The radio frequency spectrum is a finite but exceedingly valuable natural resource that facilitates a tremendous variety of applications and services. During the past two decades, the use of the radio spectrum has intensified and expanded enormously. As new wireless systems have proliferated and new applications emerge, precious spectrum resources are in ever-greater demand. 

 

Shared spectrum use, in contrast to exclusive spectrum use, has emerged as a viable technology that could significantly enhance the efficiency of future spectrum use. A huge amount of effort and investment has been devoted to the research, development, experimentation, and testing of innovative spectrum-sharing technologies world-wide. 

 

For shared spectrum use to reach its true potential, however, several challenges must be addressed. In this panel, distinguished researchers, from academia, industry, and government funding agency, will take a communication and networking perspective to discuss the state-of-the-art in spectrum research, identify unique challenges and key open problems to enable this emerging paradigm, and provide future research directions toward potential solutions.