End-to-end communications in low-rate wireless networks: Problems and solutions in satellite scenarios

Satellite communication links are susceptible to present numerous discontinuities in the transmission. Specific solutions are necessary to be developed to cope this problem. In this sense Delay and Disruptive Tolerant Networks are envisaged as solutions trying to optimize in some sense the communication link. In this TFG the problem of disruptive networks will be studied and possible solutions will be analyzed having in mind satellites scenarios. The work will require the definition of a scenario and the implementation of some state-of-the art solutions in a simulator.Since the Sputnik 1 was first launched in 1957, satellites have taken over the world with their multiple applications in our day-to-day life, specially in the telecommunications field, from television broadcast to mobile communications. One of the main issues they present, is that a single satellite can't provide an end-to-end communication between two spots widely separated. This issue implies that a continuous network between these two spots can never be implemented, and that's why so many public and private companies have been working for a long time in clusters of satellites to provide global coverage of the earth. In the last decade, the M2M (machine-to-machine) communications have become one of the most advanced fields in the engineering world, as they are changing it in order to create a more sophisticated and automatized future. These type of low-rate wireless communications can be supported in a satellite network but they sometimes require a low latency in its channel. In this project, several satellite network scenarios are simulated in order to study the different delays in them and to find the way to optimize the latency in the M2M communication between two fixed spots in the globe, while creating a continuous network made out of GEO and LEO satellites. The project is focused on the idea of finding the best satellite architecture to obtain a fluid communication without any relevant delay along the way, as well as discussing the trade-off between the delay of the signal and the energy consumption of the satellite, specially in the nanosatellite case.Desde que el Sputnik 1 fue lanzado por primera vez en 1957, los satélites han tomado el mundo con sus múltiples aplicaciones en nuestro, especialmente en el campo de las telecomunicaciones, desde la emisión de televisión a las comunicaciones móviles. Uno de los principales problemas que presentan, es que un solo satélite no puede proporcionar una comunicación de extremo a extremo entre dos puntos muy distantes entre sí. Este problema implica que una red contínua entre estos dos puntos no se puede implementar, y es por eso por lo que muchas empresas públicas y privadas han estado trabajando durante mucho tiempo en grupos de satélites para proporcionar una cobertura global de la Tierra. En la última década, las comunicaciones M2M (machine-to-machine) se han convertido en uno de los campos más avanzados en el mundo de la ingeniería, y lo están cambiando con el fin de crear un futuro más sofisticado y automatizado. Este tipo de comunicaciones sin hilos de bajo ritmo de bit puede ser apoyado en una red de satélites, pero que a veces requiere una latencia baja en su canal. En este proyecto, varios escenarios de redes de satélite son simulados con el fin de estudiar los diferentes retardos en todos ellos y en encontrar la manera de optimizar la latencia en la comunicación M2M entre dos puntos fijos en el mundo, usando la creación de una red continua hecha de satélites GEO y LEO. El proyecto se centra en la idea de encontrar la mejor arquitectura de satélites para obtener una comunicación fluida y sin ningún retraso relevante en el camino, así como en discutir el equilibrio entre el retardo de la señal y el consumo de energía del satélite, especialmente en el caso de nanosatélites.Des de que l'Sputnik 1 es llançava per primer cop el 1957, els satèl·lits han dominat el món amb les seves múltiples aplicacions en la nostra vida quotidiana, especialment en el camp de les telecomunicacions, des de difusió de televisió a les comunicacions mòbils. Una de les principals qüestions que presenten, és que un únic satèl·lit no pot proporcionar una comunicació extrem a extrem entre dos punts molt distants. Això implica que mai no es pugui implementar una xarxa contínua entre aquests dos punts, i és per això que moltes empreses públiques i privades han estat treballant durant molt temps en agrupacions de satèl·lits per donar cobertura global de la terra. En la darrera dècada, les comunicacions de M2M (machine-to-machine) han esdevingut un dels camps més avançats del món de l'enginyeria, ja que estan canviant-lo per tal de crear un més sofisticat i automatitzat futur. Aquests tipus de comunicacions sense fils de baix ritme de bit poden ser recolzades en una xarxa de satèl·lits però de vegades requereixen una latència baixa al seu canal. En aquest projecte, diversos escenaris de xarxes de satèl·lits són simulats per tal d'estudiar els diferents retards en tots ells i en trobar la manera d'optimitzar la latència en la comunicació M2M entre dos punts fixos en el món, utilitzant la creació d'una xarxa contínua de satèl·lits GEO i LEO. El projecte es centra en la idea de trobar la millor arquitectura de satèl·lits per obtenir una comunicació fluida sense demora pertinent en el camí, així com en discutir la solució de compromís que existeix entre el retard del senyal i el consum energètic del satèl·lit, especialment en el cas dels nanosatèl·lits

Integration of heterogeneous devices and communication models via the cloud in the constrained internet of things

As the Internet of Things continues to expand in the coming years, the need for services that span multiple IoT application domains will continue to increase in order to realize the efficiency gains promised by the IoT. Today, however, service developers looking to add value on top of existing IoT systems are faced with very heterogeneous devices and systems. These systems implement a wide variety of network connectivity options, protocols (proprietary or standards-based), and communication methods all of which are unknown to a service developer that is new to the IoT. Even within one IoT standard, a device typically has multiple options for communicating with others. In order to alleviate service developers from these concerns, this paper presents a cloud-based platform for integrating heterogeneous constrained IoT devices and communication models into services. Our evaluation shows that the impact of our approach on the operation of constrained devices is minimal while providing a tangible benefit in service integration of low-resource IoT devices. A proof of concept demonstrates the latter by means of a control and management dashboard for constrained devices that was implemented on top of the presented platform. The results of our work enable service developers to more easily implement and deploy services that span a wide variety of IoT application domains

SUNSEED — An evolutionary path to smart grid comms over converged telco and energy provider networks

SUNSEED, 'Sustainable and robust networking for smart electricity distribution', is a 3-year project started in 2014 and partially funded under call FP7-ICT-2013-11. The project objective is to research, design and implement methods for exploitation of existing communication infrastructure of energy distribution service operators (DSO) and telecom operators (telco) for the future smart grid operations and services. To achieve this objective, SUNSEED proposes an evolutionary approach to converge existing DSO and telco networks, consisting of six steps: overlap, interconnect, interoperate, manage, plan and open. Each step involves identification of the related smart grid service requirements and implementation of the appropriate solutions. The promise of SUNSEED approach lies in potentially much lower investments and total cost of ownership of future smart energy grids within dense distributed energy generation and prosumer environments

2012 PWST Workshop Summary

No abstract availabl

Enabling Hardware Green Internet of Things: A review of Substantial Issues

Between now and the near future, the Internet of Things (IoT) will redesign the socio-ecological morphology of the human terrain. The IoT ecosystem deploys diverse sensor platforms connecting millions of heterogeneous objects through the Internet. Irrespective of sensor functionality, most sensors are low energy consumption devices and are designed to transmit sporadically or continuously. However, when we consider the millions of connected sensors powering various user applications, their energy efficiency (EE) becomes a critical issue. Therefore, the importance of EE in IoT technology, as well as the development of EE solutions for sustainable IoT technology, cannot be overemphasised. Propelled by this need, EE proposals are expected to address the EE issues in the IoT context. Consequently, many developments continue to emerge, and the need to highlight them to provide clear insights to researchers on eco-sustainable and green IoT technologies becomes a crucial task. To pursue a clear vision of green IoT, this study aims to present the current state-of-the art insights into energy saving practices and strategies on green IoT. The major contribution of this study includes reviews and discussions of substantial issues in the enabling of hardware green IoT, such as green machine to machine, green wireless sensor networks, green radio frequency identification, green microcontroller units, integrated circuits and processors. This review will contribute significantly towards the future implementation of green and eco-sustainable IoT

Towards Massive Machine Type Communications in Ultra-Dense Cellular IoT Networks: Current Issues and Machine Learning-Assisted Solutions

The ever-increasing number of resource-constrained Machine-Type Communication (MTC) devices is leading to the critical challenge of fulfilling diverse communication requirements in dynamic and ultra-dense wireless environments. Among different application scenarios that the upcoming 5G and beyond cellular networks are expected to support, such as eMBB, mMTC and URLLC, mMTC brings the unique technical challenge of supporting a huge number of MTC devices, which is the main focus of this paper. The related challenges include QoS provisioning, handling highly dynamic and sporadic MTC traffic, huge signalling overhead and Radio Access Network (RAN) congestion. In this regard, this paper aims to identify and analyze the involved technical issues, to review recent advances, to highlight potential solutions and to propose new research directions. First, starting with an overview of mMTC features and QoS provisioning issues, we present the key enablers for mMTC in cellular networks. Along with the highlights on the inefficiency of the legacy Random Access (RA) procedure in the mMTC scenario, we then present the key features and channel access mechanisms in the emerging cellular IoT standards, namely, LTE-M and NB-IoT. Subsequently, we present a framework for the performance analysis of transmission scheduling with the QoS support along with the issues involved in short data packet transmission. Next, we provide a detailed overview of the existing and emerging solutions towards addressing RAN congestion problem, and then identify potential advantages, challenges and use cases for the applications of emerging Machine Learning (ML) techniques in ultra-dense cellular networks. Out of several ML techniques, we focus on the application of low-complexity Q-learning approach in the mMTC scenarios. Finally, we discuss some open research challenges and promising future research directions.Comment: 37 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables, submitted for a possible future publication in IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorial