Survey on coexistence of heterogeneous wireless networks in 2.4 GHz and TV white spaces

Given the unprecedentedly dense deployment of wireless networks due to the proliferation of inexpensive, widely available wireless devices in the limited spectrum bands, many of these wireless networks should operate at least partially overlapped or even on the same spectrum band. Incompatible communication pattern of different networks with different applications (e.g. Internet of Things, wireless sensor networks and individual wireless communication) would cause serious wireless networks coexistence problem. For the representative, two bands, 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical band and the TV white spaces, effective signalling protocols, as well as radio resource allocation mechanisms could achieve an efficient and fair utilization of spectrum. In this survey, we report and analyse the recent technical advance and development of coexistence protocols. Aiming at tracing the latest developments in this field, we attempt to deliver a comprehensive coverage on existing literatures with a proper technical depth to introduce the design idea and philosophy and analyse the pros and cons of each surveyed coexistence solution. We also discuss a number of important and relevant research challenges that have not been addressed in the existing literatures and that deserve further research attention and investigation.