614 research outputs found
Cellular and Wi-Fi technologies evolution: from complementarity to competition
This PhD thesis has the characteristic to span over a long time because while working on it, I was working as a research engineer at CTTC with highly demanding development duties. This has delayed the deposit more than I would have liked. On the other hand, this has given me the privilege of witnessing and studying how wireless technologies have been evolving over a decade from 4G to 5G and beyond.
When I started my PhD thesis, IEEE and 3GPP were defining the two main wireless technologies at the time, Wi-Fi and LTE, for covering two substantially complementary market targets. Wi-Fi was designed to operate mostly indoor, in unlicensed spectrum, and was aimed to be a simple and cheap technology. Its primary technology for coexistence was based on the assumption that the spectrum on which it was operating was for free, and so it was designed with interference avoidance through the famous CSMA/CA protocol. On the other hand, 3GPP was designing technologies for licensed spectrum, a costly kind of spectrum. As a result, LTE was designed to take the best advantage of it while providing the best QoE in mainly outdoor scenarios.
The PhD thesis starts in this context and evolves with these two technologies. In the first chapters, the thesis studies radio resource management solutions for standalone operation of Wi-Fi in unlicensed and LTE in licensed spectrum. We anticipated the now fundamental machine learning trend by working on machine learning-based radio resource management solutions to improve LTE and Wi-Fi operation in their respective spectrum. We pay particular attention to small cell deployments aimed at improving the spectrum efficiency in licensed spectrum, reproducing small range scenarios typical of Wi-Fi settings.
IEEE and 3GPP followed evolving the technologies over the years: Wi-Fi has grown into a much more complex and sophisticated technology, incorporating the key features of cellular technologies, like HARQ, OFDMA, MU-MIMO, MAC scheduling and spatial reuse. On the other hand, since Release 13, cellular networks have also been designed for unlicensed spectrum. As a result, the two last chapters of this thesis focus on coexistence scenarios, in which LTE needs to be designed to coexist with Wi-Fi fairly, and NR, the radio access for 5G, with Wi-Fi in 5 GHz and WiGig in 60 GHz. Unlike LTE, which was adapted to operate in unlicensed spectrum, NR-U is natively designed with this feature, including its capability to operate in unlicensed in a complete standalone fashion, a fundamental new milestone for cellular. In this context, our focus of analysis changes. We consider that these two technological families are no longer targeting complementarity but are now competing, and we claim that this will be the trend for the years to come.
To enable the research in these multi-RAT scenarios, another fundamental result of this PhD thesis, besides the scientific contributions, is the release of high fidelity models for LTE and NR and their coexistence with Wi-Fi and WiGig to the ns-3 open-source community. ns-3 is a popular open-source network simulator, with the characteristic to be multi-RAT and so naturally allows the evaluation of coexistence scenarios between different technologies. These models, for which I led the development, are by academic citations, the most used open-source simulation models for LTE and NR and havereceived fundings from industry (Ubiquisys, WFA, SpiderCloud, Interdigital, Facebook) and federal agencies (NIST, LLNL) over the years.Aquesta tesi doctoral tĂ© la caracterĂstica d’allargar-se durant un llarg perĂode de temps ja que mentre treballava en ella, treballava com a enginyera investigadora a CTTC amb tasques de desenvolupament molt exigents. Això ha endarrerit el dipositar-la mĂ©s del que m’haguĂ©s agradat. D’altra banda, això m’ha donat el privilegi de ser testimoni i estudiar com han evolucionat les tecnologies sense fils durant mĂ©s d’una dècada des del 4G fins al 5G i mĂ©s enllĂ . Quan vaig començar la tesi doctoral, IEEE i 3GPP estaven definint les dues tecnologies sense fils principals en aquell moment, Wi-Fi i LTE, que cobreixen dos objectius de mercat substancialment complementaris. Wi-Fi va ser dissenyat per funcionar principalment en interiors, en espectre sense llicència, i pretenia ser una tecnologia senzilla i barata. La seva tecnologia primĂ ria per a la convivència es basava en el supòsit que l’espectre en el que estava operant era de franc, i, per tant, es va dissenyar simplement evitant interferències a travĂ©s del famĂłs protocol CSMA/CA. D’altra banda, 3GPP estava dissenyant tecnologies per a espectres amb llicència, un tipus d’espectre costĂłs. Com a resultat, LTE estĂ dissenyat per treure’n el mĂ xim profit alhora que proporciona el millor QoE en escenaris principalment a l’aire lliure. La tesi doctoral comença amb aquest context i evoluciona amb aquestes dues tecnologies. En els primers capĂtols, estudiem solucions de gestiĂł de recursos de radio per a operacions en espectre de Wi-Fi sense llicència i LTE amb llicència. Hem anticipat l’actual tendència fonamental d’aprenentatge automĂ tic treballant solucions de gestiĂł de recursos de radio basades en l’aprenentatge automĂ tic per millorar l’LTE i Wi-Fi en el seu espectre respectiu. Prestem especial atenciĂł als desplegaments de cèl·lules petites destinades a millorar la eficiència d’espectre llicenciat, reproduint escenaris de petit abast tĂpics de la configuraciĂł Wi-Fi. IEEE i 3GPP van seguir evolucionant les tecnologies al llarg dels anys: El Wi-Fi s’ha convertit en una tecnologia molt mĂ©s complexa i sofisticada, incorporant les caracterĂstiques clau de les tecnologies cel·lulars, com ara HARQ i la reutilitzaciĂł espacial. D’altra banda, des de la versiĂł 13, tambĂ© s’han dissenyat xarxes cel·lulars per a espectre sense llicència. Com a resultat, els dos darrers capĂtols d’aquesta tesi es centren en aquests escenaris de convivència, on s’ha de dissenyar LTE per conviure amb la Wi-Fi de manera justa, i NR, l’accĂ©s a la radio per a 5G amb Wi-Fi a 5 GHz i WiGig a 60 GHz. A diferència de LTE, que es va adaptar per funcionar en espectre sense llicència, NR-U estĂ dissenyat de forma nativa amb aquesta caracterĂstica, inclosa la seva capacitat per operar sense llicència de forma autònoma completa, una nova fita fonamental per al mòbil. En aquest context, el nostre focus d’anĂ lisi canvia. Considerem que aquestes dues famĂlies de tecnologia ja no estan orientades cap a la complementarietat, sinĂł que ara competeixen, i afirmem que aquesta serĂ el tendència per als propers anys. Per permetre la investigaciĂł en aquests escenaris multi-RAT, un altre resultat fonamental d’aquesta tesi doctoral, a mĂ©s de les aportacions cientĂfiques, Ă©s l’alliberament de models d’alta fidelitat per a LTE i NR i la seva coexistència amb Wi-Fi a la comunitat de codi obert ns-3. ns-3 Ă©s un popular simulador de xarxa de codi obert, amb la caracterĂstica de ser multi-RAT i, per tant, permet l’avaluaciĂł de manera natural d’escenaris de convivència entre diferents tecnologies. Aquests models, pels quals he liderat el desenvolupament, sĂłn per cites acadèmiques, els models de simulaciĂł de codi obert mĂ©s utilitzats per a LTE i NR i que han rebut finançament de la indĂşstria (Ubiquisys, WFA, SpiderCloud, Interdigital, Facebook) i agències federals (NIST, LLNL) al llarg dels anys.Esta tesis doctoral tiene la caracterĂstica de extenderse durante mucho tiempo porque mientras trabajaba en ella, trabajaba como ingeniera de investigaciĂłn en CTTC con tareas de desarrollo muy exigentes. Esto ha retrasado el depĂłsito más de lo que me hubiera gustado. Por otro lado,
gracias a ello, he tenido el privilegio de presenciar y estudiar como las tecnologĂas inalámbricas
han evolucionado durante una década, de 4G a 5G y más allá.
Cuando comencé mi tesis doctoral, IEEE y 3GPP estaban definiendo las dos principales
tecnologĂas inalámbricas en ese momento, Wi-Fi y LTE, cumpliendo dos objetivos de mercado
sustancialmente complementarios. Wi-Fi fue diseñado para funcionar principalmente en
interiores, en un espectro sin licencia, y estaba destinado a ser una tecnologĂa simple y barata.
Su tecnologĂa primaria para la convivencia se basaba en el supuesto en que el espectro en
el que estaba operando era gratis, y asà fue diseñado simplemente evitando interferencias a
travĂ©s del famoso protocolo CSMA/CA. Por otro lado, 3GPP estaba diseñando tecnologĂas
para espectro con licencia, un tipo de espectro costoso. Como resultado, LTE está diseñado
para aprovechar el espectro al máximo proporcionando al mismo tiempo el mejor QoE en
escenarios principalmente al aire libre.
La tesis doctoral parte de este contexto y evoluciona con estas dos tecnologĂas. En los
primeros capĂtulos, estudiamos las soluciones de gestiĂłn de recursos de radio para operaciĂłn
en espectro Wi-Fi sin licencia y LTE con licencia. Anticipamos la tendencia ahora fundamental
de aprendizaje automático trabajando en soluciones de gestión de recursos de radio para
mejorar LTE y funcionamiento deWi-Fi en su respectivo espectro. Prestamos especial atenciĂłn
a las implementaciones de células pequeñas destinadas a mejorar la eficiencia de espectro
licenciado, reproduciendo los tĂpicos escenarios de rango pequeño de la configuraciĂłn Wi-Fi.
IEEE y 3GPP siguieron evolucionando las tecnologĂas a lo largo de los años: Wi-Fi
se ha convertido en una tecnologĂa mucho más compleja y sofisticada, incorporando las
caracterĂsticas clave de las tecnologĂas celulares, como HARQ, OFDMA, MU-MIMO, MAC
scheduling y la reutilización espacial. Por otro lado, desde la Release 13, también se han
diseñado redes celulares para espectro sin licencia. Como resultado, los dos Ăşltimos capĂtulos
de esta tesis se centran en estos escenarios de convivencia, donde LTE debe diseñarse para
coexistir con Wi-Fi de manera justa, y NR, el acceso por radio para 5G con Wi-Fi en 5 GHz
y WiGig en 60 GHz. A diferencia de LTE, que se adaptĂł para operar en espectro sin licencia,
NR-U está diseñado de forma nativa con esta función, incluyendo su capacidad para operar
sin licencia de forma completamente independiente, un nuevo hito fundamental para los
celulares. En este contexto, cambia nuestro enfoque de análisis. Consideramos que estas dos
familias tecnológicas ya no tienen como objetivo la complementariedad, sino que ahora están
compitiendo, y afirmamos que esta será la tendencia para los próximos años.
Para permitir la investigaciĂłn en estos escenarios de mĂşltiples RAT, otro resultado fundamental
de esta tesis doctoral, además de los aportes cientĂficos, es el lanzamiento de modelos de alta
fidelidad para LTE y NR y su coexistencia con Wi-Fi y WiGig a la comunidad de cĂłdigo
abierto de ns-3. ns-3 es un simulador popular de red de cĂłdigo abierto, con la caracterĂstica
de ser multi-RAT y asĂ, naturalmente, permite la evaluaciĂłn de escenarios de convivencia
entre diferentes tecnologĂas. Estos modelos, para los cuales liderĂ© el desarrollo, son por citas
académicas, los modelos de simulación de código abierto más utilizados para LTE y NR y
han recibido fondos de la industria (Ubiquisys, WFA, SpiderCloud, Interdigital, Facebook) y
agencias federales (NIST, LLNL) a lo largo de los años.Postprint (published version
Securing Handover in Wireless IP Networks
In wireless and mobile networks, handover is a complex process that involves multiple layers of protocol and security executions. With the growing popularity of real time communication services such as Voice of IP, a great challenge faced by handover nowadays comes from the impact of security implementations that can cause performance degradation especially for mobile devices with limited resources.
Given the existing networks with heterogeneous wireless access technologies, one essential research question that needs be addressed is how to achieve a balance between security and performance during the handover. The variations of security policy and agreement among different services and network vendors make the topic challenging even more, due to the involvement of commercial and social factors.
In order to understand the problems and challenges in this field, we study the properties of handover as well as state of the art security schemes to assist handover in wireless IP networks. Based on our analysis, we define a two-phase model to identify the key procedures of handover security in wireless and mobile networks. Through the model we analyze the performance impact from existing security schemes in terms of handover completion time, throughput, and Quality of Services (QoS). As our endeavor of seeking a balance between handover security and performance, we propose the local administrative domain as a security enhanced localized domain to promote the handover performance. To evaluate the performance improvement in local administrative domain, we implement the security protocols adopted by our proposal in the ns-2 simulation environment and analyze the measurement results based on our simulation test
LTE Optimization and Resource Management in Wireless Heterogeneous Networks
Mobile communication technology is evolving with a great pace. The development of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile system by 3GPP is one of the milestones in this direction. This work highlights a few areas in the LTE radio access network where the proposed innovative mechanisms can substantially improve overall LTE system performance. In order to further extend the capacity of LTE networks, an integration with the non-3GPP networks (e.g., WLAN, WiMAX etc.) is also proposed in this work. Moreover, it is discussed how bandwidth resources should be managed in such heterogeneous networks. The work has purposed a comprehensive system architecture as an overlay of the 3GPP defined SAE architecture, effective resource management mechanisms as well as a Linear Programming based analytical solution for the optimal network resource allocation problem. In addition, alternative computationally efficient heuristic based algorithms have also been designed to achieve near-optimal performance
Network-based IP flow mobility support in 3GPPs evolved packet core
Includes bibliographical references.Mobile data traffic in cellular networks has increased tremendously in the last few years. Due to the costs associated with licensed spectrum, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are battling to manage these increased traffic growths. Offloading mobile data traffic to alternative low cost access networks like Wi-Fi has been proposed as a candidate solution to enable MNOs to alleviate congestion from the cellular networks. This dissertation investigates an offloading technique called IP flow mobility within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) all-IP mobile core network, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). IP flow mobility would enable offloading a subset of the mobile user‟s traffic to an alternative access network while allowing the rest of the end-user‟s traffic to be kept in the cellular access; this way, traffic with stringent quality of service requirements like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) would not experience service disruption or interruption when offloaded. This technique is different from previous offloading techniques where all the end-user‟s traffic is offloaded. IP flow mobility functionality can be realised with either host- or network-based mobility protocols. The recommended IP flow mobility standard of 3GPP is based on the host-based mobility solution, Dual-Stack Mobile IPv6. However, host-based mobility solutions have drawbacks like long handover latencies and produce signaling overhead in the radio access networks, which could be less appealing to MNOs. Network-based mobility solutions, compared to the host-based mobility solutions, have reduced handover latencies with no signaling overhead occurring in the radio access network. Proxy Mobile IPv6 is a networkbased mobility protocol adapted by 3GPP for mobility in the EPC. However, the standardisation of the Proxy Mobile IPv6-based IP flow mobility functionality is still ongoing within 3GPP. A review of related literature and standardisation efforts reveals shortcomings with the Proxy Mobile IPv6 mobility protocol in supporting IP flow mobility. Proxy Mobile IPv6 does not have a mechanism that would ensure session continuity during IP flow handoffs or a mechanism enabling controlling of the forwarding path of a particular IP flow i.e., specifying the access network for the IP flow. The latter mechanism is referred to as IP flow information management and flow-based routing. These mechanisms represent the basis for enabling the IP flow mobility functionality. To address the shortcomings of Proxy Mobile IPv6, this dissertation proposes vi enhancements to the protocol procedures to enable the two mechanisms for IP flow mobility functionality. The proposed enhancements for the session continuity mechanism draw on work in related literature and the proposed enhancements for the IP flow information management and flow-based routing mechanism are based on the concepts used in the Dual- Stack Mobile IPv6 IP flow mobility functionality. Together the two mechanisms allow the end-user to issue requests on what access network a particular IP flow should be routed, and ensure that the IP flows are moved to the particular access network without session discontinuity
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
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