Busy burst technology applied to OFDMA–TDD systems

The most significant bottleneck in wireless communication systems is an ever-increasing disproportion between the bandwidth demand and the available spectrum. A major challenge in the field of wireless communications is to maximise the spatial reuse of resources whilst avoiding detrimental co-channel interference (CCI). To this end, frequency planning and centralised coordination approaches are widely used in wireless networks. However, the networks for the next generation of wireless communications are often envisioned to be decentralised, randomly distributed in space, hierarchical and support heterogeneous traffic and service types. Fixed frequency allocation would not cater for the heterogeneous demands and centralised resource allocation would be cumbersome and require a lot of signalling. Decentralised radio resource allocation based on locally available information is considered the key. In this context, the busy burst (BB) signalling concept is identified as a potential mechanism for decentralised interference management in future generation networks. Interference aware allocation of time-frequency slots (chunks) is accomplished by letting receivers transmit a BB in a time-multiplexed mini-slot, upon successful reception of data. Exploiting channel reciprocity of the time division duplex (TDD) mode, the transmitters avoid reusing the chunks where the received BB power is above a pre-determined threshold so as to limit the CCI caused towards the reserved chunks to a threshold value. In this thesis, the performance of BB signalling mechanism in orthogonal frequency division multiple access - time division duplexing (OFDMA-TDD) systems is evaluated by means of system level simulations in networks operating in ad hoc and cellular scenarios. Comparisons are made against the state-of-the-art centralised CCI avoidance and mitigation methods, viz. frequency planning, fractional frequency reuse, and antenna array with switched grid of beams, as well as decentralised methods such as the carrier sense multiple access method that attempt to avoid CCI by avoiding transmission on chunks deemed busy. The results demonstrate that with an appropriate choice of threshold parameter, BB-based techniques outperform all of the above state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, it is demonstrated that by adjusting the BB-specific threshold parameter, the system throughput can be traded off for improving throughput for links with worse channel condition, both in the ad hoc and cellular scenario. Moreover, by utilising a variable BB power that allows a receiver to signal the maximum CCI it can tolerate, it is shown that a more favourable trade-off between total system throughput and link throughput can be made. Furthermore, by performing link adaptation, it is demonstrated that the spatial reuse and the energy efficiency can be traded off by adjusting the threshold parameter. Although the BB signalling mechanism is shown to be effective in avoiding detrimental CCI, it cannot mitigate CCI by itself. On the other hand, multiple antenna techniques such as adaptive beamforming or switched beam approaches allow CCI to be mitigated but suffer from hidden node problems. The final contribution of this thesis is that by combining the BB signalling mechanism with multiple antenna techniques, it is demonstrated that the hybrid approach enhances spatial reusability of resources whilst avoiding detrimental CCI. In summary, this thesis has demonstrated that BB provides a flexible radio resource mechanism that is suitable for future generation networks

Contributions to Analysis and Mitigation of Cochannel Interference in Cellular Wireless Networks

Cellular wireless networks have become a commodity. We use our cellular devices every day to connect to others, to conduct business, for entertainment. Strong demand for wireless access has made corresponding parts of radio spectrum very valuable. Consequently, network operators and their suppliers are constantly being pressured for its efficient use. Unlike the first and second generation cellular networks, current generations do not therefore separate geographical sites in frequency. This universal frequency reuse, combined with continuously increasing spatial density of the transmitters, leads to challenging interference levels in the network. This dissertation collects several contributions to analysis and mitigation of interference in cellular wireless networks. The contributions are categorized and set in the context of prior art based on key characteristics, then they are treated one by one. The first contribution encompasses dynamic signaling that measures instantaneous interference situations and allows only for such transmissions that do not harm each other excessively. A novel forward signaling approach is introduced as an alternative to traditional reverse signaling. Forward signaling allows the interference management decisions to be done at the receiver, where there is more relevant information available. The second contribution analyzes cross-link interference in heterogeneous networks. Cross-link interference is interference between downlink and uplink transmissions that can appear in time-division duplex (TDD) networks. It is shown that uplink reception of small cells can be disturbed considerably by macrocell downlink transmissions. We proposes an intuitive solution to the problem based on power control. Users in small cells have generally enough power headroom as the distance to the small base station is often short. The third contribution provides an extensive analysis of a specific interference managment method that the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) applies in cochannel heterogeneous deployments. We analyze this so-called time muting using a modern stochastic geometry approach and show that performance of the method strongly depends on residual interference in the muted sections of time. The fourth and last contribution analyzes the impact of interference rank, i.e., number of spatial streams at the interferer, on a beamformed or spatially block coded transmission. It is shown that when the interferer chooses to transmit multiple spatial streams, spreading the power in spatial domain has potential to decrease probability of outage at neighbor receiver, especially if the neighbor transmission uses beamforming

Interference Management Techniques for Cellular Wireless Communication Systems

The growing demand for higher capacity wireless networks can be met by increasing the frequency bandwidth, spectral efficiency, and base station density. Flexible spectrum access, multiantenna, and multicarrier techniques are key enablers in satisfying the demand. In addition, automation of tasks related to network planning, optimization, interference management, and maintenance are needed in order to ensure cost-efficiency. Effective, dynamic, and automated interference management tailored for bursty and local data traffic plays a central role in the task. Adjacent channel interference (ACI) management is an enabler for flexible spectrum use and uncoordinated network deployments. In this thesis the impact of ACI in local area time division duplex (TDD) cellular systems is demonstrated. A method is proposed where the transmitters optimize their transmitted spectral shape on-line, such that constraints on ACI induced by power amplifier non-linearity are met. The proposed method increases the fairness among spectrum sharing transceivers when ACI is a limiting factor. A novel interference-aware scheduling technique is proposed and analyzed. The technique manages co-channel interference (CCI) in a decentralized fashion, relying on beacon messages sent by data receivers. It is demonstrated that the proposed technique is an enabler for fair spectrum sharing among operators, independent adaptation of uplink/downlink switching points in TDD networks, and it provides overall more fair and spectrally efficient wireless access. Especially, the technique is able to improve the cell-edge throughput tremendously. New services are emerging that generate local traffic among the users in addition to the data traffic between the users and the network. Such device-to-device (D2D) traffic is effectively served by direct transmissions. The thesis demonstrates the possibilities for allowing such direct D2D transmissions on a shared band together with the cellular communication. It is shown that interference management is needed in order to facilitate reliable and efficient shared band operation. For this purpose, three methods are proposed that provide interference aware power control, interference aware multiuser and multiband resource allocation, and interference avoiding spatial precoding. It is shown that enabling direct transmission itself provides most of the gains in system capacity, while the interference management schemes are more important in promoting fairness and reliability.Langattomien tietoliikenneverkkojen käyttö kasvaa erittäin nopeasti mobiilien internet-palvelujen ja älykkäiden päätelaitteiden suosion myötä. Järjestelmien tiedonsiirtokapasiteettiä voidaan lisätä kasvattamalla kaistanleveyttä, spektritehokkuutta ja tukiasemaverkon tiheyttä. Kehityksen mahdollistaa mm. joustava taajuuksien käyttö ja moniantenni- ja monikantoaaltotekniikat. Lisäksi radioverkkojen suunnitteluun, optimointiin, ylläpitoon ja interferenssinhallintaan liittyvien tehtävien automatisoinnilla voidaan pienentää verkko-operaattoreiden kustannuksia. Tässä hetkellisen ja paikallisen tietoliikenteen tehokas, dynaaminen ja automatisoitu interferenssinhallinta on keskeisessä asemassa. Viereisen kanavan interferenssin hallinta mahdollistaa osaltaan joustavan spektrinkäytön ja koordinoimattoman verkkojen asennuksen. Väitöskirjassa on analysoitu viereisen kanavan interferenssin vaikutusta aikajakoiseen dupleksilähetykseen perustuvien paikallisten radioverkkojen toimintaan. Lisäksi väitöskirjassa on kehitetty menetelmä, jolla voidaan hallita interferenssiä reaaliaikaisesti. Menetelmä maksimoi lähetetyn signaalin spektritehokkuuden siten, että tehovahvistimen epälineaarisuuden aiheuttama viereisen kanavan interferenssi on rajoitettu. Väitöskirjassa on kehitetty ja analysoitu uudenlainen interferenssitietoinen lähetysten ajoitustekniikka. Tekniikka hallitsee reaaliaikaisesti ja hajautetusti saman kanavan interferenssiä vastaanottimien lähettämien majakkasignaalien avulla. Esitetyt simulaatiot osoittavat, että tämä mahdollistaa operaattoreiden välisen taajuuskaistojen jaon, ja alas- ja yloslinkkien aikajaon joustavan säädön. Tämän lisäksi on mahdollista saavuttaa korkeampi yleinen spektritehokkuus. Erityisesti tiedonsiirtonopeus solujen reunoille kasvaa esitetyn tekniikan avulla huomattavasti. Uudenlaiset tietoliikennepalvelut lisäävät laitteidenvälisen paikallisen tietoliikenteen määrää. Spektrinkäytön kannalta tämä liikenne on tehokkainta lähettää suoraan laitteesta toiseen. Väitöskirjassa on tutkittu joustavaa spektrinkäyttöä suorien laitteidenvälisten lähetysten ja soluverkon välillä. Interferenssin hallinta takaa luotettavan ja tehokkaan spektrin yhteiskäytön. Tätä varten väitöskirjassa on kehitetty kolme menetelmää, jotka perustuvat tehonsäätöön, lähetysten ajoitukseen ja moniantennilähetykseen

Interference mitigation and interference avoidance for cellular OFDMA-TDD networks

In recent years, cellular systems based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access – time division duplex (OFDMA-TDD) have gained considerable popularity. Two of the major reasons for this are, on the one hand, that OFDMA enables the receiver to effectively cope with multipath propagation while keeping the complexity low. On the other hand, TDD offers efficient support for cell-specific uplink (UL)/downlink (DL) asymmetry demands by allowing each cell to independently set its UL/DL switching point (SP). However, cell-independent SP gives rise to crossed slots. In particular, crossed slots arise when neighbouring cells use the same slot in opposing link directions, resulting in base station (BS)-to-BS interference and mobile station (MS)-to-MS interference. BS-to-BS interference, in particular, can be quite detrimental due to the exposed location of BSs, which leads to high probability of line-of-sight (LOS) conditions. The aim of this thesis is to address the BS-to-BS interference problem in OFDMA-TDDcellular networks. A simulation-based approach is used to demonstrate the severity of BS-to-BS interference and a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) equation for OFDMA is formulated to aid system performance analysis. The detrimental effects of crossed slot interference in OFDMA-TDD cellular networks are highlighted by comparing methods specifically targeting the crossed slots interference problem. In particular, the interference avoidance method fixed slot allocation (FSA) is compared against state of the art interference mitigation approaches, viz: random time slot opposing (RTSO) and zone division (ZD). The comparison is done based on Monte Carlo simulations and the main comparison metric is spectral efficiency calculated using the SINR equation formulated in this thesis. The simulation results demonstrate that when LOS conditions among BSs are present, both RTSO and ZD perform worse than FSA for all considered performance metrics. It is concluded from the results that current interference mitigation techniques do not offer an effective solution to the BS-to-BS interference problem. Hence, new interference avoidance methods, which unlike FSA, do not sacrifice the advantages of TDD are open research issues addressed in this thesis. The major contribution of this thesis is a novel cooperative resource balancing technique that offers a solution to the crossed slot problem. The novel concept, termed asymmetry balancing, is targeted towards next-generation cellular systems, envisaged to have ad hoc and multi-hop capabilities. Asymmetry balancing completely avoids crossed slots by keeping the TDD SPs synchronised among BSs. At the same time, the advantages of TDD are retained, which is enabled by introducing cooperation among the entities in the network. If a cell faces resource shortage in one link direction, while having free resources in the opposite link direction, the free resources can be used to support the overloaded link direction. In particular, traffic can be offloaded to near-by mobile stations at neighbouring cells that have available resources. To model the gains attained with asymmetry balancing, a mathematical framework is developed which is verified by Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, asymmetry balancing is compared against both ZD and FSA based on simulations and the results demonstrate the superior performance of asymmetry balancing. It can be concluded that the novel interference avoidance approach is a very promising candidate t

Performance analysis of 4G wireless networks using system level simulator

Doutoramento em Engenharia ElectrotécnicaIn the last decade, mobile wireless communications have witnessed an explosive growth in the user’s penetration rate and their widespread deployment around the globe. In particular, a research topic of particular relevance in telecommunications nowadays is related to the design and implementation of mobile communication systems of 4th generation (4G). 4G networks will be characterized by the support of multiple radio access technologies in a core network fully compliant with the Internet Protocol (all IP paradigms). Such networks will sustain the stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements and the expected high data rates from the type of multimedia applications (i.e. YouTube and Skype) to be available in the near future. Therefore, 4G wireless communications system will be of paramount importance on the development of the information society in the near future. As 4G wireless services will continue to increase, this will put more and more pressure on the spectrum availability. There is a worldwide recognition that methods of spectrum managements have reached their limit and are no longer optimal, therefore new paradigms must be sought. Studies show that most of the assigned spectrum is under-utilized, thus the problem in most cases is inefficient spectrum management rather spectrum shortage. There are currently trends towards a more liberalized approach of spectrum management, which are tightly linked to what is commonly termed as Cognitive Radio (CR). Furthermore, conventional deployment of 4G wireless systems (one BS in cell and mobile deploy around it) are known to have problems in providing fairness (users closer to the BS are more benefited relatively to the cell edge users) and in covering some zones affected by shadowing, therefore the use of relays has been proposed as a solution. To evaluate and analyse the performances of 4G wireless systems software tools are normally used. Software tools have become more and more mature in recent years and their need to provide a high level evaluation of proposed algorithms and protocols is now more important. The system level simulation (SLS) tools provide a fundamental and flexible way to test all the envisioned algorithms and protocols under realistic conditions, without the need to deal with the problems of live networks or reduced scope prototypes. Furthermore, the tools allow network designers a rapid collection of a wide range of performance metrics that are useful for the analysis and optimization of different algorithms. This dissertation proposes the design and implementation of conventional system level simulator (SLS), which afterwards enhances for the 4G wireless technologies namely cognitive Radios (IEEE802.22) and Relays (IEEE802.16j). SLS is then used for the analysis of proposed algorithms and protocols.FC

Multilayer optimization in radio resource allocation for the packet transmission in wireless networks

Doutoramento em Engenharia ElectrotécnicaNa última década tem-se assistido a um crescimento exponencial das redes de comunicações sem fios, nomeadamente no que se refere a taxa de penetração do serviço prestado e na implementação de novas infra-estruturas em todo o globo. É ponto assente neste momento que esta tendência irá não só continuar como se fortalecer devido à convergência que é esperada entre as redes móveis sem fio e a disponibilização de serviços de banda larga para a rede Internet fixa, numa evolução para um paradigma de uma arquitectura integrada e baseada em serviços e aplicações IP. Por este motivo, as comunicações móveis sem fios irão ter um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento da sociedade de informação a médio e longo prazos. A estratégia seguida no projecto e implementação das redes móveis celulares da actual geração (2G e 3G) foi a da estratificação da sua arquitectura protocolar numa estrutura modular em camadas estanques, onde cada camada do modelo é responsável pela implementação de um conjunto de funcionalidades. Neste modelo a comunicação dá-se apenas entre camadas adjacentes através de primitivas de comunicação pré-estabelecidas. Este modelo de arquitectura resulta numa mais fácil implementação e introdução de novas funcionalidades na rede. Entretanto, o facto das camadas inferiores do modelo protocolar não utilizarem informação disponibilizada pelas camadas superiores, e vice-versa acarreta uma degradação no desempenho do sistema. Este paradigma é particularmente importante quando sistemas de antenas múltiplas são implementados (sistemas MIMO). Sistemas de antenas múltiplas introduzem um grau adicional de liberdade no que respeita a atribuição de recursos rádio: o domínio espacial. Contrariamente a atribuição de recursos no domínio do tempo e da frequência, no domínio espacial os recursos rádio mapeados no domínio espacial não podem ser assumidos como sendo completamente ortogonais, devido a interferência resultante do facto de vários terminais transmitirem no mesmo canal e/ou slots temporais mas em feixes espaciais diferentes. Sendo assim, a disponibilidade de informação relativa ao estado dos recursos rádio às camadas superiores do modelo protocolar é de fundamental importância na satisfação dos critérios de qualidade de serviço exigidos. Uma forma eficiente de gestão dos recursos rádio exige a implementação de algoritmos de agendamento de pacotes de baixo grau de complexidade, que definem os níveis de prioridade no acesso a esses recursos por base dos utilizadores com base na informação disponibilizada quer pelas camadas inferiores quer pelas camadas superiores do modelo. Este novo paradigma de comunicação, designado por cross-layer resulta na maximização da capacidade de transporte de dados por parte do canal rádio móvel, bem como a satisfação dos requisitos de qualidade de serviço derivados a partir da camada de aplicação do modelo. Na sua elaboração, procurou-se que o standard IEEE 802.16e, conhecido por Mobile WiMAX respeitasse as especificações associadas aos sistemas móveis celulares de quarta geração. A arquitectura escalonável, o baixo custo de implementação e as elevadas taxas de transmissão de dados resultam num processo de multiplexagem de dados e valores baixos no atraso decorrente da transmissão de pacotes, os quais são atributos fundamentais para a disponibilização de serviços de banda larga. Da mesma forma a comunicação orientada à comutação de pacotes, inenente na camada de acesso ao meio, é totalmente compatível com as exigências em termos da qualidade de serviço dessas aplicações. Sendo assim, o Mobile WiMAX parece satisfazer os requisitos exigentes das redes móveis de quarta geração. Nesta tese procede-se à investigação, projecto e implementação de algoritmos de encaminhamento de pacotes tendo em vista a eficiente gestão do conjunto de recursos rádio nos domínios do tempo, frequência e espacial das redes móveis celulares, tendo como caso prático as redes móveis celulares suportadas no standard IEEE802.16e. Os algoritmos propostos combinam métricas provenientes da camada física bem como os requisitos de qualidade de serviço das camadas superiores, de acordo com a arquitectura de redes baseadas no paradigma do cross-layer. O desempenho desses algoritmos é analisado a partir de simulações efectuadas por um simulador de sistema, numa plataforma que implementa as camadas física e de acesso ao meio do standard IEEE802.16e.In the last decade mobile wireless communications have witnessed an explosive growth in the user’s penetration rate and their widespread deployment around the globe. It is expected that this tendency will continue to increase with the convergence of fixed Internet wired networks with mobile ones and with the evolution to the full IP architecture paradigm. Therefore mobile wireless communications will be of paramount importance on the development of the information society of the near future. In particular a research topic of particular relevance in telecommunications nowadays is related to the design and implementation of mobile communication systems of 4th generation. 4G networks will be characterized by the support of multiple radio access technologies in a core network fully compliant with the Internet Protocol (all IP paradigm). Such networks will sustain the stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements and the expected high data rates from the type of multimedia applications to be available in the near future. The approach followed in the design and implementation of the mobile wireless networks of current generation (2G and 3G) has been the stratification of the architecture into a communication protocol model composed by a set of layers, in which each one encompasses some set of functionalities. In such protocol layered model, communications is only allowed between adjacent layers and through specific interface service points. This modular concept eases the implementation of new functionalities as the behaviour of each layer in the protocol stack is not affected by the others. However, the fact that lower layers in the protocol stack model do not utilize information available from upper layers, and vice versa, downgrades the performance achieved. This is particularly relevant if multiple antenna systems, in a MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) configuration, are implemented. MIMO schemes introduce another degree of freedom for radio resource allocation: the space domain. Contrary to the time and frequency domains, radio resources mapped into the spatial domain cannot be assumed as completely orthogonal, due to the amount of interference resulting from users transmitting in the same frequency sub-channel and/or time slots but in different spatial beams. Therefore, the availability of information regarding the state of radio resources, from lower to upper layers, is of fundamental importance in the prosecution of the levels of QoS expected from those multimedia applications. In order to match applications requirements and the constraints of the mobile radio channel, in the last few years researches have proposed a new paradigm for the layered architecture for communications: the cross-layer design framework. In a general way, the cross-layer design paradigm refers to a protocol design in which the dependence between protocol layers is actively exploited, by breaking out the stringent rules which restrict the communication only between adjacent layers in the original reference model, and allowing direct interaction among different layers of the stack. An efficient management of the set of available radio resources demand for the implementation of efficient and low complexity packet schedulers which prioritize user’s transmissions according to inputs provided from lower as well as upper layers in the protocol stack, fully compliant with the cross-layer design paradigm. Specifically, efficiently designed packet schedulers for 4G networks should result in the maximization of the capacity available, through the consideration of the limitations imposed by the mobile radio channel and comply with the set of QoS requirements from the application layer. IEEE 802.16e standard, also named as Mobile WiMAX, seems to comply with the specifications of 4G mobile networks. The scalable architecture, low cost implementation and high data throughput, enable efficient data multiplexing and low data latency, which are attributes essential to enable broadband data services. Also, the connection oriented approach of Its medium access layer is fully compliant with the quality of service demands from such applications. Therefore, Mobile WiMAX seems to be a promising 4G mobile wireless networks candidate. In this thesis it is proposed the investigation, design and implementation of packet scheduling algorithms for the efficient management of the set of available radio resources, in time, frequency and spatial domains of the Mobile WiMAX networks. The proposed algorithms combine input metrics from physical layer and QoS requirements from upper layers, according to the crosslayer design paradigm. Proposed schedulers are evaluated by means of system level simulations, conducted in a system level simulation platform implementing the physical and medium access control layers of the IEEE802.16e standard

Efficient resource allocation algorithm for dense femtocell networks

La couverture d'intérieur pauvre et la basse capacité d'utilisateur représentent deux défis importants pour les opérateurs cellulaires. Plusieurs solutions (telles que les antennes distribuées) ont été proposées pour résoudre ces problèmes. Cependant, aucune de ces solutions ne fournit le niveau désiré de l'évolutivité et elles manquent l'aspect pratique. Pour ces raisons, une solution attrayante caractérisée par sa faible puissance et son prix faible connue sous le nom de femto-cellule a été introduite pour offrir une meilleure capacité et couverture d'utilisateur. Malgré tous les avantages provoqués par l'intégration de cette nouvelle technologie femto-cellule, plusieurs nouveaux défis ont émergé. Ces défis sont principalement présentés dans deux genres d'interférences ; connu comme interférence cross-tier et interférence co-tier. Tandis que l'impact d'interférence cross-tier (provoqué en partageant le spectre de fréquence) peut être réduit en mettant en application des algorithmes efficaces de réutilisation de fréquence, l'interférence co-tier continue à présenter un défi difficile pour les opérateurs et les chercheurs dans le domaine de réseaux cellulaires. Le déploiement non planifié et mal organisé des stations de base femto-cellule a comme conséquence une réduction radicale de la capacité d'utilisateur qui peut mener à une déconnexion des utilisateurs. L'impact de l'interférence co-tier devient plus provocant dans un déploiement dense des femto-cellule où les utilisateurs demandent des services en temps réel (par exemple, taux de données constant). Afin de réduire l'interférence co-tier, plusieurs solutions ont été proposées dans la littérature comprenant des algorithmes de contrôle de puissance, des techniques de détection avancées et des schémas d'allocation de ressources intelligentes. Dans ce projet, nous proposons une stratégie intelligente d'attribution des fréquences avec une stratégie avancée d'association de station de base femto-cellule pour les réseaux femto-cellule basés sur LTE. L'objectif des deux stratégies proposées est d'atténuer l'interférence co-tier et de réduire la probabilité de panne des utilisateurs en augmentant le nombre d'utilisateurs actifs par station de base femto-cellule. Nous montrons par simulations l'efficacité de notre solution proposée.\ud ______________________________________________________________________________ \ud MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : femtocell base station, interference management, resource block assignment, base station assignment, outage probability

Energy Efficient and Cooperative Solutions for Next-Generation Wireless Networks

Energy efficiency is increasingly important for next-generation wireless systems due to the limited battery resources of mobile clients. While fourth generation cellular standards emphasize low client battery consumption, existing techniques do not explicitly focus on reducing power that is consumed when a client is actively communicating with the network. Based on high data rate demands of modern multimedia applications, active mode power consumption is expected to become a critical consideration for the development and deployment of future wireless technologies. Another reason for focusing more attention on energy efficient studies is given by the relatively slow progress in battery technology and the growing quality of service requirements of multimedia applications. The disproportion between demanded and available battery capacity is becoming especially significant for small-scale mobile client devices, where wireless power consumption dominates within the total device power budget. To compensate for this growing gap, aggressive improvements in all aspects of wireless system design are necessary. Recent work in this area indicates that joint link adaptation and resource allocation techniques optimizing energy efficient metrics can provide a considerable gain in client power consumption. Consequently, it is crucial to adapt state-of-the-art energy efficient approaches for practical use, as well as to illustrate the pros and cons associated with applying power-bandwidth optimization to improve client energy efficiency and develop insights for future research in this area. This constitutes the first objective of the present research. Together with energy efficiency, next-generation cellular technologies are emphasizing stronger support for heterogeneous multimedia applications. Since the integration of diverse services within a single radio platform is expected to result in higher operator profits and, at the same time, reduce network management expenses, intensive research efforts have been invested into design principles of such networks. However, as wireless resources are limited and shared by clients, service integration may become challenging. A key element in such systems is the packet scheduler, which typically helps ensure that the individual quality of service requirements of wireless clients are satisfied. In contrastingly different distributed wireless environments, random multiple access protocols are beginning to provide mechanisms for statistical quality of service assurance. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive analytical frameworks which allow reliable control of the quality of service parameters for both cellular and local area networks. Providing such frameworks is therefore the second objective of this thesis. Additionally, the study addresses the simultaneous operation of a cellular and a local area network in spectrally intense metropolitan deployments and solves some related problems. Further improving the performance of battery-driven mobile clients, cooperative communications are sought as a promising and practical concept. In particular, they are capable of mitigating the negative effects of fading in a wireless channel and are thus expected to enhance next-generation cellular networks in terms of client spectral and energy efficiencies. At the cell edges or in areas missing any supportive relaying infrastructure, client-based cooperative techniques are becoming even more important. As such, a mobile client with poor channel quality may take advantage of neighboring clients which would relay data on its behalf. The key idea behind the concept of client relay is to provide flexible and distributed control over cooperative communications by the wireless clients themselves. By contrast to fully centralized control, this is expected to minimize overhead protocol signaling and hence ensure simpler implementation. Compared to infrastructure relay, client relay will also be cheaper to deploy. Developing the novel concept of client relay, proposing simple and feasible cooperation protocols, and analyzing the basic trade-offs behind client relay functionality become the third objective of this research. Envisioning the evolution of cellular technologies beyond their fourth generation, it appears important to study a wireless network capable of supporting machine-to-machine applications. Recent standardization documents cover a plethora of machine-to-machine use cases, as they also outline the respective technical requirements and features according to the application or network environment. As follows from this activity, a smart grid is one of the primary machine-to-machine use cases that involves meters autonomously reporting usage and alarm information to the grid infrastructure to help reduce operational cost, as well as regulate a customer's utility usage. The preliminary analysis of the reference smart grid scenario indicates weak system architecture components. For instance, the large population of machine-to-machine devices may connect nearly simultaneously to the wireless infrastructure and, consequently, suffer from excessive network entry delays. Another concern is the performance of cell-edge machine-to-machine devices with weak wireless links. Therefore, mitigating the above architecture vulnerabilities and improving the performance of future smart grid deployments is the fourth objective of this thesis. Summarizing, this thesis is generally aimed at the improvement of energy efficient properties of mobile devices in next-generation wireless networks. The related research also embraces a novel cooperation technique where clients may assist each other to increase per-client and network-wide performance. Applying the proposed solutions, the operation time of mobile clients without recharging may be increased dramatically. Our approach incorporates both analytical and simulation components to evaluate complex interactions between the studied objectives. It brings important conclusions about energy efficient and cooperative client behaviors, which is crucial for further development of wireless communications technologies