An Application-Aware Spectrum Sharing Approach for Commercial Use of 3.5 GHz Spectrum

In this paper, we introduce an application-aware spectrum sharing approach for sharing the Federal under-utilized 3.5 GHz spectrum with commercial users. In our model, users are running elastic or inelastic traffic and each application running on the user equipment (UE) is assigned a utility function based on its type. Furthermore, each of the small cells users has a minimum required target utility for its application. In order for users located under the coverage area of the small cells' eNodeBs, with the 3.5 GHz band resources, to meet their minimum required quality of experience (QoE), the network operator makes a decision regarding the need for sharing the macro cell's resources to obtain additional resources. Our objective is to provide each user with a rate that satisfies its application's minimum required utility through spectrum sharing approach and improve the overall QoE in the network. We present an application-aware spectrum sharing algorithm that is based on resource allocation with carrier aggregation to allocate macro cell permanent resources and small cells' leased resources to UEs and allocate each user's application an aggregated rate that can at minimum achieves the application's minimum required utility. Finally, we present simulation results for the performance of the proposed algorithm.Comment: Submitted to IEE

Performance analysis of carrier aggregation for various mobile network implementations scenario based on spectrum allocated

Carrier Aggregation (CA) is one of the Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) features that allow mobile network operators (MNO) to combine multiple component carriers (CCs) across the available spectrum to create a wider bandwidth channel for increasing the network data throughput and overall capacity. CA has a potential to enhance data rates and network performance in the downlink, uplink, or both, and it can support aggregation of frequency division duplexing (FDD) as well as time division duplexing (TDD). The technique enables the MNO to exploit fragmented spectrum allocations and can be utilized to aggregate licensed and unlicensed carrier spectrum as well. This paper analyzes the performance gains and complexity level that arises from the aggregation of three inter-band component carriers (3CC) as compared to the aggregation of 2CC using a Vienna LTE System Level simulator. The results show a considerable growth in the average cell throughput when 3CC aggregations are implemented over the 2CC aggregation, at the expense of reduction in the fairness index. The reduction in the fairness index implies that, the scheduler has an increased task in resource allocations due to the added component carrier. Compensating for such decrease in the fairness index could result into scheduler design complexity. The proposed scheme can be adopted in combining various component carriers, to increase the bandwidth and hence the data rates.Comment: 13 page

Control-data separation architecture for cellular radio access networks: a survey and outlook

Conventional cellular systems are designed to ensure ubiquitous coverage with an always present wireless channel irrespective of the spatial and temporal demand of service. This approach raises several problems due to the tight coupling between network and data access points, as well as the paradigm shift towards data-oriented services, heterogeneous deployments and network densification. A logical separation between control and data planes is seen as a promising solution that could overcome these issues, by providing data services under the umbrella of a coverage layer. This article presents a holistic survey of existing literature on the control-data separation architecture (CDSA) for cellular radio access networks. As a starting point, we discuss the fundamentals, concepts, and general structure of the CDSA. Then, we point out limitations of the conventional architecture in futuristic deployment scenarios. In addition, we present and critically discuss the work that has been done to investigate potential benefits of the CDSA, as well as its technical challenges and enabling technologies. Finally, an overview of standardisation proposals related to this research vision is provided