Challenges Imposed by User's Mobility in Future HetNet: Offloading and Mobility Management

The users' mobility imposes challenges to mobility management and, the offloading process, which hinder the conventional heterogeneous networks (HetNets) in meeting the huge data traffic requirements of the future. In this thesis, a trio-connectivity (TC), which includes a control-plane (C-plane), a user-plane (U-plane) and an indication-plane (I-plane), is proposed to tackle these challenges. Especially, the I-plane is created as an indicator to help the user equipment (UE) identify and discover the small cells in the system prior to offloading her from the overloaded cells e.g. macro cells, to the cells with abundant resources e.g. small cells. In order to show the advantages of the proposed TC structure, a comparison between the TC and the dual-connectivity (DC) is presented in this thesis, in terms of uplink energy efficiency (ULEE) and energy consumption. Furthermore, the complexity of mobility management is addressed in this thesis as the HetNets will have to handle a large number of UEs and their frequent handoffs due to very dense small-footprint small cells. Considering an accurate mobility framework is essential not only to find the potential offloading to the small cells but also to show the mobility impact on the quality of service (QoS). This thesis presents a framework to model and derive the coverage of small cells, the cell sojourn time and the handoff rate in a multi-tier HetNet by taking into account the overlap coverage among the small cells. The results show the effects of a number of parameters, including the density and the transmit power of the small cells and the power control factor, on the system performance. They also show that the TC can outperform the DC in dense HetNets in terms of energy efficiency and energy consumption

A hierarchical channel selection scheme for macro/micro cellular networks

Hierarchical channel allocation schemes for cellular networks offer a promising approach to solve the pressing problem of increasing the cellular servicing capacity in spite of the limited radio spectrum available. We propose a hierarchical channel selection scheme for handling handoffs and new calls in micro/macro cellular systems. The scheme is intended to improve the performance and quality of service of these systems by increasing the cell channel utilization, reducing the handoff blocking probability and improving the responsive to new calls. The proposed scheme is based on several design enhancements including an overflow buffer, which is used for handoff calls that cannot be immediately switched to a micro cell channel. The application of this overflow buffer is made feasible by the availability of the umbrella coverage of the macro cell. A modified Guard Channel policy is proposed in conjunction with the overflow buffer for the purpose of giving handoff requests higher priority without the aggressive blocking of new calls. Load balancing rules aimed at the careful selection of micro and macro cell channels are developed. Handoff and new call requests are classified into few categories and control techniques for handling each category are defined. Each allocation for a new channel requires a check on the load factor of the cell. A detailed simulation model was developed to evaluate the hierarchical scheme, refine its design, and compare its performance with four of the schemes previously proposed in the literature. The simulation tests were performed under different tele traffic conditions and parameter values. The performance comparison results obtained by our extensive tests have shown that the proposed scheme consistently reduces the average handoff dropping rate, increases the new call acceptance rate and enhances the throughput of the cellular system

Downlink Coverage and Rate Analysis of Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellations Using Stochastic Geometry

As low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication systems are gaining increasing popularity, new theoretical methodologies are required to investigate such networks' performance at large. This is because deterministic and location-based models that have previously been applied to analyze satellite systems are typically restricted to support simulations only. In this paper, we derive analytical expressions for the downlink coverage probability and average data rate of generic LEO networks, regardless of the actual satellites' locality and their service area geometry. Our solution stems from stochastic geometry, which abstracts the generic networks into uniform binomial point processes. Applying the proposed model, we then study the performance of the networks as a function of key constellation design parameters. Finally, to fit the theoretical modeling more precisely to real deterministic constellations, we introduce the effective number of satellites as a parameter to compensate for the practical uneven distribution of satellites on different latitudes. In addition to deriving exact network performance metrics, the study reveals several guidelines for selecting the design parameters for future massive LEO constellations, e.g., the number of frequency channels and altitude.Comment: Accepted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Communications in April 202

Middleware for Positioning in Cellular Networks

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Mobility management in 5G heterogeneous networks

In recent years, mobile data traffic has increased exponentially as a result of widespread popularity and uptake of portable devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. This growth has placed enormous stress on network service providers who are committed to offering the best quality of service to consumer groups. Consequently, telecommunication engineers are investigating innovative solutions to accommodate the additional load offered by growing numbers of mobile users. The fifth generation (5G) of wireless communication standard is expected to provide numerous innovative solutions to meet the growing demand of consumer groups. Accordingly the ultimate goal is to achieve several key technological milestones including up to 1000 times higher wireless area capacity and a significant cut in power consumption. Massive deployment of small cells is likely to be a key innovation in 5G, which enables frequent frequency reuse and higher data rates. Small cells, however, present a major challenge for nodes moving at vehicular speeds. This is because the smaller coverage areas of small cells result in frequent handover, which leads to lower throughput and longer delay. In this thesis, a new mobility management technique is introduced that reduces the number of handovers in a 5G heterogeneous network. This research also investigates techniques to accommodate low latency applications in nodes moving at vehicular speeds

A Vision and Framework for the High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) Networks of the Future

A High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) is a network node that operates in the stratosphere at an of altitude around 20 km and is instrumental for providing communication services. Precipitated by technological innovations in the areas of autonomous avionics, array antennas, solar panel efficiency levels, and battery energy densities, and fueled by flourishing industry ecosystems, the HAPS has emerged as an indispensable component of next-generations of wireless networks. In this article, we provide a vision and framework for the HAPS networks of the future supported by a comprehensive and state-of-the-art literature review. We highlight the unrealized potential of HAPS systems and elaborate on their unique ability to serve metropolitan areas. The latest advancements and promising technologies in the HAPS energy and payload systems are discussed. The integration of the emerging Reconfigurable Smart Surface (RSS) technology in the communications payload of HAPS systems for providing a cost-effective deployment is proposed. A detailed overview of the radio resource management in HAPS systems is presented along with synergistic physical layer techniques, including Faster-Than-Nyquist (FTN) signaling. Numerous aspects of handoff management in HAPS systems are described. The notable contributions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in HAPS, including machine learning in the design, topology management, handoff, and resource allocation aspects are emphasized. The extensive overview of the literature we provide is crucial for substantiating our vision that depicts the expected deployment opportunities and challenges in the next 10 years (next-generation networks), as well as in the subsequent 10 years (next-next-generation networks).Comment: To appear in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorial