Random Linear Network Coding for 5G Mobile Video Delivery

An exponential increase in mobile video delivery will continue with the demand for higher resolution, multi-view and large-scale multicast video services. Novel fifth generation (5G) 3GPP New Radio (NR) standard will bring a number of new opportunities for optimizing video delivery across both 5G core and radio access networks. One of the promising approaches for video quality adaptation, throughput enhancement and erasure protection is the use of packet-level random linear network coding (RLNC). In this review paper, we discuss the integration of RLNC into the 5G NR standard, building upon the ideas and opportunities identified in 4G LTE. We explicitly identify and discuss in detail novel 5G NR features that provide support for RLNC-based video delivery in 5G, thus pointing out to the promising avenues for future research.Comment: Invited paper for Special Issue "Network and Rateless Coding for Video Streaming" - MDPI Informatio

Point-to-Multipoint Services on Fifth-Generation Mobile Networks

[ES] Esta disertación cubre el estado del arte en LTE eMBMS Release 14, también conocido como Enhanced Television Services (ENTV). ENTV trajo un conjunto de mejoras, tanto a nivel radio como a nivel de núcleo, que transformó a eMBMS en un estándar de televisión terrestre completo. La última versión de esta tecnología se denomina LTE-based 5G Broadcast; pero no usa New Radio ni el núcleo 5G. Para proveer una solución nativa 5G de servicios punto-a-multipunto, hubo investigación en entornos acad\'emicos y colaboraciones público-privada. La iniciativa más notable en este aspecto fue el proyecto del Horizon 2020 5G-Xcast, que transcurrió de 2017 a 2019. 5G-Xcast produjo varias soluciones a nivel de arquitectura, desde la perspectiva de provisión de contenidos, nuevas funciones de red interoperables con el núcleo 5G, hasta modificaciones a la interfaz aire basada en New Radio. Los hallazgos del proyecto están descritos en esta tesis. La tesis incluye dos ejemplos de eMBMS aplicados a verticales diferentes, una para el uso de eMBMS en entornos industriales, y otra presentando eMBMS como un sistema SAP. Incluir servicios punto-a-multipunto como un modo adicional celular trae algunos desafíos, como ya mostró la estandarización de eMBMS: las redes de radiodifusión terrestre y las redes celulares son muy distintas entre ellas. Encontrar una forma de onda viable para ambas infraestructuras es complejo. Esta tesis ofrece un punto de vista distinto al problema: un escenario de colaboración entre cadenas televisivas y operadores móviles, donde la infraestructura de radiodifusión y móvil son compartidas. Este concepto se ha definido como Convergence of Terrestrial and Mobile Networks. Las tecnologías elegidas para converger son ATSC 3.0 y 5G, usando el Advanced Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting (ATSSS). ATSSS está compuesto de una serie de procedimientos, interfaces, funciones de red, para permitir el uso compartido de un acceso 3GPP con uno non-3GPP, como Wi-Fi. Sin embargo, el uso de ATSSS para juntar radiodifusión y celular no es trivial, ya que ATSSS no fue dise\~{n}ado para enlaces radio unidireccionales como ATSC 3.0. Estas limitaciones son descritas en detalle, y una propuesta para solventarlas tambi\'en está incluida. La solución se basa en Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), y se usa como ejemplo para la provisión de Convergent Services (File Repair y Video Offloading). La tesis concluye con una descripción de Release 17 5MBS, con los nuevos conceptos introducidos. 5MBS es capaz de cambiar entre unicast, multicast y broadcast; dependiendo del servicio, la ubicación geográfica de los usuarios, y las capacidades de la infraestructura móvil involucradas. Para evaluar 5MBS, se ha realizado un estudio de prestaciones, basado en comunicaciones multicast dentro del núcleo de red 5G. Este prototipo 5MBS forma parte del laboratorio VLC Campus 5G, y utiliza el software comercial Open5GCore como base del desarrollo. El modelo de sistema para la experimentación esta formado por un servidor de vídeo, que se conecta al Open5GCore y a las funciones de red mejoradas con funcionalidades 5MBS. Estas funciones de red envían el contenido mediante punto-a-multipunto a un entorno radio y terminales simulados. Los resultados obtenidos resaltan el objetivo principal de la tesis: las comunicaciones punto-a-multipunto son una solución escalable para el envío de contenido multimedia en directo.[CA] Aquesta dissertació cobreix capdavanter en LTE eMBMS Release 14, també conegut com Enhanced Television Services (ENTV). ENTV va portar un conjunt de millores, tant a nivell de ràdio com a nivell de nucli, que va transformar el eMBMS en un estàndard de televisió terrestre complet. La última versió d'aquesta tecnologia es denomina LTE-based 5G Broadcast; però no fa servir New Ràdio ni el nucli 5G. Per a proveir una solució nativa 5G de serveis punt-a-multipunt, va haver-hi investigació en entorns acadèmics i col·laboracions pública i privada. La iniciativa més notable en aquest aspecte va ser el projecte del Horizon 2020 5G-Xcast, que va transcórrer del 2017 a 2019. 5G-Xcast va produir diverses solucions a nivell d'arquitectura, des de la perspectiva de provisió de continguts, noves funcions de xarxa interoperables amb el nucli 5G, fins a modificacions a la interfície aire basada en New Radio. Les troballes del projecte estan descrits en aquesta tesi. La tesi inclou dos exemples de eMBMS aplicats a verticals diferents, una per a l'ús de eMBMS en entorns industrials, i una altra presentant eMBMS com un sistema SAP. Incloure serveis punt-a-multipunt com una manera addicional cel·lular duu alguns desafiaments, com ja va mostrar l'estandardització de eMBMS: les xarxes de radiodifusió terrestre i les xarxes cel·lulars són molt diferents entre elles. Trobar una forma d'ona viable per a totes dues infraestructures és complex. Aquesta tesi ofereix un punt de vista diferent al problema: un escenari de col·laboració entre cadenes televisives i operadors mòbils, on la infraestructura de radiodifusió i mòbil són compartides. Aquest concepte s'ha definit com Convergence of Terrestrial and Mobile Networks. Les tecnologies triades per a convergir són ATSC 3.0 i 5G, usant el Advanced Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting (ATSSS). ATSSS està compost d'una sèrie de procediments, interfícies, funcions de xarxa, per a permetre l'ús compartit d'un accés 3GPP amb un non-3GPP, com a Wi-Fi. No obstant això, l'ús de ATSSS per a adjuntar radiodifusió i cel·lular no és trivial, ja que ATSSS no va ser dissenyada per a per a enllaços ràdio unidireccionals com ATSC 3.0. Aquestes limitacions són descrites detalladament, i una proposta per a solucionar-les també està inclosa. La solució es basa en Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), i s'usa com a exemple per a la provisió de Convergent Services (File Repair i Vídeo Offloading). La tesi conclou amb una descripció de Release 17 5MBS, amb els nous conceptes introduïts. 5MBS és capaç de canviar entre unicast, multicast i broadcast; depenent del servei, la ubicació geogràfica dels usuaris, i les capacitats de la infraestructura mòbil involucrades. Per a avaluar 5MBS, s'ha realitzat un estudi de prestacions, basat en comunicacions multicast dins del nucli de xarxa 5G. Aquest prototip 5MBS forma part del laboratori VLC Campus 5G, i utilitza el programari comercial Open5GCore com a base del desenvolupament. El model de sistema per a l'experimentació està format per un servidor de vídeo, que es connecta al Open5GCore i a les funcions de xarxa millorades amb funcionalitats 5MBS. Aquestes funcions de xarxa envien el contingut mitjançant punt-a-multipunt a un entorn ràdio i terminals simulats. Els resultats obtinguts ressalten l'objectiu principal de la tesi: les comunicacions punt-a-multipunt són una solució escalable per a l'enviament de contingut multimèdia en directe.[EN] This dissertation covers the state-of-the-art in LTE eMBMS Release 14, also known as Enhanced Television Services (ENTV). ENTV provided a suite of radio and core enhancements that made eMBMS into a viable terrestrial broadcast standard. The latest iteration of this technology is known as LTE-based 5G Broadcast; even though it is not New Radio or 5G Core based. To bridge this gap, research efforts by academia, public and private enterprises evaluated how to provide a 5G-based solution for point-to-multipoint services. The most notable effort in this regard is the Horizon 2020 project 5G-Xcast, which ran from 2017 to 2019. 5G-Xcast provided several architectural solutions, from the content delivery perspective down to air interface specifics; providing new waveforms based on New Radio and Network Functions interoperable with a Release 15 5G Core. The findings are summarized in this thesis. Two examples of eMBMS applied to different verticals are included in the thesis, one for the use of eMBMS in industrial environments, and the other using eMBMS as a PWS technology. Providing point-to-multipoint services as another cellular service poses some problems, as the standardization process of eMBMS showed: the broadcast infrastructure is different than the cellular one. Having a waveform that is suited for both scenarios is a difficult endeavour. The thesis provides a new perspective into this problem: Having existing Terrestrial Broadcast standards and infrastructure be the point-to-multipoint solution of 5G, where mobile operators and broadcasters collaborate together. This is defined in the dissertation as Convergence of Terrestrial and Mobile Networks. The technologies chosen to be converged together were ATSC 3.0 and 5G; using the existing Release 16 framework known as Advanced Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting (ATSSS). ATSSS is a series of procedures, interfaces, new Network Functions, to allow the joint use of a 3GPP Access Network alongside a non-3GPP one, like Wi-Fi. However, the use of ATSSS for cellular plus broadcast brings challenges, as the ATSSS technology was not designed to be used with a unidirectional access network like ATSC 3.0. These limitations are described in detail, and an architectural proposal that overcomes the limitations is proposed. This solution is based on Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC), and how to provide Convergent Services (i.e File Repair and Video Offloading) is shown. The thesis concludes with a description of Release 17 5MBS, including the new concepts introduced. 5MBS features the capacity of switching between unicast, multicast and broadcast; depending on the service addressed, the geographical location of the users, and the capability of the RAN infrastructure targeted. In order to evaluate 5MBS, a performance study of the use of multicast inside the 5G Core has been carried out. The 5MBS prototype was developed as part of the VLC Campus 5G laboratory, using the commercial software Open5GCore which provides the libraries and Network Functions to deploy your own 5G Private Network in testing environments. The system model of the experiment is formed by a video server, connected to the Open5GCore and the 5MBS enhanced functions; which will deliver the content to an emulated RAN environment hosting virtual gNBs and devices. The results obtained reinforce the objective of the thesis, positioning point-to-multipoint as a scalable way to deliver live content.Research projects: 5G-Xcast: Broadcast and Multicast Communication Enablers for the Fifth-Generation of Wireless Systems (H2020 No 761498); 5G-TOURS: SmarT mObility, media and e-health for toURists and citizenS (H2020 No 856950); FUDGE-5G: FUlly DisinteGrated private nEtworks for 5G verticals (H2020 No 957242).Barjau Estevan, CS. (2022). Point-to-Multipoint Services on Fifth-Generation Mobile Networks [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/19140

Coordinated Multicast/Unicast Transmission on 5G: A Novel Approach for Linear Broadcasting

Linear broadcasting services, with a scheduled programming, constitute a paramount tel-ecommunication service for today’s society. Although the existing technology is mature, current linear broadcast systems have serious limitations when providing service to moving users or users placed in areas with complex orography and poor signal quality. To over-come these limitations, 3GPP 5G standard has included a work item to support 5G mul-ticast/broadcast services for future Release 17. This paper investigates the integration of point-to-point (unicast) communication with cellular multicast/broadcast on 5G technology to extend the current support of linear broadcasting services. This integration relies on the use mobile edge computing (MEC) at the 5G base station (gNB) to host a dynamic adap-tive streaming over HTTP (DASH) server that is coordinated with the multicast transmis-sion to complement the broadcast service. This approach join the reliability of point-to-point communications, with dedicated resources for each user, with the spectrum efficiency of multi-cast communications, where a set of users share common resources. The coopera-tion between those unicast and multicast schemes allows those users whose coverage is not good enough, to complete the linear broadcast flow through the point-to-point transmission via MEC. The benefits of such approach have been assessed with simulations in a realistic scenario that considers a vehicle moving across a sparsely populated region in southern Spain. Results reveals that throughput and bitrate playback (reproduction rate) are greatly improved when unicast/multicast integration is enabled since the number of stalling events is reduced significantly.This work has been partially supported by Radio Televisión Española through Impulsa Visión RTVE grant and by the Universidad de Málaga. We are grateful to Pere Vila, Esteban Mayoral Campos, Adolfo Muñoz Berrón and Miguel Ángel Bona San Vicente for their support and collaboration during the development of the project. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Random Linear Network Coding for 5G Mobile Video Delivery

An exponential increase in mobile video delivery will continue with the demand for higher resolution, multi-view and large-scale multicast video services. Novel fifth generation (5G) 3GPP New Radio (NR) standard will bring a number of new opportunities for optimizing video delivery across both 5G core and radio access networks. One of the promising approaches for video quality adaptation, throughput enhancement and erasure protection is the use of packet-level random linear network coding (RLNC). In this review paper, we discuss the integration of RLNC into the 5G NR standard, building upon the ideas and opportunities identified in 4G LTE. We explicitly identify and discuss in detail novel 5G NR features that provide support for RLNC-based video delivery in 5G, thus pointing out to the promising avenues for future research

Investigation of the IoT Device Lifetime with Secure Data Transmission

This paper represents the approach for estimation of the lifetime of the IoT end devices. The novelty of this approach is in the taking into account not only the energy consumption for data transmission, but also for ensuring the security by using the encryption algorithms. The results of the study showed the effect of using data encryption during transmission on the device lifetime depending on the key length and the principles of the algorithm used

Nonorthogonal Multiple Access and Subgrouping for Improved Resource Allocation in Multicast 5G NR

The ever-increasing demand for applications with stringent constraints in device density, latency, user mobility, or peak data rate has led to the appearance of the last generation of mobile networks (i.e., 5G). However, there is still room for improvement in the network spectral efficiency, not only at the waveform level but also at the Radio Resource Management (RRM). Up to now, solutions based on multicast transmissions have presented considerable efficiency increments by successfully implementing subgrouping strategies. These techniques enable more efficient exploitation of channel time and frequency resources by splitting users into subgroups and applying independent and adaptive modulation and coding schemes. However, at the RRM, traditional multiplexing techniques pose a hard limit in exploiting the available resources, especially when users' QoS requests are unbalanced. Under these circumstances, this paper proposes jointly applying the subgrouping and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) techniques in 5G to increase the network data rate. This study shows that NOMA is highly spectrum-efficient and could improve the system throughput performance in certain conditions. In the first part of this paper, an in-depth analysis of the implications of introducing NOMA techniques in 5G subgrouping at RRM is carried out. Afterward, the validation is accomplished by applying the proposed approach to different 5G use cases based on vehicular communications. After a comprehensive analysis of the results, a theoretical approach combining NOMA and time division is presented, which improves considerably the data rate offered in each use case.This work was supported in part by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR), within the Smart Cities framework, Project Cagliari2020 ID: PON04a2_00381; in part by the Basque Government under Grant IT1234-19; and in part by the Spanish Government [Project PHANTOM under Grant RTI2018-099162-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)]

Efficient Management of Multicast Traffic in Directional mmWave Networks

Multicasting is becoming more and more important in the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable applications (e.g., high definition video streaming, virtual reality gaming, public safety, among others) that require high bandwidth efficiency and low energy consumption. In this regard, millimeter wave (mmWave) communications can play a crucial role to efficiently disseminate large volumes of data as well as to enhance the throughput gain in fifth-generation (5G) and beyond networks. There are, however, challenges to face in view of providing multicast services with high data rates under the conditions of short propagation range caused by high path loss at mmWave frequencies. Indeed, the strong directionality required at extremely high frequency bands excludes the possibility of serving all multicast users via a single transmission. Therefore, multicasting in directional systems consists of a sequence of beamformed transmissions to serve all multicast group members, subgroup by subgroup. This paper focuses on multicast data transmission optimization in terms of throughput and, hence, of the energy efficiency of resource-constrained devices such as wearables, running their resource-hungry applications. In particular, we provide a means to perform the beam switching and propose a radio resource management (RRM) policy that can determine the number and width of the beams required to deliver the multicast content to all interested users. Achieved simulation results show that the proposed RRM policy significantly improves network throughput with respect to benchmark approaches. It also achieves a high gain in energy efficiency over unicast and multicast with fixed predefined beams.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Técnicas de gestão de feixe de onda para sistemas Massive MIMO nas redes 5G NR

The use of Millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum frequencies is seen as a key enabler technology for the future wireless communication systems to overcome the bandwidth shortage of the sub 6GHz microwave spectrum band, enabling high speed data transmissions in the 5G/6G systems. Nevertheless, mmWave propagation characteristics are associated to significant free-path losses and many more attenuations that become even more harsher as the frequency increases, rendering the communication challenging at this frequencies. To overcome these distinct disadvantages, multiple antenna arrays are employed to allow beamforming techniques for the transmission of narrower concentrated beams in more precise directions and less interference levels between them, consequently improving the link budget. Thus, to constantly assure that the communication with each device is done using the beam pair that allows the best possible connectivity, a set of Beam Management control procedures is necessary to assure an efficient beamformed connection establishment and its continuous maintenance between the device and the network. This dissertation will address the description of the Initial Beam Establishment (IBE) BM procedure, focusing the selection of the most suitable transmit-receive beam pair available after completed beam sweeping techniques to measure the different power levels of the received signal. The main goal is to design a new 3GPP-standard compliant beam pair selection algorithm based on SSS angle estimation (BSAE), that makes use of multiple Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs) to maximize the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) value at the receiver, through the selected beam pair. This optimization is done using the Secondary Synchronization Signals (SSSs) present in each SSB to perform channel estimation in the digital domain (comprising the effects of the analog processing). Afterwards, the combination of those estimations were used to perform the equivalent channel propagation matrix estimation without the analog processing effects. Finally, through the channel propagation matrix, the angle that maximizes the RSRP was determined to compute the most suitable beam through the aggregated response vector. The obtained results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better performance levels compared to a conventional beam pair selection algorithm. Furthermore, a comparison with an optimal case is also done, i.e., the situation where the channel is known, and the optimal beam pair angle can be determined. Therefore, the similar performance results compared to the optimal case indicates that the proposed algorithm is interesting for practical 5G mmWave mMIMO implementations, according to 3GPP-compliant standards.O uso de frequências na banda das ondas milimétricas é visto como uma tecnologia chave para os futuros sistemas de comunicação móveis, tendo em vista a ultrapassar o problema da escassez de banda a sub-6 GHz, e por permitir as elevadas taxas de dados requeridas para sistemas 5G/6G. Contudo, a propagação deste tipo de ondas está associado a perdas acentuadas em espaço livre e várias atenuações que se tornam cada vez mais significativas com o aumento do valor da frequência, impondo obstáculos à comunicação. Para ultrapassar estas adversidades, agregados constituídos por múltiplos elementos de antena são implementados por forma a permitir técnicas de formação de feixe e possibilitar a transmissão de feixes mais estreitos e altamente direcionais, diminuindo os níveis de interferência e melhorando consequentemente o link budget. Deste modo, para assegurar constantemente que a comunicação efetuada em cada dispositivo ocorre utilizando o conjunto de feixes que proporciona o melhor nível de conectividade, é então necessário um conjunto de procedimentos de controlo de gestão de feixe, assegurando um estabelecimento eficiente da comunicação e a sua contínua manutenção entre um dispositivo e a rede. Esta dissertação descreve o procedimento de gestão de feixe conhecido como estabelecimento inicial de feixe, focando o processo de seleção do melhor par de feixe de transmissão-receção disponível após o uso de técnicas de varrimento de feixe por fim a efetuar medições dos diferentes níveis de potência do sinal recebido. O principal objetivo passa pela conceção de um novo algoritmo de estabelecimento de par de feixes baseado em estimações de ângulo (BSAE), que explora o uso de múltiplos SSBs definidos pelo 3GPP, por forma a maximizar o RSRP no recetor, através do feixe selecionado. Esta otimização é feita usando os sinais de sincronização secundários (SSSs) presentes em cada SSB para efetuar uma estimação de canal no domínio digital (que contém o efeito do processamento analógico). Depois, combinando essas estimações, foi feita uma estimação da matriz do canal de propagação, sem o efeito desse processamento analógico. Finalmente, através da matriz do canal de propagação, foi determinado o ângulo que maximiza o RSRP, e calculado o feixe através do vetor de resposta do agregado. Os resultados obtidos demonstram que o algoritmo proposto atinge melhor desempenho quando comparado com o algoritmo convencional de seleção de par de feixes. Foi feita ainda uma comparação com o caso ótimo, isto é, com o caso em que se conhece completamente o canal e se obtém um ângulo ótimo. Os resultados obtidos pelo algoritmo proposto foram muito próximos do caso ótimo, pelo que é bastante interessante para sistemas práticos 5G mmWave mMIMO, que estejam de acordo com o padrão 3GPP.Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrónica e Telecomunicaçõe

Efficient Management of Multicast Traffic in Directional mmWave Networks

Multicasting is becoming more and more important in the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable applications (e.g., high definition video streaming, virtual reality gaming, public safety, among others) that require high bandwidth efficiency and low energy consumption. In this regard, millimeter wave (mmWave) communications can play a crucial role to efficiently disseminate large volumes of data as well as to enhance the throughput gain in fifth-generation (5G) and beyond networks. There are, however, challenges to face in view of providing multicast services with high data rates under the conditions of short propagation range caused by high path loss at mmWave frequencies. Indeed, the strong directionality required at extremely high frequency bands excludes the possibility of serving all multicast users via a single transmission. Therefore, multicasting in directional systems consists of a sequence of beamformed transmissions to serve all multicast group members, subgroup by subgroup. This paper focuses on multicast data transmission optimization in terms of throughput and, hence, of the energy efficiency of resource-constrained devices such as wearables, running their resource-hungry applications. In particular, we provide a means to perform the beam switching and propose a radio resource management (RRM) policy that can determine the number and width of the beams required to deliver the multicast content to all interested users. Achieved simulation results show that the proposed RRM policy significantly improves network throughput with respect to benchmark approaches. It also achieves a high gain in energy efficiency over unicast and multicast with fixed predefined beams.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe