A Novel Airborne Self-organising Architecture for 5G+ Networks

Network Flying Platforms (NFPs) such as unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned balloons or drones flying at low/medium/high altitude can be employed to enhance network coverage and capacity by deploying a swarm of flying platforms that implement novel radio resource management techniques. In this paper, we propose a novel layered architecture where NFPs, of various types and flying at low/medium/high layers in a swarm of flying platforms, are considered as an integrated part of the future cellular networks to inject additional capacity and expand the coverage for exceptional scenarios (sports events, concerts, etc.) and hard-to-reach areas (rural or sparsely populated areas). Successful roll-out of the proposed architecture depends on several factors including, but are not limited to: network optimisation for NFP placement and association, safety operations of NFP for network/equipment security, and reliability for NFP transport and control/signaling mechanisms. In this work, we formulate the optimum placement of NFP at a Lower Layer (LL) by exploiting the airborne Self-organising Network (SON) features. Our initial simulations show the NFP-LL can serve more User Equipment (UE)s using this placement technique.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, conference paper in IEEE VTC-Fall 2017, in Proceedings IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC-Fall 2017), Toronto, Canada, Sep. 201

A Primer on HIBS -- High Altitude Platform Stations as IMT Base Stations

Mobile communication via high-altitude platforms operating in the stratosphere is an idea that has been on the table for decades. In the past few years, however, with recent advances in technology and parallel progress in standardization and regulatory bodies like 3GPP and ITU, these ideas have gained considerable momentum. In this article, we present a comprehensive overview of HIBS - High Altitude Platform Stations as IMT Base Stations. We lay out possible use cases and summarize the current status of the development, from a technological point of view as well as from standardization in 3GPP, and regarding spectrum aspects. We then present preliminary system level simulation results to shed light on the performance of HIBS. We conclude with pointing out several directions for future research.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Broadband Technology Roadmap for Rural Areas in the Andes and Amazon Regions of Peru

This dissertation addresses the research question: What is the broadband roadmap for introducing broadband services to unserved areas in the Andes and Amazon Regions of Peru? Detailed technical and engineering cost analyses are conducted for evaluating the deployment and operation of wireless broadband local access networks for a 10-year period in two scenarios in the Andes and Amazon regions of Peru, in the context of the Peruvian National Broadband Plan, using current wireless broadband technologies (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE, TVWS) and new stratospheric platforms (super-pressure balloons). These analyses show that based on current spectrum policies LTE is the lowest cost option. Current available spectrum policies and alternatives to enable more spectrum for new access network deployments are also proposed. Finally, a technology broadband roadmap for the 10-year period is presented, which includes using stratospheric balloons (carrying micro-LTE base stations) for the first years, and deploying complementary terrestrial LTE networks for the rest of the 10-year period

Broadband Technology Roadmap for Rural Areas in the Andes and Amazon Regions of Peru

This dissertation addresses the research question: What is the broadband roadmap for introducing broadband services to unserved areas in the Andes and Amazon Regions of Peru? Detailed technical and engineering cost analyses are conducted for evaluating the deployment and operation of wireless broadband local access networks for a 10-year period in two scenarios in the Andes and Amazon regions of Peru, in the context of the Peruvian National Broadband Plan, using current wireless broadband technologies (Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE, TVWS) and new stratospheric platforms (super-pressure balloons). These analyses show that based on current spectrum policies LTE is the lowest cost option. Current available spectrum policies and alternatives to enable more spectrum for new access network deployments are also proposed. Finally, a technology broadband roadmap for the 10-year period is presented, which includes using stratospheric balloons (carrying micro-LTE base stations) for the first years, and deploying complementary terrestrial LTE networks for the rest of the 10-year period

Towards federated satellite systems and internet of satellites: the federation deployment control protocol

Presently, the Earth Observation community is demanding applications that provide low latency and high downlink capabilities. An increase in downlink contacts becomes essential to meet these new requirements. The Federated Satellite Systems concept addresses this demand by promoting satellite collaborations to share unused downlink opportunities. These collaborations are established opportunistically and temporarily, posing multiple technology challenges to be implemented in-orbit. This work contributes to the definition of the Federation Deployment Control Protocol which formalizes a mechanism to fairly establish and manage these collaborations by employing a negotiation process between the satellites. Moreover, this manuscript presents the results of a validation campaign of this protocol with three stratospheric balloons. In summary, more than 27 federations with 63.0% of throughput were established during the field campaign. Some of these federations were used to download data to the ground, and others were established to balance data storage between balloons. These federations allowed also the extension of the coverage of a ground station with a federation that relayed data through a balloon, and the achievement of a hybrid scenario with one balloon forwarding data from a ground device. The results demonstrate that the proposed protocol is functional and ready to be embedded in a CubeSat mission.This work has been (partially) funded by “CommSensLab” Excellence Research Unit Maria de Maeztu (MINECO grant MDM-2016-0600), the Spanish Ministerio MICINN and EU ERDF project “SPOT: Sensing with pioneering opportunistic techniques” (grant RTI2018-099008-BC21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), by the grant PID2019-106808RA-I00/AEI/FEDER/UE from the EDRF and the Spanish Government, and by the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR 376, and 2017 SGR 219).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Investigating the effect of High Altitude Platform Positioning on Latency and Coverage of 4G Cellular Systems

Wireless communication technologies are rapidly being adopted and developed by countries all over the world as a strategy for sustaining a digital economy. This has proven very useful for economic recovery from the crises brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic of the year 2020. The latency and coverage area of a wireless network are two major areas that are always seeking improvement. The High Altitude Platform communication technology can provide improvement in speed and coverage area for 4G cellular systems. This work investigated the effect of positioning High Altitude Platforms on the latency and coverage of 4G cellular Systems. A quantitative approach was used in the methodology of this paper. A HAP model showing a single platform flying in a circular trajectory over Base Transceiver Stations BTSs and serving as a relay mobile station was presented. A detailed simulation algorithm for the HAP and results for the simulation were given. Results showed that using the HAP as a relay mobile station in a network can give a latency reduction of up to 58.9%.  Also, the altitude of the HAP directly affects the angle of reception which was found to improve the coverage

A Vision and Framework for the High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) Networks of the Future

A High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) is a network node that operates in the stratosphere at an of altitude around 20 km and is instrumental for providing communication services. Precipitated by technological innovations in the areas of autonomous avionics, array antennas, solar panel efficiency levels, and battery energy densities, and fueled by flourishing industry ecosystems, the HAPS has emerged as an indispensable component of next-generations of wireless networks. In this article, we provide a vision and framework for the HAPS networks of the future supported by a comprehensive and state-of-the-art literature review. We highlight the unrealized potential of HAPS systems and elaborate on their unique ability to serve metropolitan areas. The latest advancements and promising technologies in the HAPS energy and payload systems are discussed. The integration of the emerging Reconfigurable Smart Surface (RSS) technology in the communications payload of HAPS systems for providing a cost-effective deployment is proposed. A detailed overview of the radio resource management in HAPS systems is presented along with synergistic physical layer techniques, including Faster-Than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling. Numerous aspects of handoff management in HAPS systems are described. The notable contributions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in HAPS, including machine learning in the design, topology management, handoff, and resource allocation aspects are emphasized. The extensive overview of the literature we provide is crucial for substantiating our vision that depicts the expected deployment opportunities and challenges in the next 10 years (next-generation networks), as well as in the subsequent 10 years (next-next-generation networks).Comment: To appear in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorial