On Capacity and Delay of Multi-channel Wireless Networks with Infrastructure Support

In this paper, we propose a novel multi-channel network with infrastructure support, called an MC-IS network, which has not been studied in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to study such an MC-IS network. Our proposed MC-IS network has a number of advantages over three existing conventional networks, namely a single-channel wireless ad hoc network (called an SC-AH network), a multi-channel wireless ad hoc network (called an MC-AH network) and a single-channel network with infrastructure support (called an SC-IS network). In particular, the network capacity of our proposed MC-IS network is $\sqrt{n \log n}$ times higher than that of an SC-AH network and an MC-AH network and the same as that of an SC-IS network, where $n$ is the number of nodes in the network. The average delay of our MC-IS network is $\sqrt{\log n/n}$ times lower than that of an SC-AH network and an MC-AH network, and $\min\{C_I,m\}$ times lower than the average delay of an SC-IS network, where $C_I$ and $m$ denote the number of channels dedicated for infrastructure communications and the number of interfaces mounted at each infrastructure node, respectively. Our analysis on an MC-IS network equipped with omni-directional antennas only has been extended to an MC-IS network equipped with directional antennas only, which are named as an MC-IS-DA network. We show that an MC-IS-DA network has an even lower delay of $\frac{c}{\lfloor \frac{2\pi}{\theta}\rfloor \cdot C_I}$ compared with an SC-IS network and our MC-IS network. For example, when $C_I=12$ and $\theta=\frac{\pi}{12}$, an MC-IS-DA network can further reduce the delay by 24 times lower that of an MC-IS network and reduce the delay by 288 times lower than that of an SC-IS network.Comment: accepted, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 201

A Survey of Physical Layer Security Techniques for 5G Wireless Networks and Challenges Ahead

Physical layer security which safeguards data confidentiality based on the information-theoretic approaches has received significant research interest recently. The key idea behind physical layer security is to utilize the intrinsic randomness of the transmission channel to guarantee the security in physical layer. The evolution towards 5G wireless communications poses new challenges for physical layer security research. This paper provides a latest survey of the physical layer security research on various promising 5G technologies, including physical layer security coding, massive multiple-input multiple-output, millimeter wave communications, heterogeneous networks, non-orthogonal multiple access, full duplex technology, etc. Technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are summarized and the future trends of physical layer security in 5G and beyond are discussed.Comment: To appear in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication

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

A Genetic Algorithm-based Beamforming Approach for Delay-constrained Networks

In this paper, we study the performance of initial access beamforming schemes in the cases with large but finite number of transmit antennas and users. Particularly, we develop an efficient beamforming scheme using genetic algorithms. Moreover, taking the millimeter wave communication characteristics and different metrics into account, we investigate the effect of various parameters such as number of antennas/receivers, beamforming resolution as well as hardware impairments on the system performance. As shown, our proposed algorithm is generic in the sense that it can be effectively applied with different channel models, metrics and beamforming methods. Also, our results indicate that the proposed scheme can reach (almost) the same end-to-end throughput as the exhaustive search-based optimal approach with considerably less implementation complexity