Separation Framework: An Enabler for Cooperative and D2D Communication for Future 5G Networks

Soaring capacity and coverage demands dictate that future cellular networks need to soon migrate towards ultra-dense networks. However, network densification comes with a host of challenges that include compromised energy efficiency, complex interference management, cumbersome mobility management, burdensome signaling overheads and higher backhaul costs. Interestingly, most of the problems, that beleaguer network densification, stem from legacy networks' one common feature i.e., tight coupling between the control and data planes regardless of their degree of heterogeneity and cell density. Consequently, in wake of 5G, control and data planes separation architecture (SARC) has recently been conceived as a promising paradigm that has potential to address most of aforementioned challenges. In this article, we review various proposals that have been presented in literature so far to enable SARC. More specifically, we analyze how and to what degree various SARC proposals address the four main challenges in network densification namely: energy efficiency, system level capacity maximization, interference management and mobility management. We then focus on two salient features of future cellular networks that have not yet been adapted in legacy networks at wide scale and thus remain a hallmark of 5G, i.e., coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and device-to-device (D2D) communications. After providing necessary background on CoMP and D2D, we analyze how SARC can particularly act as a major enabler for CoMP and D2D in context of 5G. This article thus serves as both a tutorial as well as an up to date survey on SARC, CoMP and D2D. Most importantly, the article provides an extensive outlook of challenges and opportunities that lie at the crossroads of these three mutually entangled emerging technologies.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 201

Proposal of a health care network based on big data analytics for PDs

Health care networks for Parkinson's disease (PD) already exist and have been already proposed in the literature, but most of them are not able to analyse the vast volume of data generated from medical examinations and collected and organised in a pre-defined manner. In this work, the authors propose a novel health care network based on big data analytics for PD. The main goal of the proposed architecture is to support clinicians in the objective assessment of the typical PD motor issues and alterations. The proposed health care network has the ability to retrieve a vast volume of acquired heterogeneous data from a Data warehouse and train an ensemble SVM to classify and rate the motor severity of a PD patient. Once the network is trained, it will be able to analyse the data collected during motor examinations of a PD patient and generate a diagnostic report on the basis of the previously acquired knowledge. Such a diagnostic report represents a tool both to monitor the follow up of the disease for each patient and give robust advice about the severity of the disease to clinicians

Space-time-frequency methods for interference-limited communication systems

textTraditionally, noise in communication systems has been modeled as an additive, white Gaussian noise process with independent, identically distributed samples. Although this model accurately reflects thermal noise present in communication system electronics, it fails to capture the statistics of interference and other sources of noise, e.g. in unlicensed communication bands. Modern communication system designers must take into account interference and non-Gaussian noise to maximize efficiencies and capacities of current and future communication networks. In this work, I develop new multi-dimensional signal processing methods to improve performance of communication systems in three applications areas: (i) underwater acoustic, (ii) powerline, and (iii) multi-antenna cellular. In underwater acoustic communications, I address impairments caused by strong, time-varying and Doppler-spread reverberations (self-interference) using adaptive space-time signal processing methods. I apply these methods to array receivers with a large number of elements. In powerline communications, I address impairments caused by non-Gaussian noise arising from devices sharing the powerline. I develop and apply a cyclic adaptive modulation and coding scheme and a factor-graph-based impulsive noise mitigation method to improve signal quality and boost link throughput and robustness. In cellular communications, I develop a low-latency, high-throughput space-time-frequency processing framework used for large scale (up to 128 antenna) MIMO. This framework is used in the world's first 100-antenna MIMO system and processes up to 492 Gbps raw baseband samples in the uplink and downlink directions. My methods prove that multi-dimensional processing methods can be applied to increase communication system performance without sacrificing real-time requirements.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Cost and energy efficient operation of converged, reconfigurable optical wireless networks

This paper presents a converged fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) based access network architecture featuring wireless services. In order to fulfill the bandwidth demands from end users, a dynamic architecture is proposed with co-existence of LTE, WiMax and UWB technologies. Hybrid wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and a time division multiplexing (TDM) based optical access network offer reconfigurable provision. This enhances the ability to allocate different wavelengths to different optical networking units (ONUs) on demand. In addition, two different channel routing modules (CRMs) are introduced in order to address the cost effectiveness and energy efficiency issues of the proposed network. Take-up rate adaptive-mode operation and traffic-adaptive power management are utilized to optimize the benefits of low investment cost with energy efficiency. Up to 26% power consumption reduction is achieved at the time of minimum traffic conditions while 10% consumption is achieved at the time of maximum traffic conditions. Besides, 23% energy saving can be achieved compared to conventional systems in fully operated stage

Spacelab system analysis: A study of communications systems for advanced launch systems

An analysis of the required performance of internal avionics data bases for future launch vehicles is presented. Suitable local area networks that can service these requirements are determined

Ono: an open platform for social robotics

In recent times, the focal point of research in robotics has shifted from industrial ro- bots toward robots that interact with humans in an intuitive and safe manner. This evolution has resulted in the subfield of social robotics, which pertains to robots that function in a human environment and that can communicate with humans in an int- uitive way, e.g. with facial expressions. Social robots have the potential to impact many different aspects of our lives, but one particularly promising application is the use of robots in therapy, such as the treatment of children with autism. Unfortunately, many of the existing social robots are neither suited for practical use in therapy nor for large scale studies, mainly because they are expensive, one-of-a-kind robots that are hard to modify to suit a specific need. We created Ono, a social robotics platform, to tackle these issues. Ono is composed entirely from off-the-shelf components and cheap materials, and can be built at a local FabLab at the fraction of the cost of other robots. Ono is also entirely open source and the modular design further encourages modification and reuse of parts of the platform

Azobenzene-based Biomaterials as Dynamic Cell Culture Systems

The aim of this Thesis is to fabricate dynamic light-switchable biomaterials as scaffolds to study cell behavior in a more complex environment than the one generated by the use of static systems. We take advantage of compelling properties of azobenzenes to engineer photoresponsive 2D and semi-3D platforms to investigate different biological processes from adhesion up to differentiation. In vivo, in addition to the chemical and mechanical properties, the topographic cues play a main role to guide cell response. The ECM is filled with nano- to micro-meter scale landscapes (e.g., ridges, pores and fibers) in continuous remodeling. However, the topography of the most widely implemented in vitro platforms is static and difficulty mimics the dynamicity of ECM. Thus, we propose platforms, which can dynamically tune on demand their topographic properties upon external stimulation. In particular, azobenzene-containing systems can tune their properties under light illumination, recapitulating the spatial-temporal changes of the physiological cell environment. In Chapter 1, we will discuss about important properties of azobenzene molecules and present different applications of a variety of materials containing azobenzenes from amorphous materials to highly organize liquid crystal polymers. In particular, we will focus on the recent use of azopolymers as dynamic cell instructive materials. As of now, there is a lack of knowledge on the role of dynamic topography and, even more on its effect on stem cell differentiation. In the light of this, in Chapter 2 we will present a technique to photo patterning azopolymer thin films in situ by means of a laser-based confocal microscopy. Further, we will analyze the human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) response after the spatial-temporal dynamic topographic changes. In more details, a mass migration phenomenon of azopolymers elicited under light irradiation allows to emboss a variety of patterns on cell-populated azopolymer films. We will investigate the stem cell response on a switchable topography from a linear pattern to a grid both in term of cell cytoskeletal re-organization and cell differentiation. Our aim is to investigate the impact of dynamic remodeling of cell environment on hMSCs gene expression profile, in comparison to static surfaces. In order to achieve our goal, we will investigate the cell behavior over time, changing the topographic aspects of the substrate and analyzing the effect of dynamic cues in modulating cell morphology and osteogenic gene expression profile. In particular, we will investigate whether epigenetic effect induced by changes in the biophysical properties of the substrate over time would redirect the expression of lineage specific markers. In Chapter 3, we will discuss about an athermal photofluidization process that can directly reshape an azopolymer pillar array in the presence of cells to investigate the dynamic reassemble of F-Actin on deformed pillars. We will show that pillar arrays can be reshaped along the direction of laser polarization, resulting in elongated structures with controllable eccentricity. This light-driven phenomenon, permits to usesuch type of systems as platforms to analyze cell membrane curvature remodeling in respond to dynamic pillar reshaping. The plasma membrane wraps around the pillars, which generate local curvatures on cell membrane and trigger the F-actin accumulation. Human bone osteosarcoma epithelial cells (U2OS) will be used to investigate the reorganization of F-Actin during the platform transition from pillar to ellipsoidal-shape structures over time. In Chapter 4, we will focus on designing semi-3D hydrogel platforms containing azobenzene to engineer and manipulate culture systems in order to develop photoactuable cell confining systems. Acrylamide-modified gelatin containing azobenzene-based cross linkers will be used to microfabricate well-defined semi-3D photo-responsive structures by means of two-photon lithography (2PP). As proof of concept, we will show an example of an array of squared structures, where cells are physically confined between the adjacent gelatin blocks, which can be remotely stimulated. The light irradiation can be converted in a local mechanical stimulation able to deform the nucleus at a single-cell level. In Conclusion and Future Perspectives, a summary of the main results achieved in this thesis is presented and future applications are proposed