Transceiver design and multi-hop D2D for UAV IoT coverage in disasters

When natural disasters strike, the coverage for Internet of Things (IoT) may be severely destroyed, due to the damaged communications infrastructure. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can be exploited as flying base stations to provide emergency coverage for IoT, due to its mobility and flexibility. In this paper, we propose multi-antenna transceiver design and multi-hop device-to-device (D2D) communication to guarantee the reliable transmission and extend the UAV coverage for IoT in disasters. Firstly, multi-hop D2D links are established to extend the coverage of UAV emergency networks due to the constrained transmit power of the UAV. In particular, a shortest-path-routing algorithm is proposed to establish the D2D links rapidly with minimum nodes. The closed-form solutions for the number of hops and the outage probability are derived for the uplink and downlink. Secondly, the transceiver designs for the UAV uplink and downlink are studied to optimize the performance of UAV transmission. Due to the non-convexity of the problem, they are first transformed into convex ones and then, low-complexity algorithms are proposed to solve them efficiently. Simulation results show the performance improvement in the throughput and outage probability by the proposed schemes for UAV wireless coverage of IoT in disasters

Interference-aware multi-hop path selection for device-to-device communications in a cellular interference environment

Device-to-Device (D2D) communications is widely seen as an efficient network capacity scaling technology. The co-existence of D2D with conventional cellular (CC) transmissions causes unwanted interference. Existing techniques have focused on improving the throughput of D2D communications by optimising the radio resource management and power allocation. However, very little is understood about the impact of the route selection of the users and how optimal routing can reduce interference and improve the overall network capacity. In fact, traditional wisdom indicates that minimising the number of hops or the total path distance is preferable. Yet, when interference is considered, we show that this is not the case. In this paper, we show that by understanding the location of the user, an interference-aware routing algorithm can be devised. We propose an adaptive Interference-Aware-Routing (IAR) algorithm, that on average achieves a 30% increase in hop distance, but can improve the overall network capacity by 50% whilst only incurring a minor 2% degradation to the CC capacity. The analysis framework and the results open up new avenues of research in location-dependent optimization in wireless systems, which is particularly important for increasingly dense and semantic-aware deployments

Advanced Technologies for Device-to-device Communications Underlaying Cellular Networks

The past few years have seen a major change in cellular networks, as explosive growth in data demands requires more and more network capacity and backhaul capability. New wireless technologies have been proposed to tackle these challenges. One of the emerging technologies is device-to-device (D2D) communications. It enables two cellular user equip- ment (UEs) in proximity to communicate with each other directly reusing cellular radio resources. In this case, D2D is able to of oad data traf c from central base stations (BSs) and signi cantly improve the spectrum ef ciency of a cellular network, and thus is one of the key technologies for the next generation cellular systems. Radio resource management (RRM) for D2D communications and how to effectively exploit the potential bene ts of D2D are two paramount challenges to D2D communications underlaying cellular networks. In this thesis, we focus on four problems related to these two challenges. In Chapter 2, we utilise the mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) to model and solve the RRM optimisation problems for D2D communications. Firstly we consider the RRM optimisation problem for D2D communications underlaying the single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) system and devise a heuristic sub- optimal solution to it. Then we propose an optimised RRM mechanism for multi-hop D2D communications with network coding (NC). NC has been proven as an ef cient technique to improve the throughput of ad-hoc networks and thus we apply it to multi-hop D2D communications. We devise an optimal solution to the RRM optimisation problem for multi-hop D2D communications with NC. In Chapter 3, we investigate how the location of the D2D transmitter in a cell may affect the RRM mechanism and the performance of D2D communications. We propose two optimised location-based RRM mechanisms for D2D, which maximise the throughput and the energy ef ciency of D2D, respectively. We show that, by considering the location information of the D2D transmitter, the MINLP problem of RRM for D2D communications can be transformed into a convex optimisation problem, which can be ef ciently solved by the method of Lagrangian multipliers. In Chapter 4, we propose a D2D-based P2P le sharing system, which is called Iunius. The Iunius system features: 1) a wireless P2P protocol based on Bittorrent protocol in the application layer; 2) a simple centralised routing mechanism for multi-hop D2D communications; 3) an interference cancellation technique for conventional cellular (CC) uplink communications; and 4) a radio resource management scheme to mitigate the interference between CC and D2D communications that share the cellular uplink radio resources while maximising the throughput of D2D communications. We show that with the properly designed application layer protocol and the optimised RRM for D2D communications, Iunius can signi cantly improve the quality of experience (QoE) of users and of oad local traf c from the base station. In Chapter 5, we combine LTE-unlicensed with D2D communications. We utilise LTE-unlicensed to enable the operation of D2D in unlicensed bands. We show that not only can this improve the throughput of D2D communications, but also allow D2D to work in the cell central area, which normally regarded as a “forbidden area” for D2D in existing works. We achieve these results mainly through numerical optimisation and simulations. We utilise a wide range of numerical optimisation theories in our works. Instead of utilising the general numerical optimisation algorithms to solve the optimisation problems, we modify them to be suitable for the speci c problems, thereby reducing the computational complexity. Finally, we evaluate our proposed algorithms and systems through sophisticated numer- ical simulations. We have developed a complete system-level simulation framework for D2D communications and we open-source it in Github: https://github.com/mathwuyue/py- wireless-sys-sim

Device-to-device communication in cellular networks : multi-hop path selection and performance.

Over the past decade, the proliferation of internet equipment and an increasing number of people moving into cities have significantly influenced mobile data demand density and intensity. To accommodate the increasing demands, the fifth generation (5G) wireless systems standards emerged in 2014. Device-to-device communications (D2D) is one of the three primary technologies to address the key performance indicators of the 5G network. D2D communications enable devices to communicate data information directly with each other without access to a fixed wireless infrastructure. The potential advantages of D2D communications include throughput enhancement, device energy saving and coverage expansion. The economic attraction to mobile operators is that significant capacity and coverage gains can be achieved without having to invest in network-side hardware upgrades or new cell deployments. However, there are technical challenges related to D2D and conventional cellular communication (CC) in co-existence, especially their mutual interference due to spectrum sharing. A novel interference-aware-routing for multi-hop D2D is introduced for reducing the mutual interference. The first verification scenario of interference-aware-routing is that in a real urban environment. D2D is used for relaying data across the urban terrain, in the presence of CC communications. Different wireless routing algorithms are considered, namely: shortest-path-routing, interference-aware-routing, and broadcast-routing. In general, the interference-aware-routing achieves a better performance of reliability and there is a fundamental trade-off between D2D and CC outage performances, due to their mutual interference relationship. Then an analytical stochastic geometry framework is developed to compare the performance of shortest-path-routing and interference-aware-routing. Based on the results, the spatial operational envelopes for different D2D routing algorithms and CC transmissions based on the user equipment (UEs) physical locations are defined. There is a forbidden area of D2D because of the interference from the base stations (BSs), so the collision probability of the D2D multi-hop path hitting the defined D2D forbidden area is analysed. Depend on the result of the collision probability, a dynamic switching strategy between D2D and CC communications in order to minimise mutual interference is proposed. A blind gradient-based transmission switching strategy is developed to avoid collision within the collision area and only requires knowledge of the distances to the serving base station of the current user and the final destination user. In the final part of my research, the concept of LTE-U (Long term evolution for Unlicensed Spectrum), which suggests that LTE can operate in the unlicensed spectrum with significant modifications to its transmission protocols, is investigated. How the envisaged D2D networks can efficiently scale their capacity by utilising the unlicensed spectrum with appropriately designed LTE-Unlicensed protocols is examined

D2D multi-hop routing : collision probability and routing strategy with limited location information

In this paper, we define a collision area in a heterogeneous cellular network for the purpose of interference management between Device-to-Device (D2D) and conventional cellular (CC) communications. Currently, most D2D routing algorithms assume synchronized accurate location knowledge among users and the base stations. In reality, this level of location accuracy is difficult and power consuming in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). In current LongTerm Evolution (LTE), there is no location information from the cell besides range information from time measurements. In the absence of accurate location information, we analyze the collision probability of the D2D multi-hop path hitting the defined collision area. Specifically, we consider the problem for three different routing scenarios: intra-cell, intra-cell to cell boundary, and cell boundary to boundary routing. As a result, we propose a dynamic switching strategy between D2D and CC communications in order to minimize mutual interference. The gradient-based switching strategy can avoid collision with the collision area and only requires knowledge of the current user and the final destination user’s distances to the serving base station

Architecture design for disaster resilient management network using D2D technology

Huge damages from natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, landslide, tsunamis, have been reported in recent years, claiming many lives, rendering millions homeless and causing huge financial losses worldwide. The lack of effective communication between the public rescue/safety agencies, rescue teams, first responders and trapped survivors/victims makes the situation even worse. Factors like dysfunctional communication networks, limited communications capacity, limited resources/services, data transformation and effective evaluation, energy, and power deficiency cause unnecessary hindrance in rescue and recovery services during a disaster. The new wireless communication technologies are needed to enhance life-saving capabilities and rescue services. In general, in order to improve societal resilience towards natural catastrophes and develop effective communication infrastructure, innovative approaches need to be initiated to provide improved quality, better connectivity in the events of natural and human disasters. In this thesis, a disaster resilient network architecture is proposed and analysed using multi-hop communications, clustering, energy harvesting, throughput optimization, reliability enhancement, adaptive selection, and low latency communications. It also examines the importance of mode selection, power management, frequency and time resource allocation to realize the promises of Long-term Evolution (LTE) Device to Device (D2D) communication. In particular, to support resilient and energy efficient communication in disaster-affected areas. This research is examined by thorough and vigorous simulations and validated through mathematical modelling. Overall, the impact of this research is twofold: i) it provides new technologies for effective inter- and intra-agency coordination system during a disaster event by establishing a stronger and resilient communication; and ii) It offers a potential solution for stakeholders such as governments, rescue teams, and general public with new informed information on how to establish effective policies to cope with challenges before, during and after the disaster events

Device-to-device meets LTE-unlicensed

In this article, we look into how the LTE network can efficiently evolve to cater for new data services by utilizing direct communications between mobile devices and extending the direct transmissions to the unlicensed bands, i.e., device-to-device (D2D) communications in conjunction with LTE-Unlicensed. In doing so, it provides an opportunity to solve the main challenge of mutual interference between in D2D and conventional cellular (CC) transmissions. In this context, we review three interconnected major technical areas of multi-hop D2D: transmission band selection, routing path selection, and resource management. Traditionally, D2D transmissions are limited to specific regions of a cell’s coverage area in order to limit the interference to CC primary links. We show that by allowing D2D to operate in the unlicensed bands with protective fairness measures for Wi-Fi transmissions, D2D is able to operate across the whole coverage area and in doing so, efficiently scale the overall network capacity whilst minimizing cross-tier and cross-technology interference