In this paper, we study a broker-based TV white space market, whereunlicensed white space devices (WSDs) purchase white space spectrum from TVlicensees via a third-party geo-location database (DB), which serves as aspectrum broker, reserving spectrum from TV licensees and then reselling thereserved spectrum to WSDs. We propose a contract-theoretic framework for thedatabase's spectrum reservation under demand stochasticity and informationasymmetry. In such a framework, the database offers a set of contract items inthe form of reservation amount and the corresponding payment, and each WSDchooses the best contract item based on its private information. Wesystematically study the optimal reservation contract design (that maximizesthe database's expected profit) under two different risk-bearing schemes:DB-bearing-risk and WSD-bearing-risk, depending on who (the database or theWSDs) will bear the risk of over reservation. Counter-intuitively, we show thatthe optimal contract under DB-bearing-risk leads to a higher profit for thedatabase and a higher total network profit.
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