Cellular-Broadcast Service Convergence through Caching for CoMP Cloud RANs

Cellular and Broadcast services have been traditionally treated independently due to the different market requirements, thus resulting in different business models and orthogonal frequency allocations. However, with the advent of cheap memory and smart caching, this traditional paradigm can converge into a single system which can provide both services in an efficient manner. This paper focuses on multimedia delivery through an integrated network, including both a cellular (also known as unicast or broadband) and a broadcast last mile operating over shared spectrum. The subscribers of the network are equipped with a cache which can effectively create zero perceived latency for multimedia delivery, assuming that the content has been proactively and intelligently cached. The main objective of this work is to establish analytically the optimal content popularity threshold, based on a intuitive cost function. In other words, the aim is to derive which content should be broadcasted and which content should be unicasted. To facilitate this, Cooperative Multi- Point (CoMP) joint processing algorithms are employed for the uni and broad-cast PHY transmissions. To practically implement this, the integrated network controller is assumed to have access to traffic statistics in terms of content popularity. Simulation results are provided to assess the gain in terms of total spectral efficiency. A conventional system, where the two networks operate independently, is used as benchmark.Comment: Submitted to IEEE PIMRC 201

Edge-Caching Wireless Networks: Performance Analysis and Optimization

Edge-caching has received much attention as an efficient technique to reduce delivery latency and network congestion during peak-traffic times by bringing data closer to end users. Existing works usually design caching algorithms separately from physical layer design. In this paper, we analyse edge-caching wireless networks by taking into account the caching capability when designing the signal transmission. Particularly, we investigate multi-layer caching where both base station (BS) and users are capable of storing content data in their local cache and analyse the performance of edge-caching wireless networks under two notable uncoded and coded caching strategies. Firstly, we propose a coded caching strategy that is applied to arbitrary values of cache size. The required backhaul and access rates are derived as a function of the BS and user cache size. Secondly, closed-form expressions for the system energy efficiency (EE) corresponding to the two caching methods are derived. Based on the derived formulas, the system EE is maximized via precoding vectors design and optimization while satisfying a predefined user request rate. Thirdly, two optimization problems are proposed to minimize the content delivery time for the two caching strategies. Finally, numerical results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the two caching methods.Comment: to appear in IEEE Trans. Wireless Commu

A review on green caching strategies for next generation communication networks

© 2020 IEEE. In recent years, the ever-increasing demand for networking resources and energy, fueled by the unprecedented upsurge in Internet traffic, has been a cause for concern for many service providers. Content caching, which serves user requests locally, is deemed to be an enabling technology in addressing the challenges offered by the phenomenal growth in Internet traffic. Conventionally, content caching is considered as a viable solution to alleviate the backhaul pressure. However, recently, many studies have reported energy cost reductions contributed by content caching in cache-equipped networks. The hypothesis is that caching shortens content delivery distance and eventually achieves significant reduction in transmission energy consumption. This has motivated us to conduct this study and in this article, a comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art green caching techniques is provided. This review paper extensively discusses contributions of the existing studies on green caching. In addition, the study explores different cache-equipped network types, solution methods, and application scenarios. We categorically present that the optimal selection of the caching nodes, smart resource management, popular content selection, and renewable energy integration can substantially improve energy efficiency of the cache-equipped systems. In addition, based on the comprehensive analysis, we also highlight some potential research ideas relevant to green content caching

Cost-Effective Cache Deployment in Mobile Heterogeneous Networks

This paper investigates one of the fundamental issues in cache-enabled heterogeneous networks (HetNets): how many cache instances should be deployed at different base stations, in order to provide guaranteed service in a cost-effective manner. Specifically, we consider two-tier HetNets with hierarchical caching, where the most popular files are cached at small cell base stations (SBSs) while the less popular ones are cached at macro base stations (MBSs). For a given network cache deployment budget, the cache sizes for MBSs and SBSs are optimized to maximize network capacity while satisfying the file transmission rate requirements. As cache sizes of MBSs and SBSs affect the traffic load distribution, inter-tier traffic steering is also employed for load balancing. Based on stochastic geometry analysis, the optimal cache sizes for MBSs and SBSs are obtained, which are threshold-based with respect to cache budget in the networks constrained by SBS backhauls. Simulation results are provided to evaluate the proposed schemes and demonstrate the applications in cost-effective network deployment