648 research outputs found
Millimeter Wave Cellular Networks: A MAC Layer Perspective
The millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency band is seen as a key enabler of
multi-gigabit wireless access in future cellular networks. In order to overcome
the propagation challenges, mmWave systems use a large number of antenna
elements both at the base station and at the user equipment, which lead to high
directivity gains, fully-directional communications, and possible noise-limited
operations. The fundamental differences between mmWave networks and traditional
ones challenge the classical design constraints, objectives, and available
degrees of freedom. This paper addresses the implications that highly
directional communication has on the design of an efficient medium access
control (MAC) layer. The paper discusses key MAC layer issues, such as
synchronization, random access, handover, channelization, interference
management, scheduling, and association. The paper provides an integrated view
on MAC layer issues for cellular networks, identifies new challenges and
tradeoffs, and provides novel insights and solution approaches.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, to appear in IEEE Transactions on
Communication
Ondas milimétricas e MIMO massivo para otimização da capacidade e cobertura de redes heterogeneas de 5G
Today's Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) networks cannot support
the exponential growth in mobile traffic forecast for the next decade. By
2020, according to Ericsson, 6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide are projected
to generate 46 exabytes of mobile data traffic monthly from 24 billion
connected devices, smartphones and short-range Internet of Things (IoT)
devices being the key prosumers. In response, 5G networks are foreseen
to markedly outperform legacy 4G systems. Triggered by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the IMT-2020 network initiative, 5G
will support three broad categories of use cases: enhanced mobile broadband
(eMBB) for multi-Gbps data rate applications; ultra-reliable and low latency
communications (URLLC) for critical scenarios; and massive machine
type communications (mMTC) for massive connectivity. Among the several
technology enablers being explored for 5G, millimeter-wave (mmWave)
communication, massive MIMO antenna arrays and ultra-dense small cell
networks (UDNs) feature as the dominant technologies. These technologies
in synergy are anticipated to provide the 1000_ capacity increase for 5G
networks (relative to 4G) through the combined impact of large additional
bandwidth, spectral efficiency (SE) enhancement and high frequency reuse,
respectively. However, although these technologies can pave the way towards
gigabit wireless, there are still several challenges to solve in terms of
how we can fully harness the available bandwidth efficiently through appropriate
beamforming and channel modeling approaches. In this thesis, we
investigate the system performance enhancements realizable with mmWave
massive MIMO in 5G UDN and cellular infrastructure-to-everything (C-I2X)
application scenarios involving pedestrian and vehicular users. As a critical
component of the system-level simulation approach adopted in this thesis,
we implemented 3D channel models for the accurate characterization of the
wireless channels in these scenarios and for realistic performance evaluation.
To address the hardware cost, complexity and power consumption of the
massive MIMO architectures, we propose a novel generalized framework for
hybrid beamforming (HBF) array structures. The generalized model reveals
the opportunities that can be harnessed with the overlapped subarray structures
for a balanced trade-o_ between SE and energy efficiently (EE) of 5G
networks. The key results in this investigation show that mmWave massive
MIMO can deliver multi-Gbps rates for 5G whilst maintaining energy-efficient operation of the network.As redes LTE-A atuais não são capazes de suportar o crescimento exponencial
de tráfego que está previsto para a próxima década. De acordo
com a previsão da Ericsson, espera-se que em 2020, a nível global, 6 mil
milhões de subscritores venham a gerar mensalmente 46 exa bytes de tráfego
de dados a partir de 24 mil milhões de dispositivos ligados à rede móvel,
sendo os telefones inteligentes e dispositivos IoT de curto alcance os principais
responsáveis por tal nível de tráfego. Em resposta a esta exigência,
espera-se que as redes de 5a geração (5G) tenham um desempenho substancialmente
superior às redes de 4a geração (4G) atuais. Desencadeado pelo
UIT (União Internacional das Telecomunicações) no âmbito da iniciativa
IMT-2020, o 5G irá suportar três grandes tipos de utilizações: banda larga
móvel capaz de suportar aplicações com débitos na ordem de vários Gbps;
comunicações de baixa latência e alta fiabilidade indispensáveis em cenários
de emergência; comunicações massivas máquina-a-máquina para conectividade
generalizada. Entre as várias tecnologias capacitadoras que estão a ser
exploradas pelo 5G, as comunicações através de ondas milimétricas, os agregados
MIMO massivo e as redes celulares ultradensas (RUD) apresentam-se
como sendo as tecnologias fundamentais. Antecipa-se que o conjunto
destas tecnologias venha a fornecer às redes 5G um aumento de capacidade
de 1000x através da utilização de maiores larguras de banda, melhoria da
eficiência espectral, e elevada reutilização de frequências respetivamente.
Embora estas tecnologias possam abrir caminho para as redes sem fios
com débitos na ordem dos gigabits, existem ainda vários desafios que têm
que ser resolvidos para que seja possível aproveitar totalmente a largura de
banda disponível de maneira eficiente utilizando abordagens de formatação
de feixe e de modelação de canal adequadas. Nesta tese investigamos a
melhoria de desempenho do sistema conseguida através da utilização de
ondas milimétricas e agregados MIMO massivo em cenários de redes celulares
ultradensas de 5a geração e em cenários 'infraestrutura celular-para-qualquer
coisa' (do inglês: cellular infrastructure-to-everything) envolvendo
utilizadores pedestres e veiculares. Como um componente fundamental das
simulações de sistema utilizadas nesta tese é o canal de propagação, implementamos modelos de canal tridimensional (3D) para caracterizar de
forma precisa o canal de propagação nestes cenários e assim conseguir uma
avaliação de desempenho mais condizente com a realidade. Para resolver os
problemas associados ao custo do equipamento, complexidade e consumo
de energia das arquiteturas MIMO massivo, propomos um modelo inovador
de agregados com formatação de feixe híbrida. Este modelo genérico revela
as oportunidades que podem ser aproveitadas através da sobreposição
de sub-agregados no sentido de obter um compromisso equilibrado entre
eficiência espectral (ES) e eficiência energética (EE) nas redes 5G. Os principais
resultados desta investigação mostram que a utilização conjunta de
ondas milimétricas e de agregados MIMO massivo possibilita a obtenção, em
simultâneo, de taxas de transmissão na ordem de vários Gbps e a operação
de rede de forma energeticamente eficiente.Programa Doutoral em Telecomunicaçõe
Performance evaluation of 5G millimeter-wave cellular access networks using a capacity-based network deployment tool
The next fifth generation (5G) of wireless communication networks comes with a set of new features to satisfy the demand of data-intensive applications: millimeter-wave frequencies, massive antenna arrays, beamforming, dense cells, and so forth. In this paper, we investigate the use of beamforming techniques through various architectures and evaluate the performance of 5G wireless access networks, using a capacity-based network deployment tool. This tool is proposed and applied to a realistic area in Ghent, Belgium, to simulate realistic 5G networks that respond to the instantaneous bit rate required by the active users. The results show that, with beamforming, 5G networks require almost 15% more base stations and 4 times less power to provide more capacity to the users and the same coverage performances, in comparison with the 4G reference network. Moreover, they are 3 times more energy efficient than the 4G network and the hybrid beamforming architecture appears to be a suitable architecture for beamforming to be considered when designing a 5G cellular network
Millimetre wave frequency band as a candidate spectrum for 5G network architecture : a survey
In order to meet the huge growth in global mobile data traffic in 2020 and beyond, the development of the 5th Generation (5G) system is required as the current 4G system is expected to fall short of the provision needed for such growth. 5G is anticipated to use a higher carrier frequency in the millimetre wave (mm-wave) band, within the 20 to 90 GHz, due to the availability of a vast amount of unexploited bandwidth. It is a revolutionary step to use these bands because of their different propagation characteristics, severe atmospheric attenuation, and hardware constraints. In this paper, we carry out a survey of 5G research contributions and proposed design architectures based on mm-wave communications. We present and discuss the use of mm-wave as indoor and outdoor mobile access, as a wireless backhaul solution, and as a key enabler for higher order sectorisation. Wireless standards such as IEE802.11ad, which are operating in mm-wave band have been presented. These standards have been designed for short range, ultra high data throughput systems in the 60 GHz band. Furthermore, this survey provides new insights regarding relevant and open issues in adopting mm-wave for 5G networks. This includes increased handoff rate and interference in Ultra-Dense Network (UDN), waveform consideration with higher spectral efficiency, and supporting spatial multiplexing in mm-wave line of sight. This survey also introduces a distributed base station architecture in mm-wave as an approach to address increased handoff rate in UDN, and to provide an alternative way for network densification in a time and cost effective manner
An Efficient Uplink Multi-Connectivity Scheme for 5G mmWave Control Plane Applications
The millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies offer the potential of orders of
magnitude increases in capacity for next-generation cellular systems. However,
links in mmWave networks are susceptible to blockage and may suffer from rapid
variations in quality. Connectivity to multiple cells - at mmWave and/or
traditional frequencies - is considered essential for robust communication. One
of the challenges in supporting multi-connectivity in mmWaves is the
requirement for the network to track the direction of each link in addition to
its power and timing. To address this challenge, we implement a novel uplink
measurement system that, with the joint help of a local coordinator operating
in the legacy band, guarantees continuous monitoring of the channel propagation
conditions and allows for the design of efficient control plane applications,
including handover, beam tracking and initial access. We show that an
uplink-based multi-connectivity approach enables less consuming, better
performing, faster and more stable cell selection and scheduling decisions with
respect to a traditional downlink-based standalone scheme. Moreover, we argue
that the presented framework guarantees (i) efficient tracking of the user in
the presence of the channel dynamics expected at mmWaves, and (ii) fast
reaction to situations in which the primary propagation path is blocked or not
available.Comment: Submitted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Wireless
Communications (TWC
Performance Comparison of Dual Connectivity and Hard Handover for LTE-5G Tight Integration in mmWave Cellular Networks
MmWave communications are expected to play a major role in the Fifth
generation of mobile networks. They offer a potential multi-gigabit throughput
and an ultra-low radio latency, but at the same time suffer from high isotropic
pathloss, and a coverage area much smaller than the one of LTE macrocells. In
order to address these issues, highly directional beamforming and a very
high-density deployment of mmWave base stations were proposed. This Thesis aims
to improve the reliability and performance of the 5G network by studying its
tight and seamless integration with the current LTE cellular network. In
particular, the LTE base stations can provide a coverage layer for 5G mobile
terminals, because they operate on microWave frequencies, which are less
sensitive to blockage and have a lower pathloss. This document is a copy of the
Master's Thesis carried out by Mr. Michele Polese under the supervision of Dr.
Marco Mezzavilla and Prof. Michele Zorzi. It will propose an LTE-5G tight
integration architecture, based on mobile terminals' dual connectivity to LTE
and 5G radio access networks, and will evaluate which are the new network
procedures that will be needed to support it. Moreover, this new architecture
will be implemented in the ns-3 simulator, and a thorough simulation campaign
will be conducted in order to evaluate its performance, with respect to the
baseline of handover between LTE and 5G.Comment: Master's Thesis carried out by Mr. Michele Polese under the
supervision of Dr. Marco Mezzavilla and Prof. Michele Zorz
State-of-the-art assessment of 5G mmWave communications
Deliverable D2.1 del proyecto 5GWirelessMain objective of the European 5Gwireless project, which is part of the H2020 Marie Slodowska-
Curie ITN (Innovative Training Networks) program resides in the training and involvement of young
researchers in the elaboration of future mobile communication networks, focusing on innovative
wireless technologies, heterogeneous network architectures, new topologies (including ultra-dense
deployments), and appropriate tools. The present Document D2.1 is the first deliverable of Work-
Package 2 (WP2) that is specifically devoted to the modeling of the millimeter-wave (mmWave)
propagation channels, and development of appropriate mmWave beamforming and signal
processing techniques. Deliver D2.1 gives a state-of-the-art on the mmWave channel measurement,
characterization and modeling; existing antenna array technologies, channel estimation and
precoding algorithms; proposed deployment and networking techniques; some performance
studies; as well as a review on the evaluation and analysis toolsPostprint (published version
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