Long-Range Communications in Unlicensed Bands: the Rising Stars in the IoT and Smart City Scenarios

Connectivity is probably the most basic building block of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Up to know, the two main approaches to provide data access to the \emph{things} have been based either on multi-hop mesh networks using short-range communication technologies in the unlicensed spectrum, or on long-range, legacy cellular technologies, mainly 2G/GSM, operating in the corresponding licensed frequency bands. Recently, these reference models have been challenged by a new type of wireless connectivity, characterized by low-rate, long-range transmission technologies in the unlicensed sub-GHz frequency bands, used to realize access networks with star topology which are referred to a \emph{Low-Power Wide Area Networks} (LPWANs). In this paper, we introduce this new approach to provide connectivity in the IoT scenario, discussing its advantages over the established paradigms in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and architectural design, in particular for the typical Smart Cities applications

User Selection Approaches to Mitigate the Straggler Effect for Federated Learning on Cell-Free Massive MIMO Networks

This work proposes UE selection approaches to mitigate the straggler effect for federated learning (FL) on cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output networks. To show how these approaches work, we consider a general FL framework with UE sampling, and aim to minimize the FL training time in this framework. Here, training updates are (S1) broadcast to all the selected UEs from a central server, (S2) computed at the UEs sampled from the selected UE set, and (S3) sent back to the central server. The first approach mitigates the straggler effect in both Steps (S1) and (S3), while the second approach only Step (S3). Two optimization problems are then formulated to jointly optimize UE selection, transmit power and data rate. These mixed-integer mixed-timescale stochastic nonconvex problems capture the complex interactions among the training time, the straggler effect, and UE selection. By employing the online successive convex approximation approach, we develop a novel algorithm to solve the formulated problems with proven convergence to the neighbourhood of their stationary points. Numerical results confirm that our UE selection designs significantly reduce the training time over baseline approaches, especially in the networks that experience serious straggler effects due to the moderately low density of access points.Comment: submitted for peer review

Rethinking Wireless: Building Next-Generation Networks

We face a growing challenge to the design, deployment and management of wireless networks that largely stems from the need to operate in an increasingly spectrum-sparse environment, the need for greater concurrency among devices and the need for greater coordination between heterogeneous wireless protocols. Unfortunately, our current wireless networks lack interoperability, are deployed with fixed functions, and omit easy programmability and extensibility from their key design requirements. In this dissertation, we study the design of next-generation wireless networks and analyze the individual components required to build such an infrastructure. Re-designing a wireless architecture must be undertaken carefully to balance new and coordinated multipoint (CoMP) techniques with the backward compatibility necessary to support the large number of existing devices. These next-generation wireless networks will be predominantly software-defined and will have three components: (a) a wireless component that consists of software-defined radio resource units (RRUs) or access points (APs); (b) a software-defined backhaul control plane that manages the transfer of RF data between the RRUs and the centralized processing resource; and (c) a centralized datacenter/cloud compute resource that processes RF signal data from all attached RRUs. The dissertation addresses the following four key problems in next-generation networks: (1) Making Existing Wireless Devices Spectrum-Agile, (2) Cooperative Compression of the Wireless Backhaul, (3) Spectrum Coordination and (4) Spectrum Coordination.PhDComputer Science and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102341/1/zontar_1.pd

Infrastructure Design, Signalling and Security in Railway

Railway transportation has become one of the main technological advances of our society. Since the first railway used to carry coal from a mine in Shropshire (England, 1600), a lot of efforts have been made to improve this transportation concept. One of its milestones was the invention and development of the steam locomotive, but commercial rail travels became practical two hundred years later. From these first attempts, railway infrastructures, signalling and security have evolved and become more complex than those performed in its earlier stages. This book will provide readers a comprehensive technical guide, covering these topics and presenting a brief overview of selected railway systems in the world. The objective of the book is to serve as a valuable reference for students, educators, scientists, faculty members, researchers, and engineers

Cognitive Radio Network with a distributed control channel and quality-of-service solution

The proliferation of wireless access and applications to the Internet and the advent of a myriad of highly evolved portable communication devices; creates the need for an efficiently utilized radio spectrum. This is paramount in the licensed and unlicensed radio frequency bands, that spawn an exponential growth in Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) research, Cognitive Radio (CR) and Cognitive Radio Networks (CRN) research. DSA research has given way to the paradigm shift toward CR with its dynamic changes in transmission schemas. This paradigm shift from a fixed and centralized frequency spectrum environment has morphed into a dynamic and decentralized one. CR provides wireless nodes the capability to adapt and exploit the frequency spectrum. The spectrum information obtained is scanned and updated to determine the channel quality for viability and a utilization/availability by the licensed (primary) user. To take advantage of the CR capabilities, previous research has focused on a Common Control Channel(CCC) for the control signals to be used for spectrum control. This utilization generates channel saturation, extreme transmission overhead of control information, and a point of vulnerability. The traditional designs for wireless routing protocols do not support an ad hoc multi-hop cognitive radio network model. This research focuses on a real world implementation of a heterogeneous ad hoc multi-hop Cognitive Radio Network. An overall model, coined Emerald, has been designed to address the architecture; the Medium Access Control layer, E-MAC; and the network layer, E-NET. First, a Medium Access Control(MAC) layer protocol is provided to avoid the pitfalls of a common control channel. This new design provides CRNs with network topology and channel utilization information. Spectrum etiquette, in turn, addresses channel saturation, control overhead, and the single point of vulnerability. Secondly, a routing model is proposed that will address the efficiency of an ad hoc multi-hop CRN with a focus on the Quality-of-Service(QoS) of the point-to-point as well as end-to-end communication. This research has documented weaknesses in spectrum utilization; it has been expanded to accommodate a distributed control environment. Subsets of the model will be validated through Network Simulator-2(NS/2) and MatLab© simulations to determine point-to-point and end-to-end communications

Measurements, Models, Systems and Design

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