668 research outputs found
Initial Access in 5G mm-Wave Cellular Networks
The massive amounts of bandwidth available at millimeter-wave frequencies
(roughly above 10 GHz) have the potential to greatly increase the capacity of
fifth generation cellular wireless systems. However, to overcome the high
isotropic pathloss experienced at these frequencies, high directionality will
be required at both the base station and the mobile user equipment to establish
sufficient link budget in wide area networks. This reliance on directionality
has important implications for control layer procedures. Initial access in
particular can be significantly delayed due to the need for the base station
and the user to find the proper alignment for directional transmission and
reception. This paper provides a survey of several recently proposed techniques
for this purpose. A coverage and delay analysis is performed to compare various
techniques including exhaustive and iterative search, and Context Information
based algorithms. We show that the best strategy depends on the target SNR
regime, and provide guidelines to characterize the optimal choice as a function
of the system parameters.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, 15 references, submitted to IEEE COMMAG
201
Context Information for Fast Cell Discovery in mm-wave 5G Networks
The exploitation of the mm-wave bands is one of the most promising solutions
for 5G mobile radio networks. However, the use of mm-wave technologies in
cellular networks is not straightforward due to mm-wave harsh propagation
conditions that limit access availability. In order to overcome this obstacle,
hybrid network architectures are being considered where mm-wave small cells can
exploit an overlay coverage layer based on legacy technology. The additional
mm-wave layer can also take advantage of a functional split between control and
user plane, that allows to delegate most of the signaling functions to legacy
base stations and to gather context information from users for resource
optimization. However, mm-wave technology requires high gain antenna systems to
compensate for high path loss and limited power, e.g., through the use of
multiple antennas for high directivity. Directional transmissions must be also
used for the cell discovery and synchronization process, and this can lead to a
non-negligible delay due to the need to scan the cell area with multiple
transmissions at different directions. In this paper, we propose to exploit the
context information related to user position, provided by the separated control
plane, to improve the cell discovery procedure and minimize delay. We
investigate the fundamental trade-offs of the cell discovery process with
directional antennas and the effects of the context information accuracy on its
performance. Numerical results are provided to validate our observations.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, in Proceedings of European Wireless 201
Fast Cell Discovery in mm-wave 5G Networks with Context Information
The exploitation of mm-wave bands is one of the key-enabler for 5G mobile
radio networks. However, the introduction of mm-wave technologies in cellular
networks is not straightforward due to harsh propagation conditions that limit
the mm-wave access availability. Mm-wave technologies require high-gain antenna
systems to compensate for high path loss and limited power. As a consequence,
directional transmissions must be used for cell discovery and synchronization
processes: this can lead to a non-negligible access delay caused by the
exploration of the cell area with multiple transmissions along different
directions.
The integration of mm-wave technologies and conventional wireless access
networks with the objective of speeding up the cell search process requires new
5G network architectural solutions. Such architectures introduce a functional
split between C-plane and U-plane, thereby guaranteeing the availability of a
reliable signaling channel through conventional wireless technologies that
provides the opportunity to collect useful context information from the network
edge.
In this article, we leverage the context information related to user
positions to improve the directional cell discovery process. We investigate
fundamental trade-offs of this process and the effects of the context
information accuracy on the overall system performance. We also cope with
obstacle obstructions in the cell area and propose an approach based on a
geo-located context database where information gathered over time is stored to
guide future searches. Analytic models and numerical results are provided to
validate proposed strategies.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to IEEE Transaction on Mobile Computin
Millimeter Wave Cellular Networks: A MAC Layer Perspective
The millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency band is seen as a key enabler of
multi-gigabit wireless access in future cellular networks. In order to overcome
the propagation challenges, mmWave systems use a large number of antenna
elements both at the base station and at the user equipment, which lead to high
directivity gains, fully-directional communications, and possible noise-limited
operations. The fundamental differences between mmWave networks and traditional
ones challenge the classical design constraints, objectives, and available
degrees of freedom. This paper addresses the implications that highly
directional communication has on the design of an efficient medium access
control (MAC) layer. The paper discusses key MAC layer issues, such as
synchronization, random access, handover, channelization, interference
management, scheduling, and association. The paper provides an integrated view
on MAC layer issues for cellular networks, identifies new challenges and
tradeoffs, and provides novel insights and solution approaches.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, to appear in IEEE Transactions on
Communication
Separation Framework: An Enabler for Cooperative and D2D Communication for Future 5G Networks
Soaring capacity and coverage demands dictate that future cellular networks
need to soon migrate towards ultra-dense networks. However, network
densification comes with a host of challenges that include compromised energy
efficiency, complex interference management, cumbersome mobility management,
burdensome signaling overheads and higher backhaul costs. Interestingly, most
of the problems, that beleaguer network densification, stem from legacy
networks' one common feature i.e., tight coupling between the control and data
planes regardless of their degree of heterogeneity and cell density.
Consequently, in wake of 5G, control and data planes separation architecture
(SARC) has recently been conceived as a promising paradigm that has potential
to address most of aforementioned challenges. In this article, we review
various proposals that have been presented in literature so far to enable SARC.
More specifically, we analyze how and to what degree various SARC proposals
address the four main challenges in network densification namely: energy
efficiency, system level capacity maximization, interference management and
mobility management. We then focus on two salient features of future cellular
networks that have not yet been adapted in legacy networks at wide scale and
thus remain a hallmark of 5G, i.e., coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and
device-to-device (D2D) communications. After providing necessary background on
CoMP and D2D, we analyze how SARC can particularly act as a major enabler for
CoMP and D2D in context of 5G. This article thus serves as both a tutorial as
well as an up to date survey on SARC, CoMP and D2D. Most importantly, the
article provides an extensive outlook of challenges and opportunities that lie
at the crossroads of these three mutually entangled emerging technologies.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 201
An Efficient Uplink Multi-Connectivity Scheme for 5G mmWave Control Plane Applications
The millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies offer the potential of orders of
magnitude increases in capacity for next-generation cellular systems. However,
links in mmWave networks are susceptible to blockage and may suffer from rapid
variations in quality. Connectivity to multiple cells - at mmWave and/or
traditional frequencies - is considered essential for robust communication. One
of the challenges in supporting multi-connectivity in mmWaves is the
requirement for the network to track the direction of each link in addition to
its power and timing. To address this challenge, we implement a novel uplink
measurement system that, with the joint help of a local coordinator operating
in the legacy band, guarantees continuous monitoring of the channel propagation
conditions and allows for the design of efficient control plane applications,
including handover, beam tracking and initial access. We show that an
uplink-based multi-connectivity approach enables less consuming, better
performing, faster and more stable cell selection and scheduling decisions with
respect to a traditional downlink-based standalone scheme. Moreover, we argue
that the presented framework guarantees (i) efficient tracking of the user in
the presence of the channel dynamics expected at mmWaves, and (ii) fast
reaction to situations in which the primary propagation path is blocked or not
available.Comment: Submitted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Wireless
Communications (TWC
Millimeter-wave Wireless LAN and its Extension toward 5G Heterogeneous Networks
Millimeter-wave (mmw) frequency bands, especially 60 GHz unlicensed band, are
considered as a promising solution for gigabit short range wireless
communication systems. IEEE standard 802.11ad, also known as WiGig, is
standardized for the usage of the 60 GHz unlicensed band for wireless local
area networks (WLANs). By using this mmw WLAN, multi-Gbps rate can be achieved
to support bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications. Exhaustive search along
with beamforming (BF) is usually used to overcome 60 GHz channel propagation
loss and accomplish data transmissions in such mmw WLANs. Because of its short
range transmission with a high susceptibility to path blocking, multiple number
of mmw access points (APs) should be used to fully cover a typical target
environment for future high capacity multi-Gbps WLANs. Therefore, coordination
among mmw APs is highly needed to overcome packet collisions resulting from
un-coordinated exhaustive search BF and to increase the total capacity of mmw
WLANs. In this paper, we firstly give the current status of mmw WLANs with our
developed WiGig AP prototype. Then, we highlight the great need for coordinated
transmissions among mmw APs as a key enabler for future high capacity mmw
WLANs. Two different types of coordinated mmw WLAN architecture are introduced.
One is the distributed antenna type architecture to realize centralized
coordination, while the other is an autonomous coordination with the assistance
of legacy Wi-Fi signaling. Moreover, two heterogeneous network (HetNet)
architectures are also introduced to efficiently extend the coordinated mmw
WLANs to be used for future 5th Generation (5G) cellular networks.Comment: 18 pages, 24 figures, accepted, invited paper
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