14,736 research outputs found
A survey of self organisation in future cellular networks
This article surveys the literature over the period of the last decade on the emerging field of self organisation as applied to wireless cellular communication networks. Self organisation has been extensively studied and applied in adhoc networks, wireless sensor networks and autonomic computer networks; however in the context of wireless cellular networks, this is the first attempt to put in perspective the various efforts in form of a tutorial/survey. We provide a comprehensive survey of the existing literature, projects and standards in self organising cellular networks. Additionally, we also aim to present a clear understanding of this active research area, identifying a clear taxonomy and guidelines for design of self organising mechanisms. We compare strength and weakness of existing solutions and highlight the key research areas for further development. This paper serves as a guide and a starting point for anyone willing to delve into research on self organisation in wireless cellular communication networks
Will SDN be part of 5G?
For many, this is no longer a valid question and the case is considered
settled with SDN/NFV (Software Defined Networking/Network Function
Virtualization) providing the inevitable innovation enablers solving many
outstanding management issues regarding 5G. However, given the monumental task
of softwarization of radio access network (RAN) while 5G is just around the
corner and some companies have started unveiling their 5G equipment already,
the concern is very realistic that we may only see some point solutions
involving SDN technology instead of a fully SDN-enabled RAN. This survey paper
identifies all important obstacles in the way and looks at the state of the art
of the relevant solutions. This survey is different from the previous surveys
on SDN-based RAN as it focuses on the salient problems and discusses solutions
proposed within and outside SDN literature. Our main focus is on fronthaul,
backward compatibility, supposedly disruptive nature of SDN deployment,
business cases and monetization of SDN related upgrades, latency of general
purpose processors (GPP), and additional security vulnerabilities,
softwarization brings along to the RAN. We have also provided a summary of the
architectural developments in SDN-based RAN landscape as not all work can be
covered under the focused issues. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on
the state of the art of SDN-based RAN and clearly points out the gaps in the
technology.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure
LTE in Unlicensed Bands is neither Friend nor Foe to Wi-Fi
Proponents of deploying LTE in the 5 GHz band for providing additional
cellular network capacity have claimed that LTE would be a better neighbour to
Wi-Fi in the unlicensed band, than Wi-Fi is to itself. On the other side of the
debate, the Wi-Fi community has objected that LTE would be highly detrimental
to Wi-Fi network performance. However, there is a lack of transparent and
systematic engineering evidence supporting the contradicting claims of the two
camps, which is essential for ascertaining whether regulatory intervention is
in fact required to protect the Wi-Fi incumbent from the new LTE entrant. To
this end, we present a comprehensive coexistence study of Wi-Fi and
LTE-in-unlicensed, surveying a large parameter space of coexistence mechanisms
and a range of representative network densities and deployment scenarios. Our
results show that, typically, harmonious coexistence between Wi-Fi and LTE is
ensured by the large number of 5 GHz channels. For the worst-case scenario of
forced co-channel operation, LTE is sometimes a better neighbour to Wi-Fi -
when effective node density is low - but sometimes worse - when density is
high. We find that distributed interference coordination is only necessary to
prevent a "tragedy of the commons" in regimes where interference is very
likely. We also show that in practice it does not make a difference to the
incumbent what kind of coexistence mechanism is added to LTE-in-unlicensed, as
long as one is in place. We therefore conclude that LTE is neither friend nor
foe to Wi-Fi in the unlicensed bands in general. We submit that the systematic
engineering analysis exemplified by our case study is a best-practice approach
for supporting evidence-based rulemaking by the regulator.Comment: accepted for publication in IEEE Acces
Scalable RAN Virtualization in Multi-Tenant LTE-A Heterogeneous Networks (Extended version)
Cellular communications are evolving to facilitate the current and expected
increasing needs of Quality of Service (QoS), high data rates and diversity of
offered services. Towards this direction, Radio Access Network (RAN)
virtualization aims at providing solutions of mapping virtual network elements
onto radio resources of the existing physical network. This paper proposes the
Resources nEgotiation for NEtwork Virtualization (RENEV) algorithm, suitable
for application in Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) in Long Term
Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) environments, consisting of a macro evolved NodeB
(eNB) overlaid with small cells. By exploiting Radio Resource Management (RRM)
principles, RENEV achieves slicing and on demand delivery of resources.
Leveraging the multi-tenancy approach, radio resources are transferred in terms
of physical radio Resource Blocks (RBs) among multiple heterogeneous base
stations, interconnected via the X2 interface. The main target is to deal with
traffic variations in geographical dimension. All signaling design
considerations under the current Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
LTE-A architecture are also investigated. Analytical studies and simulation
experiments are conducted to evaluate RENEV in terms of network's throughput as
well as its additional signaling overhead. Moreover we show that RENEV can be
applied independently on top of already proposed schemes for RAN virtualization
to improve their performance. The results indicate that significant merits are
achieved both from network's and users' perspective as well as that it is a
scalable solution for different number of small cells.Comment: 40 pages (including Appendices), Accepted for publication in the IEEE
Transactions on Vehicular Technolog
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