A Q-learning scheme for fair coexistence between LTE and Wi-Fi in unlicensed spectrum

During the last years, the growth of wireless traffic pushed the wireless community to search for solutions that can assist in a more efficient management of the spectrum. Toward this direction, the operation of long term evolution (LTE) in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) has been proposed. Targeting a global solution that respects the regional regulations worldwide, 3GPP has published the LTE licensed assisted access (LAA) standard. According to LTE LAA, a listen before talk (LBT) procedure must precede any LTE transmission burst in the unlicensed spectrum. However, the proposed standard may cause coexistence issues between LTE and Wi-Fi, especially in the case that the latter does not use frame aggregation. Toward the provision of a balanced channel access, we have proposed mLTE-U that is an adaptive LTE LBT scheme. According to mLTE-U, LTE uses a variable transmission opportunity (TXOP), followed by a variable muting period. This muting period can be exploited by co-located Wi-Fi networks to gain access to the medium. In this paper, the system model of the mLTE-U scheme in coexistence with Wi-Fi is studied. In addition, mLTE-U is enhanced with a Q-learning technique that is used for autonomous selection of the appropriate combinations of TXOP and muting period that can provide fair coexistence between co-located mLTE-U and Wi-Fi networks. Simulation results showcase the performance of the proposed model and reveal the benefit of using Q-learning for self-adaptation of mLTE-U to the changes of the dynamic wireless environment, toward fair coexistence with Wi-Fi. Finally, the Q-learning mechanism is compared with conventional selection schemes showing the superior performance of the proposed model over less complex mechanisms

Enhancing Coexistence in the Unlicensed Band with Massive MIMO

We consider cellular base stations (BSs) equipped with a large number of antennas and operating in the unlicensed band. We denote such system as massive MIMO unlicensed (mMIMO-U). We design the key procedures required to guarantee coexistence between a cellular BS and nearby Wi-Fi devices. These include: neighboring Wi-Fi channel covariance estimation, allocation of spatial degrees of freedom for interference suppression, and enhanced channel sensing and data transmission phases. We evaluate the performance of the so-designed mMIMO-U, showing that it allows simultaneous cellular and Wi-Fi transmissions by keeping their mutual interference below the regulatory threshold. The same is not true for conventional listen-before-talk (LBT) operations. As a result, mMIMO-U boosts the aggregate cellular-plus-Wi-Fi data rate in the unlicensed band with respect to conventional LBT, exhibiting increasing gains as the number of BS antennas grows.Comment: To appear in Proc. IEEE ICC 201

Survey of Spectrum Sharing for Inter-Technology Coexistence

Increasing capacity demands in emerging wireless technologies are expected to be met by network densification and spectrum bands open to multiple technologies. These will, in turn, increase the level of interference and also result in more complex inter-technology interactions, which will need to be managed through spectrum sharing mechanisms. Consequently, novel spectrum sharing mechanisms should be designed to allow spectrum access for multiple technologies, while efficiently utilizing the spectrum resources overall. Importantly, it is not trivial to design such efficient mechanisms, not only due to technical aspects, but also due to regulatory and business model constraints. In this survey we address spectrum sharing mechanisms for wireless inter-technology coexistence by means of a technology circle that incorporates in a unified, system-level view the technical and non-technical aspects. We thus systematically explore the spectrum sharing design space consisting of parameters at different layers. Using this framework, we present a literature review on inter-technology coexistence with a focus on wireless technologies with equal spectrum access rights, i.e. (i) primary/primary, (ii) secondary/secondary, and (iii) technologies operating in a spectrum commons. Moreover, we reflect on our literature review to identify possible spectrum sharing design solutions and performance evaluation approaches useful for future coexistence cases. Finally, we discuss spectrum sharing design challenges and suggest future research directions

Wi-Fi Coexistence with Duty Cycled LTE-U

Coexistence of Wi-Fi and LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) technologies has drawn significant concern in industry. In this paper, we investigate the Wi-Fi performance in the presence of duty cycle based LTE-U transmission on the same channel. More specifically, one LTE-U cell and one Wi-Fi basic service set (BSS) coexist by allowing LTE-U devices transmit their signals only in predetermined duty cycles. Wi-Fi stations, on the other hand, simply contend the shared channel using the distributed coordination function (DCF) protocol without cooperation with the LTE-U system or prior knowledge about the duty cycle period or duty cycle of LTE-U transmission. We define the fairness of the above scheme as the difference between Wi-Fi performance loss ratio (considering a defined reference performance) and the LTE-U duty cycle (or function of LTE-U duty cycle). Depending on the interference to noise ratio (INR) being above or below -62dbm, we classify the LTE-U interference as strong or weak and establish mathematical models accordingly. The average throughput and average service time of Wi-Fi are both formulated as functions of Wi-Fi and LTE-U system parameters using probability theory. Lastly, we use the Monte Carlo analysis to demonstrate the fairness of Wi-Fi and LTE-U air time sharing

- Frequency Sharing of Wi-Fi/LTE-U -

학위논문 (석사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 협동과정 기술경영·경제·정책전공, 2020. 8. Jorn Altmann .5세대(5G) 이동통신 확산을 위하여 정부는 '비면허 5G' 주파수 대역인 6GHz 대역폭에 최대 1.2㎓ 폭을 공급할 예정이다. 4차 산업에 대응하여 기업이 스마트 공장에 적합한 맞춤형 5G망을 구축하기 위한 목적이다. 과학기술정보통신부(MSIT)는 6㎓ 대역 대상으로 비면허 주파수 대역의 5G 연구반을 가동, 주파수 분배 방안 수립과 기술 기준 제정에 착수한 것으로 확인됐다. 비면허 5G(NR-U)는 정부가 개방한 비면허 주파수 대역에 5G 코어망과 기지국 등 표준 기술을 적용해 초저지연초고속 성능을 구현하는 기술로, 6월 국제민간표준화기구(3GPP) 상용화를 앞두고 있다. 그러나 5/6GHz 대역의 주파수는 와이파이와 LTE-LAA가 공존하게 될 영역으로 이해관계자들의 주장이 엇갈리고 있다. LBT (Listen-Before-Talk)는 비면허 주파수를 공유하는 방법으로 기술적/행정적 방안으로, 채널을 분석하여 데이터를 전송하기 가장 적절한 주파수대역을 선출하는 방법중에 하나이다. 이 대역을 선출하기 위한 기술 방법은 CCA (Clear Channel Assessment)라고 한다. 이 기술은 LTE 통신사업자들이 개발한 기술로 구체화된 기술표준을 요구하고 있다. 하지만, 이 기술을 와이파이 사업자 입장에서는 이 기술의 실제 실용가능 여부에 대해 의구심을 갖고 있다. 그 이유는 해당 기술이 지나치게 LTE 통신사업자들에게 유리하게 개발된 기술이라는 논쟁이 있기 때문이다. 이에 통신기술정책 결정자는 양측이 공존할 수 있는 법 제정방안을 강구해야 하며, 이 논문에서는 기존 와이파이 사용자들을 보호하며 통신 사업자들 역시 주파수를 공유할 수 있는 제도 정책의 방법을 정책자 입장에서 연구해보자 한다. 비면허 주파수를 개방하게 되었을 때 채널 사용자 비율과 라이선스 배부 비율 사이의 효율성에 대해 연구하였다. 그리고, 사용 가능한 채널을 비교하는 방법을 기존연구를 통해 비교하고 새로운 모델을 개발 했다. 또 기술 표준으로 이미 제정 된 노이즈 한계치가 실제 공유가 됐을 때 어떤식으로 작용되는 지를 알아보기 위해 시뮬레이션 분석을 통해 예측해 보았다.A spectrum-sharing policy is yet to be established for unlicensed bands. There are several controversies related to providing 5-GHz (5G) band service with the coexistence of Wi-Fi and LTE–LAA (License Assisted Access). LTE–LAA is a technical and political scheme for sharing spectrum bands. Using this technique, the channel can be evaluated, and a proper channel can be selected before data transmission. This mechanism is called listen before talk (LBT), and the channel selection procedure is called clear channel assessment (CCA). LTE service providers suggest standardizing this technology using an unlicensed band. However, existing Wi-Fi users are skeptical about the sharing process. In this paper, we describe proper spectrum-sharing mechanisms based on policy-based channel selection algorithms. Based on the results, proper regulation of the 5G LTE-U is required to avoid conflicts among service providers. This work uses a policy-based mechanism to understand the role of the government in managing these bands. The main idea is that stricter sharing-policy regulations and higher thresholds must be implemented to protect the rights of existing users.1. Introduction 1 1.1 Research Background 1 1.2 Problem Description 2 1.2.1 Controversies on Wi-Fi and LTE-U Coexistence 2 1.3 Research Question 4 1.3.1. Fairness and Efficiency of Sharing Policy 4 1.3.2. Evaluation and Simulation of Sharing Technology 5 1.4 Contribution 5 2. Literature Review 6 2.1 Spectrum-Sharing Policy 6 2.1.2 Case of South Korea 8 2.2 Spectrum-Sharing Technologies 10 2.2.1 Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) 11 2.2.2 Listen Before Talk (LBT) 13 2.2.2.1 Qualcomm Evaluation 13 2.2.2.2 3GPP Evaluation 16 2.3 Comparison with Previous Work 17 3. Modeling 20 3.1 General Assumption 22 3.2 Flow Chart 23 3.2.1 License Type Evaluation (Guard Interval Evaluation) 23 3.2.2 Energy Detection Evaluation 26 4. Simulation 29 4.1 Parameter setting 29 4.2 Simulation Result 31 5. Conclusion 36 5.1 Overall Implication 36 5.2 Limitation 37 5.3 Further study 37 Appendix 39 Bibliography 47 Abstract (Korean) 50Maste

Cooperation techniques between LTE in unlicensed spectrum and Wi-Fi towards fair spectral efficiency

On the road towards 5G, a proliferation of Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) is expected. Sensor networks are of great importance in this new wireless era, as they allow interaction with the environment. Additionally, the establishment of the Internet of Things (IoT) has incredibly increased the number of interconnected devices and consequently the already massive wirelessly transmitted traffic. The exponential growth of wireless traffic is pushing the wireless community to investigate solutions that maximally exploit the available spectrum. Recently, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) announced standards that permit the operation of Long Term Evolution (LTE) in the unlicensed spectrum in addition to the exclusive use of the licensed spectrum owned by a mobile operator. Alternatively, leading wireless technology developers examine standalone LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum without any involvement of a mobile operator. In this article, we present a classification of different techniques that can be applied on co-located LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Up to today, Wi-Fi is the most widely-used wireless technology in the unlicensed spectrum. A review of the current state of the art further reveals the lack of cooperation schemes among co-located networks that can lead to more optimal usage of the available spectrum. This article fills this gap in the literature by conceptually describing different classes of cooperation between LTE and Wi-Fi. For each class, we provide a detailed presentation of possible cooperation techniques that can provide spectral efficiency in a fair manner

LTE IN UNLICENSED BANDS: A RIVAL OR COLLABORATOR TO WI-FI?

Due to the rapidly increasing demand for internet traffic, mobile operators have faced a problem of bandwidth availability. Since only licensed spectrum has been previously utilized by wireless networks, moving LTE to the 5 GHz unlicensed bands has become a popular research initiative, known as LTELicensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA). This thesis studies the feasibility and implementation of LTE-LAA, and sets a goal of confirming the effectiveness of this technology. An alternative implementation of a Listen-Before-Talk channel contention mechanism is tested in this work with the use of LTE-A Vienna Link Level Simulator. The obtained results suggest that LTE-LAA is capable of boosting network throughput while providing harmonious coexistence with the IEEE 802.11 standard operating in the same unlicensed spectrum

Measurement and Optimization of LTE Performance

4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile system is the fourth generation communication system adopted worldwide to provide high-speed data connections and high-quality voice calls. Given the recent deployment by mobile service providers, unlike GSM and UMTS, LTE can be still considered to be in its early stages and therefore many topics still raise great interest among the international scientific research community: network performance assessment, network optimization, selective scheduling, interference management and coexistence with other communication systems in the unlicensed band, methods to evaluate human exposure to electromagnetic radiation are, as a matter of fact, still open issues. In this work techniques adopted to increase LTE radio performances are investigated. One of the most wide-spread solutions proposed by the standard is to implement MIMO techniques and within a few years, to overcome the scarcity of spectrum, LTE network operators will offload data traffic by accessing the unlicensed 5 GHz frequency. Our Research deals with an evaluation of 3GPP standard in a real test best scenario to evaluate network behavior and performance

An adaptive LTE listen-before-talk scheme towards a fair coexistence with Wi-Fi in unlicensed spectrum

The technological growth combined with the exponential increase of wireless traffic are pushing the wireless community to investigate solutions to maximally exploit the available spectrum. Among the proposed solutions, the operation of Long Term Evolution (LTE) in the unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) has attracted significant attention. Recently, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project announced specifications that allow LTE to transmit in the unlicensed spectrum using a Listen Before Talk (LBT) procedure, respecting this way the regulator requirements worldwide. However, the proposed standards may cause coexistence issues between LTE and legacy Wi-Fi networks. In this article, it is discussed that a fair coexistence mechanism is needed to guarantee equal channel access opportunities for the co-located networks in a technology-agnostic way, taking into account potential traffic requirements. In order to enable harmonious coexistence and fair spectrum sharing among LTE-U and Wi-Fi, an adaptive LTE-U LBT scheme is presented. This scheme uses a variable LTE transmission opportunity (TXOP) followed by a variable muting period. This way, co-located Wi-Fi networks can exploit the muting period to gain access to the wireless medium. The scheme is studied and evaluated in different compelling scenarios using a simulation platform. The results show that by configuring the LTE-U with the appropriate TXOP and muting period values, the proposed scheme can significantly improve the coexistence among LTE-U and Wi-Fi in a fair manner. Finally, a preliminary algorithm is proposed on how the optimal configuration parameters can be selected towards harmonious and fair coexistence