrum sharing among endpoint users. We design a multiple operators spectrum sharing (MOSS) SC which enables and facilitates dynamic spectrum sharing among cooperating endpoint users (e.g. autonomous cars in smart cities), in a trusted, decentralized, and secure manner. The proposed SC penalizes the non-cooperating endpoint users. We implement the proposed SC considering the permissionless blockchain requirements, implemented it on the Ethereum network, and tested our proposed solution in terms of gas consumption, security, and reliability. The proposed MOSS SC code has been made publicly available on GitHub.