397 research outputs found
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
Integration of Carrier Aggregation and Dual Connectivity for the ns-3 mmWave Module
Thanks to the wide availability of bandwidth, the millimeter wave (mmWave)
frequencies will provide very high data rates to mobile users in next
generation 5G cellular networks. However, mmWave links suffer from high
isotropic pathloss and blockage from common materials, and are subject to an
intermittent channel quality. Therefore, protocols and solutions at different
layers in the cellular network and the TCP/IP protocol stack have been proposed
and studied. A valuable tool for the end-to-end performance analysis of mmWave
cellular networks is the ns-3 mmWave module, which already models in detail the
channel, Physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers, and extends the
Long Term Evolution (LTE) stack for the higher layers. In this paper we present
an implementation for the ns-3 mmWave module of multi connectivity techniques
for 3GPP New Radio (NR) at mmWave frequencies, namely Carrier Aggregation (CA)
and Dual Connectivity (DC), and discuss how they can be integrated to increase
the functionalities offered by the ns-3 mmWave module.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to the Workshop on ns-3 (WNS3) 201
An Efficient Requirement-Aware Attachment Policy for Future Millimeter Wave Vehicular Networks
The automotive industry is rapidly evolving towards connected and autonomous
vehicles, whose ever more stringent data traffic requirements might exceed the
capacity of traditional technologies for vehicular networks. In this scenario,
densely deploying millimeter wave (mmWave) base stations is a promising
approach to provide very high transmission speeds to the vehicles. However,
mmWave signals suffer from high path and penetration losses which might render
the communication unreliable and discontinuous. Coexistence between mmWave and
Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication systems has therefore been considered
to guarantee increased capacity and robustness through heterogeneous
networking. Following this rationale, we face the challenge of designing fair
and efficient attachment policies in heterogeneous vehicular networks.
Traditional methods based on received signal quality criteria lack
consideration of the vehicle's individual requirements and traffic demands, and
lead to suboptimal resource allocation across the network. In this paper we
propose a Quality-of-Service (QoS) aware attachment scheme which biases the
cell selection as a function of the vehicular service requirements, preventing
the overload of transmission links. Our simulations demonstrate that the
proposed strategy significantly improves the percentage of vehicles satisfying
application requirements and delivers efficient and fair association compared
to state-of-the-art schemes.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted to the 30th IEEE Intelligent
Vehicles Symposiu
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
ns-3 Implementation of the 3GPP MIMO Channel Model for Frequency Spectrum above 6 GHz
Communications at mmWave frequencies will be a key enabler of the next
generation of cellular networks, due to the multi-Gbps rate that can be
achieved. However, there are still several problems that must be solved before
this technology can be widely adopted, primarily associated with the interplay
between the variability of mmWave links and the complexity of mobile networks.
An end-to-end network simulator represents a great tool to assess the
performance of any proposed solution to meet the stringent 5G requirements.
Given the criticality of channel propagation characteristics at higher
frequencies, we present our implementation of the 3GPP channel model for the
6-100 GHz band for the ns-3 end-to-end 5G mmWave module, and detail its
associated MIMO beamforming architecture
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
On the Accuracy of Interference Models in Wireless Communications
We develop a new framework for measuring and comparing the accuracy of any
wireless interference models used in the analysis and design of wireless
networks. Our approach is based on a new index that assesses the ability of the
interference model to correctly predict harmful interference events, i.e., link
outages. We use this new index to quantify the accuracy of various interference
models used in the literature, under various scenarios such as Rayleigh fading
wireless channels, directional antennas, and blockage (impenetrable obstacles)
in the network. Our analysis reveals that in highly directional antenna
settings with obstructions, even simple interference models (e.g., the
classical protocol model) are accurate, while with omnidirectional antennas,
more sophisticated and complex interference models (e.g., the classical
physical model) are necessary. Our new approach makes it possible to adopt the
appropriate interference model of adequate accuracy and simplicity in different
settings.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted in IEEE ICC 201
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