LTE-advanced, and the way forward

Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) is the next step in LTE evolution and allows operators to improve network performance and service capabilities through smooth deployment of new techniques and technologies. LTE-Advanced uses some new features on top of the existing LTE standards and protocols to provide better user experience and higher throughputs. Some of the most significant features introduced in LTE-Advanced are carrier aggregation, enhancements in heterogeneous networks, coordinated multi-point transmission and reception, enhanced Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) usage and deployment of relay nodes in the radio network. This paper presents an overview of the key features and functionalities of the LTE-Advanced radio access network supported by simulation results, and provides discussion on the current challenges, roadmap and the way forward from LTE-Advanced toward future mobile communications systems

Application of MIH for the lightweight deployment of LTE-advanced systems through mobile relaying

In a conventional cellular network end users connect directly to a Base Station (BS). Mobile relaying allows establishing an indirect two-hop link between the end user, called Mobile Node (MN), and the BS through a Mobile Relay (MR). This spreads out the cell coverage and increases the cell-edge throughput hence improving fairness among nodes. This article is focused on a Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) cellular network where MNs and MRs are connected through a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) ad-hoc connection. It is proposed the use of Media Independent Handover (MIH) signaling to define an efficient dynamic routing mechanism for MR in this framework. The proposed mechanism, called MIH-Driven Relay Selection Mechanism (MIDRES), detects which is the best direct or indirect link with the BS based on information collected using MIH messages. The MNs or MRs send MIH messages when experiencing bad channel conditions, that is detected thanks to predefined thresholds. Then, the BS starts a polling process, again supported by MIH signaling, and performs optimal route selection either through the LTE-A radio interface or through a WiFi ad-hoc interface. This article examines the implementation of this mechanism and obtains the optimal thresholds that maximize operational performance. Moreover, the potential benefit of this LTE-compliant mobile relaying solution is evaluated using a calibrated simulation tool. The results show significant savings in cost of network deployment.The work of David Martin-Sacristan was supported by a FPU grant of the Spanish Ministry of Education.Cabrejas Peñuelas, J.; Gualda Romero, P.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Martín-Sacristán Gandía, D. (2012). Application of MIH for the lightweight deployment of LTE-advanced systems through mobile relaying. 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Accessed 20 March 2012 [ http://projects.celtic-initiative.org/winner+/WINNER+%20Evaluation%20Group.html ]Green DB, Obaidat AS: AS Obaidat, An accurate line of sight propagation performance model for ad-hoc 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN) devices. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2002) 2002, 5: 3424-3428.Johnson DB, Maltz DA, Imielinski T, Korth H: Dynamic source routing in ad hoc wireless networks, Chap. 5. In Mobile Computing. Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands; 1996:153-181.WiMAX Forum: A Comparative Analysis of Spectrum Alternatives for WiMAX Networks with Deployment Scenarios Based on the U.S. 700 MHz Band. Wimax Forum Website 2008.Forge S, Blackman C, Bohlin E: The demand for future mobile communications markets and services in Europe. 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A survey of self organisation in future cellular networks

This article surveys the literature over the period of the last decade on the emerging field of self organisation as applied to wireless cellular communication networks. Self organisation has been extensively studied and applied in adhoc networks, wireless sensor networks and autonomic computer networks; however in the context of wireless cellular networks, this is the first attempt to put in perspective the various efforts in form of a tutorial/survey. We provide a comprehensive survey of the existing literature, projects and standards in self organising cellular networks. Additionally, we also aim to present a clear understanding of this active research area, identifying a clear taxonomy and guidelines for design of self organising mechanisms. We compare strength and weakness of existing solutions and highlight the key research areas for further development. This paper serves as a guide and a starting point for anyone willing to delve into research on self organisation in wireless cellular communication networks

Quantifying Potential Energy Efficiency Gain in Green Cellular Wireless Networks

Conventional cellular wireless networks were designed with the purpose of providing high throughput for the user and high capacity for the service provider, without any provisions of energy efficiency. As a result, these networks have an enormous Carbon footprint. In this paper, we describe the sources of the inefficiencies in such networks. First we present results of the studies on how much Carbon footprint such networks generate. We also discuss how much more mobile traffic is expected to increase so that this Carbon footprint will even increase tremendously more. We then discuss specific sources of inefficiency and potential sources of improvement at the physical layer as well as at higher layers of the communication protocol hierarchy. In particular, considering that most of the energy inefficiency in cellular wireless networks is at the base stations, we discuss multi-tier networks and point to the potential of exploiting mobility patterns in order to use base station energy judiciously. We then investigate potential methods to reduce this inefficiency and quantify their individual contributions. By a consideration of the combination of all potential gains, we conclude that an improvement in energy consumption in cellular wireless networks by two orders of magnitude, or even more, is possible.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1210.843

A Hybrid Model to Extend Vehicular Intercommunication V2V through D2D Architecture

In the recent years, many solutions for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication were proposed to overcome failure problems (also known as dead ends). This paper proposes a novel framework for V2V failure recovery using Device-to-Device (D2D) communications. Based on the unified Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) architecture, LTE-based D2D mechanisms can improve V2V dead ends failure recovery delays. This new paradigm of hybrid V2V-D2D communications overcomes the limitations of traditional V2V routing techniques. According to NS2 simulation results, the proposed hybrid model decreases the end to end delay (E2E) of messages delivery. A complete comparison of different D2D use cases (best & worst scenarios) is presented to show the enhancements brought by our solution compared to traditional V2V techniques.Comment: 6 page