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

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for 6G Non-Terrestrial Networks: Assisting Connectivity from the Sky

This paper studies the potential of RIS-integrated NTNs to revolutionize the next-generation connectivity. First, it discusses the fundamentals of RIS technology. Secondly, it delves into reporting the recent advances in RIS-enabled NTNs. Subsequently, it presents a novel framework based on the current state-of-the-art for low earth orbit satellites (LEO) communications, wherein the signal received at the user terminal traverses both a direct link and an RIS link, and the RIS is mounted on a high-altitude platform (HAP) situated within the stratosphere. Finally, the paper concludes by highlighting open challenges and future research directions to revolutionize the realm of RIS-integrated NTNs.Comment: 6,

Hybrid satellite–terrestrial networks toward 6G : key technologies and open issues

Future wireless networks will be required to provide more wireless services at higher data rates and with global coverage. However, existing homogeneous wireless networks, such as cellular and satellite networks, may not be able to meet such requirements individually, especially in remote terrain, including seas and mountains. One possible solution is to use diversified wireless networks that can exploit the inter-connectivity between satellites, aerial base stations (BSs), and terrestrial BSs over inter-connected space, ground, and aerial networks. Hence, enabling wireless communication in one integrated network has attracted both the industry and the research fraternities. In this work, we provide a comprehensive survey of the most recent work on hybrid satellite–terrestrial networks (HSTNs), focusing on system architecture, performance analysis, design optimization, and secure communication schemes for different cooperative and cognitive HSTN network architectures. Different key technologies are compared. Based on this comparison, several open issues for future research are discussed

5G embraces satellites for 6G ubiquitous IoT : basic models for integrated satellite terrestrial networks

Terrestrial communication networks mainly focus on users in urban areas but have poor coverage performance in harsh environments, such as mountains, deserts, and oceans. Satellites can be exploited to extend the coverage of terrestrial fifth-generation (5G) networks. However, satellites are restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. Consequently, the integration of terrestrial and satellite components has been widely studied, to take advantage of both sides and enable the seamless broadband coverage. Due to the significant differences between satellite communications (SatComs) and terrestrial communications (TerComs) in terms of channel fading, transmission delay, mobility, and coverage performance, the establishment of an efficient hybrid satellite-terrestrial network (HSTN) still faces many challenges. In general, it is difficult to decompose a HSTN into a sum of separate satellite and terrestrial links due to the complicated coupling relationships therein. To uncover the complete picture of HSTNs, we regard the HSTN as a combination of basic cooperative models that contain the main traits of satellite-terrestrial integration but are much simpler and thus more tractable than the large-scale heterogeneous HSTNs. In particular, we present three basic cooperative models, i.e., model X, model L, and model V, and provide a survey of the state-of-the-art technologies for each of them. We discuss future research directions towards establishing a cell-free, hierarchical, decoupled HSTN. We also outline open issues to envision an agile, smart, and secure HSTN for the sixth-generation (6G) ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT)

Mobile and Wireless Communications

Mobile and Wireless Communications have been one of the major revolutions of the late twentieth century. We are witnessing a very fast growth in these technologies where mobile and wireless communications have become so ubiquitous in our society and indispensable for our daily lives. The relentless demand for higher data rates with better quality of services to comply with state-of-the art applications has revolutionized the wireless communication field and led to the emergence of new technologies such as Bluetooth, WiFi, Wimax, Ultra wideband, OFDMA. Moreover, the market tendency confirms that this revolution is not ready to stop in the foreseen future. Mobile and wireless communications applications cover diverse areas including entertainment, industrialist, biomedical, medicine, safety and security, and others, which definitely are improving our daily life. Wireless communication network is a multidisciplinary field addressing different aspects raging from theoretical analysis, system architecture design, and hardware and software implementations. While different new applications are requiring higher data rates and better quality of service and prolonging the mobile battery life, new development and advanced research studies and systems and circuits designs are necessary to keep pace with the market requirements. This book covers the most advanced research and development topics in mobile and wireless communication networks. It is divided into two parts with a total of thirty-four stand-alone chapters covering various areas of wireless communications of special topics including: physical layer and network layer, access methods and scheduling, techniques and technologies, antenna and amplifier design, integrated circuit design, applications and systems. These chapters present advanced novel and cutting-edge results and development related to wireless communication offering the readers the opportunity to enrich their knowledge in specific topics as well as to explore the whole field of rapidly emerging mobile and wireless networks. We hope that this book will be useful for students, researchers and practitioners in their research studies

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-Enabled Wireless Communications and Networking

The emerging massive density of human-held and machine-type nodes implies larger traffic deviatiolns in the future than we are facing today. In the future, the network will be characterized by a high degree of flexibility, allowing it to adapt smoothly, autonomously, and efficiently to the quickly changing traffic demands both in time and space. This flexibility cannot be achieved when the network’s infrastructure remains static. To this end, the topic of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have enabled wireless communications, and networking has received increased attention. As mentioned above, the network must serve a massive density of nodes that can be either human-held (user devices) or machine-type nodes (sensors). If we wish to properly serve these nodes and optimize their data, a proper wireless connection is fundamental. This can be achieved by using UAV-enabled communication and networks. This Special Issue addresses the many existing issues that still exist to allow UAV-enabled wireless communications and networking to be properly rolled out

Komunikace na milimetrových vlnách v 5G a dalších sítích: Nové systémové modely a analýza výkonnosti

The dissertation investigates different network models, focusing on three important features for next generation cellular networks with respect to millimeter waves (mmWave) communications: the impact of fading and co-channel interference (CCI), energy efficiency, and spectrum efficiency. To address the first aim, the dissertation contains a study of a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique in a multi-hop relay network which uses relays that harvest energy from power beacons (PB). This part derives the exact throughput expressions for NOMA and provides a performance analysis of three different NOMA schemes to determine the optimal parameters for the proposed system’s throughput. A self-learning clustering protocol (SLCP) in which a node learns its neighbor’s information is also proposed for determining the node density and the residual energy used to cluster head (CH) selection and improve energy efficiency, thereby prolonging sensor network lifetime and gaining higher throughput. Second, NOMA provides many opportunities for massive connectivity at lower latencies, but it may also cause co-channel interference by reusing frequencies. CCI and fading play a major role in deciding the quality of the received signal. The dissertation takes into account the presence of η and µ fading channels in a network using NOMA. The closed-form expressions of outage probability (OP) and throughput were derived with perfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) and imperfect SIC. The dissertation also addresses the integration of NOMA into a satellite communications network and evaluates its system performance under the effects of imperfect channel state information (CSI) and CCI. Finally, the dissertation presents a new model for a NOMA-based hybrid satellite-terrestrial relay network (HSTRN) using mmWave communications. The satellite deploys the NOMA scheme, whereas the ground relays are equipped with multiple antennas and employ the amplify and forward (AF) protocol. The rain attenuation coefficient is considered as the fading factor of the mmWave band to choose the best relay, and the widely applied hybrid shadowed-Rician and Nakagami-m channels characterize the transmission environment of HSTRN. The closed-form formulas for OP and ergodic capacity (EC) were derived to evaluate the system performance of the proposed model and then verified with Monte Carlo simulations.Dizertační práce zkoumala různé modely sítí a zaměřila se na tři důležité vlastnosti pro buňkové sítě příští generace s ohledem na mmW komunikace, kterými jsou: vliv útlumu a mezikanálového rušení (CCI), energetická účinnost a účinnost spektra. Co se týče prvního cíle, dizertace obsahuje studii techniky neortogonálního vícenásobného přístupu (NOMA) v bezdrátové multiskokové relay síti využívající získávání energie, kde relay uzly sbírají energii z energetických majáků (PB). Tato část přináší přesné výrazy propustnosti pro NOMA a analýzu výkonnosti se třemi různými schématy NOMA s cílem určit optimální parametry pro propustnost navrženého systému. Dále byl navržen samoučící se shlukovací protokol (SLCP), ve kterém se uzel učí informace o sousedech, aby určil hustotu uzlů a zbytkovou energii použitou k výběru hlavy shluku CH pro zlepšení energetické účinnosti, čímž může prodloužit životnost sensorové sítě a zvýšit propustnost. Za druhé, přístup NOMA poskytl mnoho příležitostí pro masivní připojení s nižší latencí, NOMA však může způsobovat mezikanálové rušení v důsledku opětovného využívání kmitočtů. CCI a útlum hrají klíčovou roli při rozhodování o kvalitě přijímaného signálu. V této dizertace je brána v úvahu přítomnost η a µ útlumových kanálů v síti užívající NOMA. Odvozeny jsou výrazy v uzavřené formě pro pravděpodobnost výpadku (OP) a propustnost s dokonalým postupným rušením rušení (SIC) a nedokonalým SIC. Dále se dizertace zabývá integrací přístupu NOMA do satelitní komunikační sítě a vyhodnocuje výkonnost systému při dopadech nedokonalé informace o stavu kanálu (CSI) a CCI. Závěrem disertační práce představuje nový model pro hybridní družicově-terestriální přenosovou síť (HSTRN) založenou na NOMA vícenásobném přístupu využívající mmWave komunikaci. Satelit využívá NOMA schéma, zatímco pozemní relay uzly jsou vybaveny více anténami a aplikují protokol zesilování a předávání (AF). Je zaveden srážkový koeficient, který je uvažován jako útlumový faktor mmWave pásma při výběru nejlepšího relay uzlu. Samotné přenosové prostředí HSTRN je charakterizováno pomocí hybridních Rician a Nakagami-m kanálů. Vztahy pro vyhodnocení výkonnosti systému navrženého modelu vyjadřující ergodickou kapacitu (EC) a pravděpodobnost ztrát (OP) byly odvozeny v uzavřené formě a následně ověřeny pomocí simulační numerické metody Monte Carlo.440 - Katedra telekomunikační technikyvyhově

Intelligent Massive MIMO Systems for Beyond 5G Networks: An Overview and Future Trends

Machine learning (ML) which is a subset of artificial intelligence is expected to unlock the potential of challenging large-scale problems in conventional massive multiple-input-multiple-output (CM-MIMO) systems. This introduces the concept of intelligent massive MIMO (I-mMIMO) systems. Due to the surge of application of different ML techniques in the enhancement of mMIMO systems for existing and emerging use cases beyond fifth-generation (B5G) networks, this article aims to provide an overview of the different aspects of the I-mMIMO systems. First, the characteristics and challenges of the CM-MIMO have been identified. Secondly, the most recent efforts aimed at applying ML to a different aspect of CM-MIMO systems are presented. Thirdly, the deployment of I-mMIMO and efforts towards standardization are discussed. Lastly, the future trends of I-mMIMO-enabled application systems are presented. The aim of this paper is to assist the readers to understand different ML approaches in CM-MIMO systems, explore some of the advantages and disadvantages, identify some of the open issues, and motivate the readers toward future trends