536 research outputs found
Hardware accelerated SDR platform for adaptive air interfaces
The future 5G wireless infrastructure will support any-to-any connectivity
between densely deployed smart objects that form the emerging paradigm known as
the Internet of Everything (IoE). Compared to traditional wireless networks
that enable communication between devices using a single technology, 5G
networks will need to support seamless connectivity between heterogeneous
wireless objects and IoE networks. To tackle the complexity and versatility of
future IoE networks, 5G will need to guarantee optimal usage of both spectrum
and energy resources and further support technology-agnostic connectivity
between objects. One way to realize this is to combine intelligent network
control with adaptive software defined air interfaces. In this paper, a
flexible and compact platform is proposed for on-the-fly composition of
low-power adaptive air interfaces, based on hardware/software co-processing.
Compared to traditional Software Defined Radio (SDR) systems that perform
computationally-intensive signal processing algorithms in software, consume
significantly power and have a large form factor, the proposed platform uses
modern hybrid FPGA technology combined with novel ideas such as RF
Network-on-Chip (RFNoC) and partial reconfiguration. The resulting system
enables composition of reconfigurable air interfaces based on hardware/software
co-processing on a single chip, allowing high processing throughput, at a
smaller form factor and reduced power consumption.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Will SDN be part of 5G?
For many, this is no longer a valid question and the case is considered
settled with SDN/NFV (Software Defined Networking/Network Function
Virtualization) providing the inevitable innovation enablers solving many
outstanding management issues regarding 5G. However, given the monumental task
of softwarization of radio access network (RAN) while 5G is just around the
corner and some companies have started unveiling their 5G equipment already,
the concern is very realistic that we may only see some point solutions
involving SDN technology instead of a fully SDN-enabled RAN. This survey paper
identifies all important obstacles in the way and looks at the state of the art
of the relevant solutions. This survey is different from the previous surveys
on SDN-based RAN as it focuses on the salient problems and discusses solutions
proposed within and outside SDN literature. Our main focus is on fronthaul,
backward compatibility, supposedly disruptive nature of SDN deployment,
business cases and monetization of SDN related upgrades, latency of general
purpose processors (GPP), and additional security vulnerabilities,
softwarization brings along to the RAN. We have also provided a summary of the
architectural developments in SDN-based RAN landscape as not all work can be
covered under the focused issues. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on
the state of the art of SDN-based RAN and clearly points out the gaps in the
technology.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure
Transceivers as a Resource: Scheduling Time and Bandwidth in Software-Defined Radio
In the future, software-defined radio may enable a mobile device to support multiple wireless protocols implemented as software applications. These applications, often referred to as waveform applications, could be added, updated, or removed from a software-radio device to meet changing demands. Current software-defined radio solutions grant an active waveform exclusive ownership of a specific transceiver or analog front-end. Since a wireless device has a limited number of front-ends, this approach puts a hard constraint on the number of concurrent waveform applications a device can support. A growing trend in software-defined radio research is to virtualize front-ends to allow sharing and reuse among active waveform applications. This poses a difficult scheduling challenge. This article proposes a new approach in which shared access to front-ends is managed by a mixed-integer linear programming model. This model ties together the technique of time-division sharing and front-end bandwidth channelization. This scheduling model is evaluated in simulation under several different scenarios and workloads. Simulation results show that the proposed approach reduces hardware contention and missed radio accesses compared to existing techniques
Partially reconfigurable SDR solution on FPGA
Abstract. Software-defined radios (SDR) have become more common in order to answer the increasing complexity of wireless communication standards. The flexibility offered by SDR technology in return makes it possible to create and implement even more complex standards so there exists a mutual evolution cycle. One of the technological opportunities pursued on SDR is changing the waveforms on the fly.
The standards challenge the SDR development. Computing throughput needs to be high enough, the end product has to be energy efficient, and all of this must be accomplished as cheaply as possible.
SDRs have a wide range of implementation opportunities from complete software designs to more hardware oriented with higher level software control. The extreme ends of these approaches suffer from energy dissipation and design cost issues, respectively. The compromises include application specific architectures and reconfigurable hardware. Solutions vary from software to hardware between cases and depending on the needs. This thesis concentrates on investigating partial reconfigurability on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) in an SDR application.
Based on the results, partial reconfigurability is an attractive mean to bolster SDR functionalities. Although the energy efficiency of the employed FPGA solution is inferior to using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), the flexibility and cost of design set them apart. This study focuses on partial reconfiguration on Xilinx FPGA devices but it may show benefits for other devices that can utilize partial reconfiguration on their designs.Osittain uudelleenohjelmoitava ohjelmistoradio FPGA-piirillä. Tiivistelmä. Ohjelmistoradiot ovat yleistyneet entistä kehittyneempien langattomien kommunikointimenetelmien myötä ja tarpeesta vastata näiden vaatimuksiin. Samalla ohjelmistoradioiden joustavuus mahdollistaa uusien ja kompleksisempien standardien kehittämisen. Tätä voi pitää molemminpuolisena kehityssyklinä. Aaltomuotojen nopea vaihtaminen lennosta ohjelmistoradion ollessa käytössä on yksi kehityksen alla oleva teknologia.
Kommunikointistandardit haastavat ohjelmistoradioiden kehityksen erilaisilla vaatimuksillaan. Esimerkiksi laskentatehon tulee olla korkea, lopputuotteen energiatehokas ja tämän tulee tapahtua mahdollisimman edullisesti.
Ohjelmistoradioiden toteutukset vaihtelevat aina vahvoista ohjelmistopohjaisista arkkitehtuureista enemmän laitteistoon tukeutuviin versioihin. Ääripäissä tässä spektrissä ohjelmistoihin perustuvat toteutukset eivät ole riittävän energiatehokkaita ja laitteistoratkaisujen hinnat nousevat helposti korkealle. Keskitien ratkaisuja ovat sovelluskohtaiset arkkitehtuurit ja uudelleen ohjelmoitavat laitteistot. Implementaatiot vaihtelevat ohjelmisto-laitteisto skaalalla riippuen tarpeesta ja tilanteesta. Tämä opinnäytetyö keskittyy tutkimaan osittaista uudelleenohjelmoimista FPGA-piireillä ohjelmistoradion yhteydessä.
Tulosten perusteella osittainen uudelleen ohjelmointi on houkutteleva tapa tehostaa ohjelmistoradioita. Vaikka FPGA-piirien energiatehokkuus ei ole yhtä hyvä kuin ASIC-toteutusten, niiden joustavuus ja suunnittelukustannukset ovat paremmat. Vaikka tämä työ keskittyy osittaiseen uudelleenohjelmointiin Xilinxin FPGA-piireillä, voi siitä olla hyötyä muissa tutkimuksissa ja laitteissa
Analysis, characterization and optimization of the energy efficiency on softwarized mobile platforms
Mención Internacional en el título de doctorLa inminente 5ª generación de sistemas móviles (5G) está a punto de revolucionar la industria, trayendo una nueva arquitectura orientada a los nuevos mercados verticales y servicios. Debido a esto, el 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership (5G-PPP) ha especificado una lista de Indicadores de Rendimiento Clave (KPI) que todo sistema 5G tiene que soportar, por ejemplo incrementar por 1000 el volumen de datos, de 10 a 100 veces m´as dispositivos conectados o consumos energéticos 10 veces inferiores. Con el fin de conseguir estos requisitos, se espera expandir los despligues actuales usando mas Puntos de Acceso (PoA) incrementando así su densidad con
múltiples tecnologías inalámbricas. Esta estrategia de despliegue masivo tiene una contrapartida en la eficiencia energética, generando un conflicto con el KPI de reducir por 10 el consumo energético. En este contexto, la comunidad investigadora ha propuesto nuevos paradigmas para alcanzar los requisitos impuestos para los sistemas 5G, siendo materializados en tecnologías como Redes Definidas por Software (SDN) y Virtualización de Funciones de Red (NFV). Estos nuevos paradigmas son el primer paso hacia la softwarización de los despliegues móviles, incorporando nuevos grados de flexibilidad y reconfigurabilidad de la Red de Acceso Radio (RAN). En esta tesis, presentamos primero un análisis detallado y caracterización de las redes móviles softwarizadas. Consideramos el software como la base de la nueva generación de redes celulares y, por lo tanto, analizaremos y caracterizaremos el impacto en la eficiencia energética de estos
sistemas. La primera meta de este trabajo es caracterizar las plataformas software disponibles para Radios Definidas por Software (SDR), centrándonos en las dos soluciones principales de código abierto: OpenAirInterface (OAI) y srsLTE. Como resultado, proveemos una metodología para analizar y caracterizar el rendimiento de estas soluciones en función del uso de la CPU, rendimiento de red, compatibilidad y extensibilidad de dicho software. Una vez hemos entendido
qué rendimiento podemos esperar de este tipo de soluciones, estudiamos un prototipo SDR construido con aceleración hardware, que emplea una plataformas basada en FPGA. Este prototipo está diseñado para incluir capacidad de ser consciente de la energía, permiento al sistema ser reconfigurado para minimizar la huella energética cuando sea posible. Con el fin de validar el diseño de nuestro sistema, más tarde presentamos una plataforma para caracterizar la energía que será empleada para medir experimentalmente el consumo energético de dispositivos reales. En nuestro enfoque, realizamos dos tipos de análisis: a pequeña escala de tiempo y a gran escala de tiempo. Por lo tanto, para validar nuestro entorno de medidas, caracterizamos a través de análisis numérico los algoritmos para la Adaptación de la Tasa (RA) en IEEE 802.11, para entonces comparar
nuestros resultados teóricos con los experimentales. A continuación extendemos nuestro
análisis a la plataforma SDR acelerada por hardware previamente mencionada. Nuestros resultados experimentales muestran que nuestra sistema puede en efecto reducir la huella energética reconfigurando el despligue del sistema.
Entonces, la escala de tiempos es elevada y presentamos los esquemas para Recursos bajo Demanda (RoD) en despliegues de red ultra-densos. Esta estrategia está basada en apagar/encender
dinámicamente los elementos que forman la red con el fin de reducir el total del consumo
energético. Por lo tanto, presentamos un modelo analítico en dos sabores, un modelo exacto que predice el comportamiento del sistema con precisión pero con un alto coste computacional y uno simplificado que es más ligero en complejidad mientras que mantiene la precisión. Nuestros resultados muestran que estos esquemas pueden efectivamente mejorar la eficiencia energética de
los despliegues y mantener la Calidad de Servicio (QoS). Con el fin de probar la plausibilidad
de los esquemas RoD, presentamos un plataforma softwarizada que sigue el paradigma SDN,
OFTEN (OpenFlow framework for Traffic Engineering in mobile Network with energy awareness).
Nuestro diseño está basado en OpenFlow con funcionalidades para hacerlo consciente de
la energía. Finalmente, un prototipo real con esta plataforma es presentando, probando así la plausibilidad de los RoD en despligues reales.The upcoming 5th Generation of mobile systems (5G) is about to revolutionize the industry,
bringing a new architecture oriented to new vertical markets and services. Due to this, the 5G-PPP
has specified a list of Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that 5G systems need to support e.g. increasing
the 1000 times higher data volume, 10 to 100 times more connected devices or 10 times
lower power consumption. In order to achieve these requirements, it is expected to expand the
current deployments using more Points of Attachment (PoA) by increasing their density and by
using multiple wireless technologies. This massive deployment strategy triggers a side effect in
the energy efficiency though, generating a conflict with the “10 times lower power consumption”
KPI. In this context, the research community has proposed novel paradigms to achieve the imposed
requirements for 5G systems, being materialized in technologies such as Software Defined
Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). These new paradigms are the
first step to softwarize the mobile network deployments, enabling new degrees of flexibility and
reconfigurability of the Radio Access Network (RAN).
In this thesis, we first present a detailed analysis and characterization of softwarized mobile
networking. We consider software as a basis for the next generation of cellular networks and
hence, we analyze and characterize the impact on the energy efficiency of these systems. The
first goal of this work is to characterize the available software platforms for Software Defined
Radio (SDR), focusing on the two main open source solutions: OAI and srsLTE. As result, we
provide a methodology to analyze and characterize the performance of these solutions in terms
of CPU usage, network performance, compatibility and extensibility of the software. Once we
have understood the expected performance for such platformsc, we study an SDR prototype built
with hardware acceleration, that employs a FPGA based platform. This prototype is designed
to include energy-awareness capabilites, allowing the system to be reconfigured to minimize the
energy footprint when possible. In order to validate our system design, we later present an energy
characterization platform that we will employ to experimentally measure the energy consumption
of real devices. In our approach, we perform two kind of analysis: at short time scale and large
time scale. Thus, to validate our approach in short time scale and the energy framework, we have
characterized though numerical analysis the Rate Adaptation (RA) algorithms in IEEE 802.11,
and then compare our theoretical results to the obtained ones through experimentation. Next
we extend our analysis to the hardware accelerated SDR prototype previously mentioned. Our experimental results show that our system can indeed reduce the energy footprint reconfiguring
the system deployment.
Then, the time scale of our analysis is elevated and we present Resource-on-Demand (RoD)
schemes for ultradense network deployments. This strategy is based on dynamically switch on/off
the elements that form the network to reduce the overall energy consumption. Hence, we present
a analytic model in two flavors, an exact model that accurately predicts the system behaviour
but high computational cost and a simplified one that is lighter in complexity while keeping the
accuracy. Our results show that these schemes can effectively enhance the energy efficiency of
the deployments and mantaining the Quality of Service (QoS). In order to prove the feasibility of
RoD, we present a softwarized platform that follows the SDN paradigm, the OFTEN (Open Flow
framework for Traffic Engineering in mobile Networks with energy awareness) framework. Our
design is based on OpenFlow with energy-awareness functionalities. Finally, a real prototype of
this framework is presented, proving the feasibility of the RoD in real deployments.FP7-CROWD (2013-2015) CROWD (Connectivity management for eneRgy Optimised Wireless Dense networks).-- H2020-Flex5GWare (2015-2017) Flex5GWare (Flexible and efficient hardware/software platforms for 5G network elements and devices).Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Telemática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Gramaglia , Marco.- Secretario: José Nuñez.- Vocal: Fabrizio Giulian
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