1,777 research outputs found
Control-data separation architecture for cellular radio access networks: a survey and outlook
Conventional cellular systems are designed to ensure ubiquitous coverage with an always present wireless channel irrespective of the spatial and temporal demand of service. This approach raises several problems due to the tight coupling between network and data access points, as well as the paradigm shift towards data-oriented services, heterogeneous deployments and network densification. A logical separation between control and data planes is seen as a promising solution that could overcome these issues, by providing data services under the umbrella of a coverage layer. This article presents a holistic survey of existing literature on the control-data separation architecture (CDSA) for cellular radio access networks. As a starting point, we discuss the fundamentals, concepts, and general structure of the CDSA. Then, we point out limitations of the conventional architecture in futuristic deployment scenarios. In addition, we present and critically discuss the work that has been done to investigate potential benefits of the CDSA, as well as its technical challenges and enabling technologies. Finally, an overview of standardisation proposals related to this research vision is provided
Resource and power management in next generation networks
The limits of today’s cellular communication systems are constantly being tested by
the exponential increase in mobile data traffic, a trend which is poised to continue
well into the next decade. Densification of cellular networks, by overlaying smaller
cells, i.e., micro, pico and femtocells, over the traditional macrocell, is seen as an
inevitable step in enabling future networks to support the expected increases in data
rate demand. Next generation networks will most certainly be more heterogeneous
as services will be offered via various types of points of access (PoAs). Indeed, besides
the traditional macro base station, it is expected that users will also be able to
access the network through a wide range of other PoAs: WiFi access points, remote
radio-heads (RRHs), small cell (i.e., micro, pico and femto) base stations or even
other users, when device-to-device (D2D) communications are supported, creating
thus a multi-tiered network architecture. This approach is expected to enhance the
capacity of current cellular networks, while patching up potential coverage gaps.
However, since available radio resources will be fully shared, the inter-cell interference
as well as the interference between the different tiers will pose a significant
challenge. To avoid severe degradation of network performance, properly managing
the interference is essential. In particular, techniques that mitigate interference such
Inter Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) and enhanced ICIC (eICIC) have been
proposed in the literature to address the issue. In this thesis, we argue that interference
may be also addressed during radio resource scheduling tasks, by enabling
the network to make interference-aware resource allocation decisions.
Carrier aggregation technology, which allows the simultaneous use of several
component carriers, on the other hand, targets the lack of sufficiently large portions
of frequency spectrum; a problem that severely limits the capacity of wireless networks.
The aggregated carriers may, in general, belong to different frequency bands,
and have different bandwidths, thus they also may have very different signal propagation
characteristics. Integration of carrier aggregation in the network introduces
additional tasks and further complicates interference management, but also opens
up a range of possibilities for improving spectrum efficiency in addition to enhancing
capacity, which we aim to exploit. In this thesis, we first look at the resource allocation in problem in dense multitiered
networks with support for advanced features such as carrier aggregation and
device-to-device communications. For two-tiered networks with D2D support, we
propose a centralised, near optimal algorithm, based on dynamic programming principles,
that allows a central scheduler to make interference and traffic-aware scheduling
decisions, while taking into consideration the short-lived nature of D2D links.
As the complexity of the central scheduler increases exponentially with the number
of component carriers, we further propose a distributed heuristic algorithm to tackle
the resource allocation problem in carrier aggregation enabled dense networks. We
show that the solutions we propose perform significantly better than standard solutions
adopted in cellular networks such as eICIC coupled with Proportional Fair
scheduling, in several key metrics such as user throughput, timely delivery of content
and spectrum and energy efficiency, while ensuring fairness for backward compatible
devices.
Next, we investigate the potentiality to enhance network performance by enabling
the different nodes of the network to reduce and dynamically adjust the
transmit power of the different carriers to mitigate interference. Considering that
the different carriers may have different coverage areas, we propose to leverage this
diversity, to obtain high-performing network configurations. Thus, we model the
problem of carrier downlink transmit power setting, as a competitive game between
teams of PoAs, which enables us to derive distributed dynamic power setting algorithms.
Using these algorithms we reach stable configurations in the network,
known as Nash equilibria, which we show perform significantly better than fixed
power strategies coupled with eICIC
Enabling RAN Slicing Through Carrier Aggregation in mmWave Cellular Networks
The ever increasing number of connected devices and of new and heterogeneous
mobile use cases implies that 5G cellular systems will face demanding technical
challenges. For example, Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) and
enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) scenarios present orthogonal Quality of
Service (QoS) requirements that 5G aims to satisfy with a unified Radio Access
Network (RAN) design. Network slicing and mmWave communications have been
identified as possible enablers for 5G. They provide, respectively, the
necessary scalability and flexibility to adapt the network to each specific use
case environment, and low latency and multi-gigabit-per-second wireless links,
which tap into a vast, currently unused portion of the spectrum. The
optimization and integration of these technologies is still an open research
challenge, which requires innovations at different layers of the protocol
stack. This paper proposes to combine them in a RAN slicing framework for
mmWaves, based on carrier aggregation. Notably, we introduce MilliSlice, a
cross-carrier scheduling policy that exploits the diversity of the carriers and
maximizes their utilization, thus simultaneously guaranteeing high throughput
for the eMBB slices and low latency and high reliability for the URLLC flows.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. Proc. of the 18th Mediterranean Communication and
Computer Networking Conference (MedComNet 2020), Arona, Italy, 202
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LTE-Advanced radio access enhancements: A survey
Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) is the next step in LTE evolution and allows operators to improve network performance and service capabilities through smooth deployment of new techniques and technologies. LTE-Advanced uses some new features on top of the existing LTE standards to provide better user experience and higher throughputs. Some of the most significant features introduced in LTE-Advanced are carrier aggregation, enhancements in heterogeneous networks, coordinated multipoint transmission and reception, enhanced multiple input multiple output usage and deployment of relay nodes in the radio network. Mentioned features are mainly aimed to enhance the radio access part of the cellular networks. This survey article presents an overview of the key radio access features and functionalities of the LTE-Advanced radio access network, supported by the simulation results. We also provide a detailed review of the literature together with a very rich list of the references for each of the features. An LTE-Advanced roadmap and the latest updates and trends in LTE markets are also presented
Separation Framework: An Enabler for Cooperative and D2D Communication for Future 5G Networks
Soaring capacity and coverage demands dictate that future cellular networks
need to soon migrate towards ultra-dense networks. However, network
densification comes with a host of challenges that include compromised energy
efficiency, complex interference management, cumbersome mobility management,
burdensome signaling overheads and higher backhaul costs. Interestingly, most
of the problems, that beleaguer network densification, stem from legacy
networks' one common feature i.e., tight coupling between the control and data
planes regardless of their degree of heterogeneity and cell density.
Consequently, in wake of 5G, control and data planes separation architecture
(SARC) has recently been conceived as a promising paradigm that has potential
to address most of aforementioned challenges. In this article, we review
various proposals that have been presented in literature so far to enable SARC.
More specifically, we analyze how and to what degree various SARC proposals
address the four main challenges in network densification namely: energy
efficiency, system level capacity maximization, interference management and
mobility management. We then focus on two salient features of future cellular
networks that have not yet been adapted in legacy networks at wide scale and
thus remain a hallmark of 5G, i.e., coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and
device-to-device (D2D) communications. After providing necessary background on
CoMP and D2D, we analyze how SARC can particularly act as a major enabler for
CoMP and D2D in context of 5G. This article thus serves as both a tutorial as
well as an up to date survey on SARC, CoMP and D2D. Most importantly, the
article provides an extensive outlook of challenges and opportunities that lie
at the crossroads of these three mutually entangled emerging technologies.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 201
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