Performance of unlicensed devices with a spectrum etiquette

There are growing opportunities for the wireless industry to deploy products in the unlicensed spectrum, where no licensing is required and devices share the spectrum. The unlicensed spectrum (PCS band at 2 GHz, the National Information Infrastructure (NII) band at 5 GHz, and the millimeter wave band at 59-64 GHz) offers several benefits, but there are serious challenges to overcome before these benefits can be fully realized. Foremost among these is the risk of inefficient utilization, resulting from a lack of incentive to conserve the shared spectrum. This phenomenon is demonstrated in one scenario, and some techniques to deal with this problem are presented.