Modeling and characterization of urban radio channels for mobile communications

Results of this thesis contribute in modeling and characterization of radio channels for future mobile communications. The results are presented mainly in three parts: a) modeling of propagation mechanisms, b) methodology of developing a propagation model, c) characterization of urban radio channel. One of the main propagation physical phenomena that have an important role in diverting signals to non line of sight scenarios is the diffraction process. This thesis proposes diffraction coefficients that have better agreement with finite difference time domain solution and rigorous diffraction theory than the coefficient commonly used in propagation predictions for mobile communications. The importance of diffuse scattering has also been investigated and showed that this physical process may have a key role in urban propagation, with a particular impact on the delay spread and angular spread of the signal at the receiver. This thesis proposes wideband propagation models for main and perpendicular streets of urban street grids. The propagation models are ray-based and are given in explicit mathematical expressions. Each ray is characterized in terms of its amplitude, delay, and angle of arrival, angle of departure for vertical and horizontal polarizations. Each of these characteristics is given in a closed mathematical form. Having wideband propagation model in explicit expression makes its implementation easy and computation fast. Secondary source modeling approach for perpendicular streets has also been introduced in this thesis. The last part of the thesis deals with characterization of urban radio channels for extracting parameters that help in successful design of mobile communication systems. Knowledge of channel characteristics enables reaching optimum trade off between system performance and complexity. This thesis analyzes measurement results at 2 GHz to extract channel parameters in terms of Rake finger characteristics in order to get information that helps to optimize Rake receiver design for enhanced-IMT2000 systems. Finger life distance has also been investigated for both micro- and small cell scenarios. This part of the thesis also presents orthogonality factor of radio channel for W-CDMA downlink at different bandwidths. Characterization of dispersion metrics in delay and angular domains for microcellular channels is also presented at different base station antenna heights. A measure of (dis-) similarity between multipath components in terms of separation distance in delay and angular domains is introduced by the concept of distance function, which is a step toward in development of algorithm extraction and analysis multipath clustering. In summary, the significant contributions of the thesis are in three parts. 1) Development of new diffraction coefficients and corrections of limitations of existing one for accurate propagation predictions for mobile communications. 2) Development of wideband propagation models for urban street grid. The novelty of the model is the development in explicit mathematical expressions. The developed models can be used to study propagation problem in microcellular urban street grids. 3) Presenting channel parameters that will help in the design of future mobile communication systems (enhanced-IMT2000), like number of active fingers, finger life distance, and orthogonality factors for different bandwidths. In addition, a technique based on multipath separation distance is proposed as a step toward in development of algorithms for extraction and analysis of multipath clusters.reviewe

Characterization of Propagation Path Loss at Vhf/Uhf Bands for Ilorin City, Nigeria

Path loss exponent, standard deviation and building penetration loss are used in all distance path loss models. Once these data are known for an environment, coverage planning and propagation analysis could be done easily. Many countries across the world, such as Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and the USA have already published their propagation data, mostly, the path loss exponent for their various cities. However in Nigeria, these data are not available. In this work, measurements were conducted at 203.25 MHz and 583.25 MHz frequencies along ten routes in Ilorin City in Kwara State of Nigeria. Least squares regression method is used to fit the measured data with log-normal propagation path loss model to characterize the path loss parameters. Results of the experiment indicate that the path loss exponent for Ilorin City varies from 1.4 to 4.94 with an average value of 2.80. The work further investigates the behaviour of the TV signals in the same environment in terms of standard deviation and building penetration loss across the routes, and some selected building structures

Cognitive radio systems in LTE networks

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.The most important fact in the mobile industry at the moment is that demand for wireless services will continue to expand in the coming years. Therefore, it is vital to find more spectrums through cognitive radios for the growing numbers of services and users. However, the spectrum reallocations, enhanced receivers, shared use, or secondary markets-will not likely, by themselves or in combination, meet the real exponential increases in demand for wireless resources. Network operators will also need to re-examine network architecture, and consider integrating the fibre and wireless networks to address this issue. This thesis involves driving fibre deeper into cognitive networks, deploying microcells connected through fibre infrastructure to the backbone LTE networks, and developing the algorithms for diverting calls between the wireless and fibre systems, introducing new coexistence models, and mobility management. This research addresses the network deployment scenarios to a microcell-aided cognitive network, specifically slicing the spectrum spatially and providing reliable coverage at either tier. The goal of this research is to propose new method of decentralized-to-distributed management techniques that overcomes the spectrum unavailability barrier overhead in ongoing and future deployments of multi-tiered cognitive network architectures. Such adjustments will propose new opportunities in cognitive radio-to-fibre systematic investment strategies. Specific contributions include: 1) Identifying the radio access technologies and radio over fibre solution for cognitive network infrastructure to increase the uplink capacity analysis in two-tier networks. 2) Coexistence of macro and microcells are studied to propose a roadmap for optimising the deployment of cognitive microcells inside LTE macrocells in the case of considering radio over fibre access systems. 3) New method for roaming mobiles moving between microcells and macrocell coverage areas is proposed for managing spectrum handover, operator database, authentication and accounting by introducing the channel assigning agent entity. The ultimate goal is to reduce unnecessary channel adaptation

Insights and approaches for low-complexity 5G small-cell base-station design for indoor dense networks

This paper investigates low-complexity approaches to small-cell base-station (SBS) design, suitable for future 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) indoor deployments. Using large-scale antenna systems and high-bandwidth spectrum, such SBS can theoretically achieve the anticipated future data bandwidth demand of 10000 fold in the next 20 years. We look to exploit small cell distances to simplify SBS design, particularly considering dense indoor installations. We compare theoretical results, based on a link budget analysis, with the system simulation of a densely deployed indoor network using appropriate mmWave channel propagation conditions. The frequency diverse bands of 28 and 72 GHz of the mmWave spectrum are assumed in the analysis. We investigate the performance of low-complexity approaches using a minimal number of antennas at the base station and the user equipment. Using the appropriate power consumption models and the state-of-the-art sub-component power usage, we determine the total power consumption and the energy efficiency of such systems. With mmWave being typified nonline-of-sight communication, we further investigate and propose the use of direct sequence spread spectrum as a means to overcome this, and discuss the use of multipath detection and combining as a suitable mechanism to maximize link reliability

5G network deployment and the associated energy consumption in the UK: A complex systems’ exploration

Investing in the communication infrastructure transition requires significant scientific consideration of challenges, prioritisation, risks and uncertainties. To address these challenges, a bottom-up approach was used to demonstrate the future of wireless network transmission and deployment. This study developed an agent-based model to explore the future deployment of non-standalone 5G networks, synthesizing multi-dimensional data visualization. In particular, this research took the UK as an example to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamic characteristics of 5G evolution, and further analysed the energy consumption and carbon footprint of 5G networks, as well as the consequent change in the operating expenses pattern. The simulation results show that 700 MHz and 26 GHz will play an important role in 5G deployment in the UK, which allow base stations to meet short-term and long-term data traffic demands respectively. Furthermore, due to the geopolitical restrictions and embargos, telecommunications may face additional costs of £0.63bn to £1.19bn when deploying 5G radio access networks. Network densification may cause some environmental and economic problems. Take a medium demand scenario as an example, it is found that the electricity consumed by the 5G radio access network will account for more than 2.1% of the total electricity generation, and indirectly lead to 990,404 tonnes carbon emissions in 2030

Network lifetime extension, power conservation and interference suppression for next generation mobile wireless networks

Two major focus research areas related to the design of the next generation multihop wireless networks are network lifetime extension and interference suppression. In this dissertation, these two issues are addressed. In the area of interference suppression, a new family of projection multiuser detectors, based on a generalized, two-stage design is proposed. Projection multiuser detectors provide efficient protection against undesired interference of unknown power, while preserving simple design, with closed-form solution for error probabilities. It is shown that these detectors are linearly optimal, if the interference power is unknown. In the area of network lifetime extension, a new approach to minimum energy routing for multihop wireless networks in Rayleigh fading channels is proposed. It is based on the concept of power combining, whereby two users transmit same signal to the destination user, emulating transmit diversity with two transmit antennas. Analytical framework for the evaluation of the benefits of power combining, in terms of the total transmit power reduction, is defined. Simulation results, which match closely the analytical results, indicate that significant improvements, in terms of transmit power reduction and network lifetime extension, are achievable. The messaging load, generated by the new scheme, is moderate, and can be further optimized