Transition technologies towards 6G networks

[EN] The sixth generation (6G) mobile systems will create new markets, services, and industries making possible a plethora of new opportunities and solutions. Commercially successful rollouts will involve scaling enabling technologies, such as cloud radio access networks, virtualization, and artificial intelligence. This paper addresses the principal technologies in the transition towards next generation mobile networks. The convergence of 6G key-performance indicators along with evaluation methodologies and use cases are also addressed. Free-space optics, Terahertz systems, photonic integrated circuits, softwarization, massive multiple-input multiple-output signaling, and multi-core fibers, are among the technologies identified and discussed. Finally, some of these technologies are showcased in an experimental demonstration of a mobile fronthaul system based on millimeter 5G NR OFDM signaling compliant with 3GPP Rel. 15. The signals are generated by a bespoke 5G baseband unit and transmitted through both a 10 km prototype multi-core fiber and 4 m wireless V-band link using a pair of directional 60 GHz antennas with 10 degrees beamwidth. Results shown that the 5G and beyond fronthaul system can successfully transmit signals with both wide bandwidth (up to 800 MHz) and fully centralized signal processing. As a result, this system can support large capacity and accommodate several simultaneous users as a key candidate for next generation mobile networks. Thus, these technologies will be needed for fully integrated, heterogeneous solutions to benefit from hardware commoditization and softwarization. They will ensure the ultimate user experience, while also anticipating the quality-of-service demands that future applications and services will put on 6G networks.This work was partially funded by the blueSPACE and 5G-PHOS 5G-PPP phase 2 projects, which have received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme under Grant Agreements Number 762055 and 761989. D. PerezGalacho acknowledges the funding of the Spanish Science Ministry through the Juan de la Cierva programme.Raddo, TR.; Rommel, S.; Cimoli, B.; Vagionas, C.; Pérez-Galacho, D.; Pikasis, E.; Grivas, E.... (2021). Transition technologies towards 6G networks. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. 2021(1):1-22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-021-01973-91222021

A Flexible and Reconfigurable 5G Networking Architecture Based on Context and Content Information

The need for massive content delivery is a consolidated trend in mobile communications, and will even increase for next years. Moreover, while 4G maturity and evolution is driven by video contents, next generation (5G) networks will be dominated by heterogeneous data and additional massive diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT). The current network architecture is not sufficient to cope with such traffic, which is heterogeneous in terms of latency and QoS requirements, and variable in space and time. This paper proposes architectural advances to endow the network with the necessary flexibility helping to adapt to these varying traffic needs by providing content and communication services where and when actually needed. Our functional hardware/software (HW/SW) architecture aims at influencing future system standardization and leverage the benefits of some key 5G networking enablers described in the paper. Preliminary results demonstrate the potential of these key technologies to support the evolution toward content-centric and context-aware 5G systems

A cooperative scheduling algorithm for the coexistence of fixed satellite services and 5G cellular network

The increasing demand for higher data rates has accelerated research on the next generation of mobile cellular networks (5G). One of the key factors of 5G is the use of a larger bandwidth allocated in the millimeter wave (mmWave)frequency spectrum. In particular, one of the candidate bands is the portion of spectrum between 17 and 30 GHz that is currently used by other technologies such as fixed satellite services (FSS) and the cellular network backhaul. In this paper, we analyze the coexistence between mobile services and FSS considering the main characteristics of the mmWave spectrum recently investigated in the literature. Moreover, we present a novel cooperative scheduling algorithm based on a game theoretic framework that exploits the use of analog beamforming at the base stations (BS). Finally, we show that adopting this algorithm ensure that the system meets the regulatory recommendation concerning the interference level at the FSS and at the same time provides a good user spectral efficiency

Measurement Based: 4G and 5G networks Analysis

The advancement of communications services requires the adoption of advanced technologies and the deployment of next generation networks. Nowadays, the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard is widely used. Conversely, an increasing number of mobile network operators (MNOs) are integrating the new fifth generation (5G) radio standard into their networks. This facilitates enhanced throughput, spectral and power efficiency and extended coverage, along with minimizing latency. The effectiveness of these developments is evaluated by evaluating the Quality of Service (QoS) in mobile networks. This study describes LTE-4G and NR-5G data measurements and key performance indicator (KPI) analysis based on information collected through a test drive (DT) process for two operators in Austria. Data measurements specifically target parameters that affect network strength and quality, including reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-noise ratio (SINR), and received signal strength index (RSSI). And downlink - uplink data transfer rate (DL/UL throughput). Analysis of these parameters may reveal the presence of some errors when collecting data from the mobile phone network, such as errors from DT devices, errors from the network itself, errors due to weather conditions, geographical errors, etc. Identify areas of vulnerability for specialized attention to address network errors and maintain them to increase data accuracy and improve quality of services. Ultimately, analyzing KPIs and detecting errors within the collected data provides a simplified approach to managing and monitoring mobile network performance, reducing complexity, maintenance time and costs, thus enhancing customer satisfaction

Radio over fiber: An alternative broadband network technology for Iot

Wireless broadband access networks have been positioning themselves as a good solution for manufacturers and users of IoT (internet of things) devices, due mainly to the high data transfer rate required over terminal devices without restriction of information format. In this work, a review of two Radio over Fiber strategies is presented. Both have excellent performance and even offer the possibility to extend wireless area coverage where mobile networks do not reach or the 802.11 network presents issues. Radio Frequency over Fiber (RFoF) and intermediate Frequency over Fiber (IFoF) are two transmission strategies compatible with the required new broadband services and both play a key role in the design of the next generation integrated optical–wireless networks, such as 5G and Satcom networks, including on RAU (Remote Antenna Unit) new functionalities to improve their physical dimensions, employing a microelectronic layout over nanometric technologies

6G Cellular Networks and Connected Autonomous Vehicles

With 5G mobile communication systems been commercially rolled out, research discussions on next generation mobile systems, i.e., 6G, have started. On the other hand, vehicular technologies are also evolving rapidly, from connected vehicles as coined by V2X (vehicle to everything) to autonomous vehicles to the combination of the two, i.e., the networks of connected autonomous vehicles (CAV). How fast the evolution of these two areas will go head-in-head is of great importance, which is the focus of this paper. After a brief overview on technological evolution of V2X to CAV and 6G key technologies, this paper explores two complementary research directions, namely, 6G for CAVs versus CAVs for 6G. The former investigates how various 6G key enablers, such as THz, cell free communication and artificial intelligence (AI), can be utilized to provide CAV mission-critical services. The latter discusses how CAVs can facilitate effective deployment and operation of 6G systems. This paper attempts to investigate the interactions between the two technologies to spark more research efforts in these areas

Enabling High Throughput and Reliable Low Latency Communication over Vehicular Mobility in Next-Generation Cellular Networks

The fifth-generation (5G) networks and beyond need paradigm shifts to realize the exponentially increasing demands of next-generation services for high throughputs, low latencies, and reliable communication under various mobility scenarios. However, these promising features have critical gaps that need to be filled before they can be fully implemented for mobile applications in complex environments like smart cities. Although the sub-6 GHz bands can provide reliable and larger coverage, they cannot provide high data rates with low latencies due to a scarcity of spectrum available in these bands. Millimeter wave (mmWave) communication is a key enabler for a significant increase in the performance of these networks due to the availability of large bands of spectrum. However, the extremely limited transmission range of mmWave frequencies leads to poor reliability, especially for mobility scenarios. In this work, we present and evaluate the solutions in three key areas for achieving high throughput along with reliable low latency connection, especially for mobility scenarios in next-generation cellular networks. To enable the 5G networks to meet the demanding requirements of cellular networks, we look into (1) multi-connectivity for enhancing the performance of next-generation cellular networks, (2) designing a reliable network using multi-connectivity, and (3) developing a multilink scheme with efficient radio resource management. Despite the technological advances made in the design and evolution of 5G networks, emerging services impose stringent requirements which have not been fully met by 5G networks so far. The work in this dissertation aims to explore the challenges of future networks and address the needs in the three areas listed above. The results of the study open opportunities to resolve real-world 5G network issues. As 5G networks need to fulfill the rising performance demands of upcoming applications and industry verticals, we first study and evaluate multi-connectivity, which involves simultaneous connectivity with multiple radio access technologies or multiple bands, as a key enabler in improving the performance of the 5G networks. 5G networks are designed to have several small cells operating in the mmWave frequency range using ultra-dense networks (UDN) deployments to provide continuous coverage. But, such deployments not only face challenges in terms of frequent handovers, higher latency, lower reliability, and higher interference levels but also in terms of increasing complexity and cost of deployment, unbalanced load distributions, and power requirements. To address the challenges in high density base station deployments, we study and evaluate novel deployment strategies using multi-connectivity. In NR-NR Dual Connectivity (NR-DC), the user equipment (UE) is connected simultaneously to two gNBs, with one acting as the master node and the other as the secondary node to improve the performance of the 5G system. The master node operating at the sub-6 GHz bands provides high reliability, and the secondary node using the high bandwidth mmWave bands provides the high throughputs expected of 5G networks. This deployment also improves the latency as it decreases the number of handovers and link establishments. Thus, in this dissertation, we propose and evaluate novel 5G deployments with multi-connectivity, which can be used to ensure that these 5G networks are able to meet the demanding requirements of future services. The 5G networks also need to support ultra-reliable low latency communication, which refers to using the network for mission-critical communication that requires high reliability along with low latency. However, technological advancements so far have not been able to fully meet all these requirements. Thus, in this work, we design a reliable 5G network using multi-connectivity, which can simultaneously support high throughputs along with ultra-reliable low latency communication. Deployments using mmWave bands are highly susceptible to channel fluctuations and blockages. Thus, it is critical to consider new techniques and approaches that address these needs and can be implemented practically. In this work, we propose and implement a novel approach using packet duplication and its optimization in an NR-DC system to improve the performance of the system. In an NR-DC deployment with packet duplication, multiple instances of a packet are generated and transmitted simultaneously over different uncorrelated channels between the UE and the base stations, which decreases the packet failure probability. We also propose enhancements to the packet duplication feature for efficient radio resource utilization by looking into the distance of the UE from the base station, the velocity of the UE, and the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) levels. The proposed system improves the performance in terms of throughput, latency, and reliability under varying mobility scenarios. Finally, the 5G networks need to meet the increasing demands of uplink data traffic for applications such as autonomous driving, IoT applications, live video, etc. However, the uplink performance is lower compared to the downlink, and hence, it is critical for 5G to improve uplink performance. Thus, there are open research questions on what should be the network architecture with efficient radio resource utilization to meet the stringent requirements for mobility scenarios. In this work, we propose a novel uplink scheme where the UE performs only a single transmission on a common channel, and every base station that can receive this signal would accept and process it. This technique increases the probability of successful transmission and hence, increases the reliability of the network. It also removes the need to perform frequent handovers and allows high mobility with reduced latency. In this work, we propose and evaluate novel approaches for improving the performance of next-generation networks, which will be a key enabler for future applications. The proposed 5G techniques are shown to significantly improve the throughput, latency, and reliability simultaneously and are able to fulfill the stringent requirements of future services. Our work focuses on developing novel solutions for addressing the challenges involved in building next-generation cellular networks. In the future, we plan to further develop our system for real-world city-scale deployments

Propagation channel models for 5G mobile networks. Simulation and measurements of 5G propagation channel models for indoor and outdoor environments covering both LOS and NLOS Scenarios

At present, the current 4G systems provide a universal platform for broadband mobile services; however, mobile traffic is still growing at an unprecedented rate and the need for more sophisticated broadband services is pushing the limits on current standards to provide even tighter integration between wireless technologies and higher speeds. This has led to the need for a new generation of mobile communications: the so-called 5G. Although 5G systems are not expected to penetrate the market until 2020, the evolution towards 5G is widely accepted to be the logical convergence of internet services with existing mobile networking standards leading to the commonly used term “mobile internet” over heterogeneous networks, with several Gbits/s data rate and very high connectivity speeds. Therefore, to support highly increasing traffic capacity and high data rates, the next generation mobile network (5G) should extend the range of frequency spectrum for mobile communication that is yet to be identified by the ITU-R. The mm-wave spectrum is the key enabling feature of the next-generation cellular system, for which the propagation channel models need to be predicted to enhance the design guidance and the practicality of the whole design transceiver system. The present work addresses the main concepts of the propagation channel behaviour using ray tracing software package for simulation and then results were tested and compared against practical analysis in a real-time environment. The characteristics of Indoor-Indoor (LOS and NLOS), and indoor-outdoor (NLOS) propagations channels are intensively investigated at four different frequencies; 5.8 GHz, 26GHz, 28GHz and 60GHz for vertical polarized directional, omnidirectional and isotropic antennas patterns. The computed data achieved from the 3-D Shooting and Bouncing Ray (SBR) Wireless Insite based on the effect of frequency dependent electrical properties of building materials. Ray tracing technique has been utilized to predict multipath propagation characteristics in mm-wave bands at different propagation environments. Finally, the received signal power and delay spread were computed for outdoor-outdoor complex propagation channel model at 26 GHz, 28 GHz and 60GHz frequencies and results were compared to the theoretical models