On the Role of 5G and Beyond Sidelink Communication in Multi-Hop Tactical Networks

This work investigates the potential of 5G and beyond sidelink (SL) communication to support multi-hop tactical networks. We first provide a technical and historical overview of 3GPP SL standardization activities, and then consider applications to current problems of interest in tactical networking. We consider a number of multi-hop routing techniques which are expected to be of interest for SL-enabled multi-hop tactical networking and examine open-source tools useful for network emulation. Finally, we discuss relevant research directions which may be of interest for 5G SL-enabled tactical communications, namely the integration of RF sensing and positioning, as well as emerging machine learning tools such as federated and decentralized learning, which may be of great interest for resource allocation and routing problems that arise in tactical applications. We conclude by summarizing recent developments in the 5G SL literature and provide guidelines for future research.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. To be presented at 2023 IEEE MILCOM Workshops, Boston, M

Probabilistic Rateless Multiple Access for Machine-to-Machine Communication

Future machine to machine (M2M) communications need to support a massive number of devices communicating with each other with little or no human intervention. Random access techniques were originally proposed to enable M2M multiple access, but suffer from severe congestion and access delay in an M2M system with a large number of devices. In this paper, we propose a novel multiple access scheme for M2M communications based on the capacity-approaching analog fountain code to efficiently minimize the access delay and satisfy the delay requirement for each device. This is achieved by allowing M2M devices to transmit at the same time on the same channel in an optimal probabilistic manner based on their individual delay requirements. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves a near optimal rate performance and at the same time guarantees the delay requirements of the devices. We further propose a simple random access strategy and characterized the required overhead. Simulation results show the proposed approach significantly outperforms the existing random access schemes currently used in long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) standard in terms of the access delay.Comment: Accepted to Publish in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication

Optimization and Communication in UAV Networks

UAVs are becoming a reality and attract increasing attention. They can be remotely controlled or completely autonomous and be used alone or as a fleet and in a large set of applications. They are constrained by hardware since they cannot be too heavy and rely on batteries. Their use still raises a large set of exciting new challenges in terms of trajectory optimization and positioning when they are used alone or in cooperation, and communication when they evolve in swarm, to name but a few examples. This book presents some new original contributions regarding UAV or UAV swarm optimization and communication aspects

Korkean luotettavuuden verkkohallinteiset laitteiden väliset yhteydet

Fifth generation cellular networks aim to provide new types of services. Prominent amongst these are industrial automation and vehicle-to-vehicle communications. Such new use cases demand lower latencies and higher reliability along with greater flexibility than current and past generations of cellular technologies allow. Enabling these new service types requires the introduction of device-to-device communications (D2D). This work investigated network-controlled D2D schemes wherein cellular base stations retain control over spectrum usage. D2D nodes assemble into clusters. Each D2D cluster then organises itself as it sees fit within the constraints imposed by the cellular network. A review of proposed D2D control schemes was conducted to identify pertinent interference issues. Measurements were then devised to empirically collect quantitative data on the impact of this interference. Measurements were conducted using a software-defined radio (SDR) platform. An SDR based system was selected to enable a low cost and highly flexible iterative approach to development while still providing the accuracy of real-world measurement. D2D functionality was added to the chosen SDR system with the essential parts of Long Term Evolution Release 8 implemented. Two series of measurements were performed. The first aimed to determine the adjacent channel interference impact of a cellular user being located near a D2D receiver. The second measurement series collected data on the co-channel interference of spectrum re-use between a D2D link and a moving cellular transmitter. Based on these measurements it was determined that D2D communications within a cellular system is feasible. Furthermore, the required frequency of channel state information reporting as a function of node velocity was determined.Viidennen sukupolven solukkoverkoilla pyritään mahdollistamaan uudentyyppisiä palveluja kuten teollisuusautomatiikkaa ja ajoneuvojen välistä viestintää. Tämänkaltaiset uudet käyttötarkoitukset vaativat lyhyempien viiveiden ja korkeammat luotettavuuden ohella myös suurempaa joustavuutta kuin minkä nykyisen sukupolven matkapuhelinverkkoteknologiat sallivat. Edellä mainittujen uusien palvelujen toteuttaminen vaatii suoria laitteiden välisiä yhteyksiä (engl. D2D). Tässä diplomityössä keskityttiin tutkimaan verkkohallinteisia D2D-rakenteita, joissa solukkoverkko hallinnoi spektrin käyttöä. D2D-päätteet liittyvät yhteen muodostaakseen klustereita, jotka hallinnoivat sisäistä tietoliikennettään parhaaksi katsomallaan tavalla solukkoverkon asettamien rajoitusten puitteissa. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla selvitettiin aiemmissa tutkimuksissa esitetyille D2D-ratkaisuille yhteiset interferenssiongelmat. Näiden vaikutusta ja suuruutta tutkittiin mittausten avulla. Mittaukset toteutettiin ohjelmistoradioalustan (engl. SDR) avulla. SDR-pohjaisen järjestelmän käyttö mahdollisti edullisen ja joustavan tavan kerätä empiirisiä mittaustuloksia. D2D-toiminnallisuus lisättiin Long Term Evolution Release 8:n olennaiset ominaisuudet omaavaan alustaan. Tällä alustalla toteutettiin kaksi mittaussarjaa. Ensimmäisellä kerättiin tuloksia viereisellä kanavalla toimivan matkapuhelimen D2D-vastaanottimelle aiheuttamasta interferenssistä näiden ollessa toistensa läheisyydessä. Toisella mittaussarjalla selvitettiin samalla kanavalla toimivan D2D-yhteyden ja liikkuvan matkapuhelimen välistä interferenssiä. Mittausten perusteella todettiin D2D-toiminnallisuuden lisäämisen solukkoverkkoon olevan mahdollista. Lisäksi laskettiin vaadittava kanavalaadun päivitystiheys päätteiden nopeuden funktiona

Energy Management in LTE Networks

Wireless cellular networks have seen dramatic growth in number of mobile users. As a result, data requirements, and hence the base-station power consumption has increased significantly. It in turn adds to the operational expenditures and also causes global warming. The base station power consumption in long-term evolution (LTE) has, therefore, become a major challenge for vendors to stay green and profitable in competitive cellular industry. It necessitates novel methods to devise energy efficient communication in LTE. Importance of the topic has attracted huge research interests worldwide. Energy saving (ES) approaches proposed in the literature can be broadly classified in categories of energy efficient resource allocation, load balancing, carrier aggregation, and bandwidth expansion. Each of these methods has its own pros and cons leading to a tradeoff between ES and other performance metrics resulting into open research questions. This paper discusses various ES techniques for the LTE systems and critically analyses their usability through a comprehensive comparative study