Wireless devices such as mobile phones, laptops, and routers use radio spectrum to communicate with one another. This spectrum is often statically allocated and fairly fixed in the way it is deployed. This static allocation usually leads to unfortunate quality of service issues in heavily utilized areas such as conference halls, city centers, or mass-transport terminals.
One approach to improving the quality of service problem is to allow radios to purchase additional or alternative bandwidth channels using a dynamic spectrum marketplace.
A dynamic spectrum marketplace is space in which wireless spectrum can be allocated, purchased, and sold. The goal of these sorts of marketplaces is to ensure efficient usage of spectrum usage through the use of market forces to sell spectrum to the highest bidder.
This website is a demonstration of a dynamic spectrum marketplace. It uses the PaySwarm open standards to express identity, licenses, digital contracts, and blocks of spectrum for sale. All purchases for the spectrum are performed using the PaySwarm standard as well.
A wireless device posts a request for a block of spectrum with specific geographic boundary and transmit power limits. The request is limited to a particular time frame.
If the request is accepted by the spectrum marketplace server, it is approved for sale and the wireless device is notified. The device then completes the purchase for the spectrum using PaySwarm and is provided a non-repudiable digital contract which can be used to prove transmission rights for a particular time frame.