# [Intern] 21/09/2022 Blockchain in 5G.
###### tags: `BMW-Lab`, `Intern`

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**Goal:** To show the all possibilities which can bring blockchain technology for 5G.
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**References**
{%youtube R40M0RcMFlY %}
- [Blockchain in 5G](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1084804520301673)
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## Background

5G small cell density requirements (because of their small range 10-100 m) would need operators to have the ability to efficiently manage such ultra-dense networks. Blockchain networks can allow for secure peer-to-peer communication with the base stations in a network or even relay the network performance data to be used for AI algorithms in a self-organizing network (SON) setup to help manage and optimize the radio access networks. Any changes made to the network can be executed as per the smart contracts enabled by blockchain or by a rules engine in SON which was set up while configuring the network or updating the network configuration.
The future business models based on sharing 5G network resources (e.g., through network slicing or spectrum sharing) will need an establishment of a trusted billing mechanism. Blockchain-based network slice brokers and billing systems in combination with current AI-enabled SON technologies can help navigate such challenges and achieve the closed-loop automation vision.
Other potential applications might involve user equipment to seamlessly make handoffs with WiFi and 5G connections to achieve the best data connection. In terms of administering such an operation, a group of service providers can establish a consortium blockchain model to establish an interoperable way of authentication and management of such handoffs.

## Data Integrity and Security
Blockchain can serve as a secure repository of data/transactions for various AI algorithms. AI is as good as the data it learns from. The consensus algorithms, immutable nature of transactions stored in the blockchain, and cryptography-based security would help ensure data integrity and security. Blockchain’s use for securely storing and sharing patient data in the healthcare industry is well documented.
Smart contracts will enable business-oriented applications like billing, which would provide an immutable record of interactions between a user and the network(s). It can even handle automated settlements between different telco networks for network resource sharing.

## Decentralized Architectures
Blockchain lends itself well to decentralized architectures due to its distributed nature and peer-to-peer network characteristics. This might be the single biggest reason for many people to believe that blockchain is a harbinger of a new kind of internet which is more user-centric (in comparison to the model today). We don’t have to remember multiple identities (usernames and passwords), and users will have greater control on who they would want to share their information with. People will have just one identifier based on which they can access networks of multiple operators and need not be tied to a single operator. As telcos step out from the core to MEC-centric business models, building a decentralized internet doesn’t seem too much of a distant possibility.
Public blockchain models can be used for 5G edge computing use cases involving vehicular networks to enable the sharing of vehicular and traffic information. This can serve as a quick and immutable record for paying out motor insurance claims.

## 5G Infrastructure Sharing
Infrastructure sharing in 5G is an obvious opportunity, in which a seller Mobile Network Operator offers telecom services either cellular towers or a subset of these towers.

## National Roaming
Roaming sharing occurs when telecom operators act within a country with no sharing of 5G active or passive elements. However, the subscribers are always allowed to roam to host operator even if the home operator does not cover a specified geographical area.Home Server Subscriber (HSS) model is proposed to share the subscriber information of the operators on a blockchain
network so that seamless facilitation of roaming service can be achieved without the intervention of any central entities.
Smart contract-based authorization and authentication methods are used, with automatic billing and payments.A decentralized network access and authentication based on blockchain was also proposed in that performs the autonomous roaming between the different network operators.

## Spectrum Sharing
The spectrum in cellular networks has become a scarce and very expensive resource. Currently, operators pay large fees to spectrum regulators. Typically, an operator purchases a sub-band or several sub-bands from a regulator. The operator then uses these sub-bands either for their own purposes or leases them to other operators. This model allows a telecom operator to fully utilize its resources and supports the newly entrant small operators to provide 5G services without paying large licensing fees. It is also known that most of the available spectrum bands are already occupied by the primary users, known as incumbent users.
These bands include television, digital broadcast, government digital service, and satellites. The use of the License Shared Access (LSA) scheme can improve this issue of spectrum scarcity. LSA provides a part of its unused spectrum to the incumbent user, whereby the LSA licensee is granted for using part of its incumbent spectrum. The regulating body only oversees the agreement terms between both of the parties and issues the LSA license. The terms of the agreement normally contain the Quality of Serivce (QoS) thresholds in order to guarantee the controlled interference operation. In addition, the agreement rules are pre-defined or converted into a dynamic one. The specified sharing dimensions generally span frequency, time, and location
whereby allow the dynamic spectrum allocations by considering the Cognitive Radio Sensing (CRS) using the dynamic agreement rules. Other existing spectrum sharing schemes, such as Spectrum Access Sharing (SAS) and Co-primary Shared Access (CAS) are also available to fulfill this need. These schemes offer effective spectrum sharing mechanisms;however, seriously lack an
end-to-end dynamic spectrum management and sharing process. Blockchain and smart contracts can be leveraged to efficiently and securely provide these services in an automated, visible, and trusted manner without third parties or intermediaries. Moreover, coordinated control and spectrum management for 5G heterogeneous radio access networks (RAN) is required, firstly for; abstraction of physical and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers, network, topography, and connections (known as infrastructure resource abstraction), and secondly for the netwok services abstraction to applications and services that use service from the control plane. Figure below illustrates the architecture of the concept to allow for Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) and interactions between the network infrastructure and network slices. The figure shows that this concept has very close resemblance to the Software Defined Network (SDN) architecture .


## Conclusion
Blockchain has been increasingly used to register, authenticate and validate assets and transactions, govern interactions, record data and manage the identification among multiple parties, in a trusted, decentralized, and secure manner these all features will be useful for 5G wireless technology