QoS-driven adaptive resource allocation for mobile wireless communications and networks

Quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees will play a critically important role in future mobile wireless networks. In this dissertation, we study a set of QoS-driven resource allocation problems for mobile wireless communications and networks. In the first part of this dissertation, we investigate resource allocation schemes for statistical QoS provisioning. The schemes aim at maximizing the system/network throughput subject to a given queuing delay constraint. To achieve this goal, we integrate the information theory with the concept of effective capacity and develop a unified framework for resource allocation. Applying the above framework, we con-sider a number of system infrastructures, including single channel, parallel channel, cellular, and cooperative relay systems and networks, respectively. In addition, we also investigate the impact of imperfect channel-state information (CSI) on QoS pro-visioning. The resource allocation problems can be solved e±ciently by the convex optimization approach, where closed-form allocation policies are obtained for different application scenarios. Our analyses reveal an important fact that there exists a fundamental tradeoff between throughput and QoS provisioning. In particular, when the delay constraint becomes loose, the optimal resource allocation policy converges to the water-filling scheme, where ergodic capacity can be achieved. On the other hand, when the QoS constraint gets stringent, the optimal policy converges to the channel inversion scheme under which the system operates at a constant rate and the zero-outage capacity can be achieved. In the second part of this dissertation, we study adaptive antenna selection for multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems. System resources such as subcarriers, antennas and power are allocated dynamically to minimize the symbol-error rate (SER), which is the key QoS metric at the physical layer. We propose a selection diversity scheme for MIMO multicarrier direct-sequence code- division-multiple-access (MC DS-CDMA) systems and analyze the error performance of the system when considering CSI feedback delay and feedback errors. Moreover, we propose a joint antenna selection and power allocation scheme for space-time block code (STBC) systems. The error performance is derived when taking the CSI feedback delay into account. Our numerical results show that when feedback delay comes into play, a tradeoff between performance and robustness can be achieved by dynamically allocating power across transmit antennas

Enabling Technologies for Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications: From PHY and MAC Layer Perspectives

© 1998-2012 IEEE. Future 5th generation networks are expected to enable three key services-enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type communications and ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). As per the 3rd generation partnership project URLLC requirements, it is expected that the reliability of one transmission of a 32 byte packet will be at least 99.999% and the latency will be at most 1 ms. This unprecedented level of reliability and latency will yield various new applications, such as smart grids, industrial automation and intelligent transport systems. In this survey we present potential future URLLC applications, and summarize the corresponding reliability and latency requirements. We provide a comprehensive discussion on physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layer techniques that enable URLLC, addressing both licensed and unlicensed bands. This paper evaluates the relevant PHY and MAC techniques for their ability to improve the reliability and reduce the latency. We identify that enabling long-term evolution to coexist in the unlicensed spectrum is also a potential enabler of URLLC in the unlicensed band, and provide numerical evaluations. Lastly, this paper discusses the potential future research directions and challenges in achieving the URLLC requirements

Medium access control design for all-IP and ad hoc wireless network

Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol in a wireless network controls the access of wireless medium by mobile terminals, in order to achieve its fair and efficient sharing. It plays an important role in resource management and QoS support for applications. All-IP wireless WAN is fully IP protocol-based and it is a strong candidate beyond 3G (Third Generation Wireless Network). Ad hoc wireless network has recently been the topic of extensive research due to its ability to work properly without fixed infrastructure. This dissertation is composed of two main parts. The first part pursues a Prioritized Parallel Transmission MAC (PPTM) design for All-IP Wireless WAN. Two stages are used and each packet is with a priority level in PPTM. In stage 1, a pretransmission probability is calculated according to the continuous observation of the channel load for a certain period of time. In stage 2, a packet is prioritized and transmitted accordingly. It is modeled and analyzed as a nonpreemptive Head-Of-the-Line prioritized queueing system with Poisson arrival traffic pattern. Its performance is analyzed under three other traffic patterns, which are Constant Bit Rate, Exponential On/Off, and Pareto On/Off, by using a NS-2 simulator, and compared with that of Modified Channel Load Sensing Protocol. PPTM supports dynamic spread code allocation mechanism. A mobile terminal can apply for a spreading code according to the current channel condition. To use the idea of dynamic bandwidth allocation in PPTM for adhoc wireless network, a Dynamic-Rate-with-Collision-Avoidance (DRCA) MAC protocol is proposed in the second part of the dissertation. DRCA is based on spread spectrum technology. In DRCA, a terminal sets the spreading factor for a packet according to the activity level of neighboring nodes. If the total number of usable spreading codes with this spreading factor is less than the total number of mobile terminals in the network, to avoid collision, the spreading code id is broadcast such that other terminals can avoid using it when the packet is being transmitted. The performance of DRCA is theoretically analyzed in a slotted, single-hop, multi-user environment. To evaluate DRCA\u27s performance in an environment closed to a real one, a simulator that supports multi-hop, random mobility pattern is created with OPNET. Both theoretical and simulation results show that DRCA outperforms MACA/CT (Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance with Common Transmitter-based) in case if there are more than one communication pair and the ratio of inactive mobile terminals to active ones is high

Resource allocation in WiMAX mesh networks

ix, 77 leaves : ill. ; 29 cmThe IEEE 802.16 standard popularly known as WiMAX is at the forefront of the technological drive. Achieving high system throughput in these networks is challenging due to interference which limits concurrent transmissions. In this thesis, we study routing and link scheduling inWiMAX mesh networks. We present simple joint routing and link scheduling algorithms that have outperformed most of the existing proposals in our experiments. Our session based routing and links scheduling produced results approximately 90% of a trivial lower bound. We also study the problem of quality of service (QoS) provisioning in WiMAX mesh networks. QoS has become an attractive area of study driven by the increasing demand for multimedia content delivered wirelessly. To accommodate the different applications, the IEEE 802.16 standard defines four classes of service. In this dissertation, we propose a comprehensive scheme consisting of routing, link scheduling, call admission control (CAC) and channel assignment that considers all classes of service. Much of the work in the literature considers each of these problems in isolation. Our routing schemes use a metric that combines interference and traffic load to compute routes for requests while our link scheduling ensures that the QoS requirements of admitted requests are strictly met. Results from our simulation indicate that our routing and link scheduling schemes significantly improve network performance when the network is congested

Traffic Scheduling in Point-to-Multipoint OFDMA-based Systems

The new generation of wireless networks (e.g., WiMAX, LTE-Advanced, Cognitive Radio) support many high resource-consuming services (e.g., VoIP, video conference, multiplayer interactive gaming, multimedia streaming, digital video broadcasting, mobile commerce). The main problem of such networks is that the bandwidth is limited, besides to be subject to fading process, and shared among multiple users. Therefore, a combination of sophisticated transmission techniques (e.g., OFDMA) and proper packet scheduling algorithms is necessary, in order to provide applications with suitable quality of service. This Thesis addresses the problem of traffic scheduling in Point-to-Multipoint OFDMA-based systems. We formally prove that in such systems, even a simple scheduling problem of a Service Class at a time, is NP-complete, therefore, computationally intractable. An optimal solution is unfeasible in term of time, thus, fast and simple scheduling heuristics are needed. First, we address the Best Effort traffic scheduling issue, in a system adopting variable-length Frames, with the objective of producing a legal schedule (i.e., the one meeting all system constraints) of minimum length. Besides, we present fast and simple heuristics, which generate suboptimal solutions, and evaluate their performance in the average case, as in the worst one. Then, we investigate the scheduling of Real Time traffic, with the objective of meeting as many deadlines as possible, or equivalently, minimizing the packet drop ratio. Specifically, we propose two scheduling heuristics, which apply two different resource allocation mechanisms, and evaluate their average-case performance by means of a simulation experiment

Cognitive radio systems in LTE networks

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.The most important fact in the mobile industry at the moment is that demand for wireless services will continue to expand in the coming years. Therefore, it is vital to find more spectrums through cognitive radios for the growing numbers of services and users. However, the spectrum reallocations, enhanced receivers, shared use, or secondary markets-will not likely, by themselves or in combination, meet the real exponential increases in demand for wireless resources. Network operators will also need to re-examine network architecture, and consider integrating the fibre and wireless networks to address this issue. This thesis involves driving fibre deeper into cognitive networks, deploying microcells connected through fibre infrastructure to the backbone LTE networks, and developing the algorithms for diverting calls between the wireless and fibre systems, introducing new coexistence models, and mobility management. This research addresses the network deployment scenarios to a microcell-aided cognitive network, specifically slicing the spectrum spatially and providing reliable coverage at either tier. The goal of this research is to propose new method of decentralized-to-distributed management techniques that overcomes the spectrum unavailability barrier overhead in ongoing and future deployments of multi-tiered cognitive network architectures. Such adjustments will propose new opportunities in cognitive radio-to-fibre systematic investment strategies. Specific contributions include: 1) Identifying the radio access technologies and radio over fibre solution for cognitive network infrastructure to increase the uplink capacity analysis in two-tier networks. 2) Coexistence of macro and microcells are studied to propose a roadmap for optimising the deployment of cognitive microcells inside LTE macrocells in the case of considering radio over fibre access systems. 3) New method for roaming mobiles moving between microcells and macrocell coverage areas is proposed for managing spectrum handover, operator database, authentication and accounting by introducing the channel assigning agent entity. The ultimate goal is to reduce unnecessary channel adaptation