Effective Capacity in Wireless Networks: A Comprehensive Survey

Low latency applications, such as multimedia communications, autonomous vehicles, and Tactile Internet are the emerging applications for next-generation wireless networks, such as 5th generation (5G) mobile networks. Existing physical-layer channel models, however, do not explicitly consider quality-of-service (QoS) aware related parameters under specific delay constraints. To investigate the performance of low-latency applications in future networks, a new mathematical framework is needed. Effective capacity (EC), which is a link-layer channel model with QoS-awareness, can be used to investigate the performance of wireless networks under certain statistical delay constraints. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on existing works, that use the EC model in various wireless networks. We summarize the work related to EC for different networks such as cognitive radio networks (CRNs), cellular networks, relay networks, adhoc networks, and mesh networks. We explore five case studies encompassing EC operation with different design and architectural requirements. We survey various delay-sensitive applications such as voice and video with their EC analysis under certain delay constraints. We finally present the future research directions with open issues covering EC maximization

A Survey on MIMO Transmission with Discrete Input Signals: Technical Challenges, Advances, and Future Trends

Multiple antennas have been exploited for spatial multiplexing and diversity transmission in a wide range of communication applications. However, most of the advances in the design of high speed wireless multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) systems are based on information-theoretic principles that demonstrate how to efficiently transmit signals conforming to Gaussian distribution. Although the Gaussian signal is capacity-achieving, signals conforming to discrete constellations are transmitted in practical communication systems. As a result, this paper is motivated to provide a comprehensive overview on MIMO transmission design with discrete input signals. We first summarize the existing fundamental results for MIMO systems with discrete input signals. Then, focusing on the basic point-to-point MIMO systems, we examine transmission schemes based on three most important criteria for communication systems: the mutual information driven designs, the mean square error driven designs, and the diversity driven designs. Particularly, a unified framework which designs low complexity transmission schemes applicable to massive MIMO systems in upcoming 5G wireless networks is provided in the first time. Moreover, adaptive transmission designs which switch among these criteria based on the channel conditions to formulate the best transmission strategy are discussed. Then, we provide a survey of the transmission designs with discrete input signals for multiuser MIMO scenarios, including MIMO uplink transmission, MIMO downlink transmission, MIMO interference channel, and MIMO wiretap channel. Additionally, we discuss the transmission designs with discrete input signals for other systems using MIMO technology. Finally, technical challenges which remain unresolved at the time of writing are summarized and the future trends of transmission designs with discrete input signals are addressed.Comment: 110 pages, 512 references, submit to Proceedings of the IEE

Energy-Efficient Power Allocation for Secure Communications in Large-Scale MIMO Relaying Systems

In this paper, we address the problem of energy-efficient power allocation for secure communications in an amplify-and-forward (AF) large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (LS-MIMO) relaying system in presence of a passive eavesdropper. The benefits of an AF LS-MIMO relay are exploited to significantly improve the secrecy performance, especially the secrecy energy efficiency (bit per Joule). We first analyze the impact of transmit power at the relay on the secrecy outage capacity, and prove that the secrecy outage capacity is a concave function of transmit power under very practical assumptions, i.e. no eavesdropper channel state information (CSI) and imperfect legitimate CSI. Then, we propose an energy-efficient power allocation scheme to maximize the secrecy energy efficiency. Finally, simulation results validate the advantage of the proposed energy-efficient scheme compared to the capacity maximization scheme.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

A Survey on Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for 5G Networks: Research Challenges and Future Trends

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is an essential enabling technology for the fifth generation (5G) wireless networks to meet the heterogeneous demands on low latency, high reliability, massive connectivity, improved fairness, and high throughput. The key idea behind NOMA is to serve multiple users in the same resource block, such as a time slot, subcarrier, or spreading code. The NOMA principle is a general framework, and several recently proposed 5G multiple access schemes can be viewed as special cases. This survey provides an overview of the latest NOMA research and innovations as well as their applications. Thereby, the papers published in this special issue are put into the content of the existing literature. Future research challenges regarding NOMA in 5G and beyond are also discussed.Comment: to appear in IEEE JSAC, 201

Full-Duplex MIMO-OFDM Communication with Self-Energy Recycling

This paper focuses on energy recycling in full-duplex (FD) relaying multiple-input-multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication. The loop self-interference (SI) due to full-duplexing is seen as an opportunity for the energy-constrained relay node to replenish its energy requirement through wireless power transfer. In forwarding the source information to the destination, the FD relay can simultaneously harvest energy from the source wireless transmission and also through energy recycling from its own transmission. The objective is to maximize the overall spectral efficiency by designing the optimal power allocation over OFDM sub-carriers and transmit antennas. Due to a large number of sub-carriers, this design problem poses a large-scale nonconvex optimization problem involving a few thousand variables of power allocation, which is very computationally challenging. A new path-following algorithm is proposed, which converges to an optimal solution. This algorithm is very efficient since it is based on \textit{closed-form} calculations. Numerical results for a practical simulation setting show promising results by achieving high spectral efficiency

Harvest the potential of massive MIMO with multi-layer techniques

Massive MIMO is envisioned as a promising technology for 5G wireless networks due to its high potential to improve both spectral and energy efficiency. Although the massive MIMO system is based on innovations in the physical layer, the upper layer techniques also play important roles in harvesting the performance gains of massive MIMO. In this article, we begin with an analysis of the benefits and challenges of massive MIMO systems. We then investigate the multi-layer techniques for incorporating massive MIMO in several important network deployment scenarios. We conclude this article with a discussion of open and potential problems for future research.Comment: IEEE Networ

Multi-Antenna Relay Aided Wireless Physical Layer Security

With growing popularity of mobile Internet, providing secure wireless services has become a critical issue. Physical layer security (PHY-security) has been recognized as an effective means to enhance wireless security by exploiting wireless medium characteristics, e.g., fading, noise, and interference. A particularly interesting PHY-security technology is cooperative relay due to the fact that it helps to provide distributed diversity and shorten access distance. This article offers a tutorial on various multi-antenna relaying technologies to improve security at physical layer. The state of the art research results on multi-antenna relay aided PHY-security as well as some secrecy performance optimization schemes are presented. In particular, we focus on large-scale MIMO (LS-MIMO) relaying technology, which is effective to tackle various challenging issues for implementing wireless PHY-security, such as short-distance interception without eavesdropper channel state information (CSI) and with imperfect legitimate CSI. Moreover, the future directions are identified for further enhancement of secrecy performance.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, IEEE Communications Magazine, 201

Optimal Transmission Using a Self-sustained Relay in a Full-Duplex MIMO System

This paper investigates wireless information and power transfer in a full-duplex MIMO relay channel where the self-sustained relay harvests energy from both source transmit signal and self-interference signal to decode and forward source information to a destination. We present a novel technique to jointly optimize power splitting at the relay and precoding design (power allocation) for both the source and relay transmissions. We formulate a new convex optimization problem, establish the dual problem via closed-form optimal primal solutions, and design an efficient primal-dual algorithm to maximize the achievable throughput. Numerical results demonstrate the benefits of using multiple transmit and receive antennas in both information decoding and energy harvesting. We also extend our analysis to the case when channel state information is only available at receiving nodes and show how our algorithm can optimize the power splitting at the relay for it to remain self-sustained. Through analysis and simulation, we show how an optimal combination of non-uniform power splitting, variable power allocation, and self-interference power harvesting effectively exploits a full-duplex MIMO system to achieve significant performance gains over existing uniform power splitting and half-duplex transmission techniques

Relay Assisted Device-to-Device Communication: Approaches and Issues

Enabling technologies for 5G and future wireless communication have attracted the interest of industry and research communities. One of such technologies is Device-to-Device (D2D) communication which exploits user proximity to offer spectral efficiency, energy efficiency and increased throughput. Data offloading, public safety communication, context aware communication and content sharing are some of the use cases for D2D communication. D2D communication can be direct or through a relay depending on the nature of the channel in between the D2D devices. Apart from the problem of interference, a key challenge of relay aided D2D communication is appropriately assigning relays to a D2D pair while maintaining the QoS requirement of the cellular users. In this article, relay assisted D2D communication is reviewed and research issues are highlighted. We also propose matching theory with incomplete information for relay allocation considering uncertainties which the mobility of the relay introduces to the set up

Energy Efficient Precoding Design for SWIPT in MIMO Two-Way Relay Networks

In this paper, we study the energy efficiency (EE) maximization problem in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) two-way relay networks with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). The network consists of a multiple-antenna amplify-and-forward relay node which provides bidirectional communications between two multiple-antenna transceiver nodesComment: 16 pages, 6 figures, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technolog