What is Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) in 5G?

DSS is a new technology to allow both 4G and 5G to share the same spectrum and this can make the 5G deployment faster as simply 5G will share the same antenna, RF units and spectrum of 4G, and then using a SW upgrade to the existing 4G equipment, 5G is on air and so resources can be allocated to 4G and 5G based on the traffic need in a dynamic way.

Dynamic spectrum sharing has been specified in Rel-15. But, the current specification is limited to:

• FDD bands (i.e. 700, 800, 1800, 2100, 2600); but not specified yet for our TDD bands

Main challenges :

Both technologies will share the same spectrum, so each technology will affect the other one by its control channels and reference signals which will reduce the available capacity for data traffic in both 4G and 5G, however currently as 5G traffic share is low compared to 4G, so we can use DSS.

DSS benefits to MNOs

• Gradual re-farming of spectrum
• Allowing deployment of 5G even without new 5G spectrum
• Allowing a quick win for “5G footprint extension“
• Maximizing the whole network capacity,
• Extending coverage of 3.5GHz band