Performance Comparison Between VoLTE and non-VoLTE Voice Calls During Mobility in Commercial Deployment: A Drive Test-Based Analysis

The optimization of network performance is vital for the delivery of services using standard cellular technologies for mobile communications. Call setup delay and User Equipment (UE) battery savings significantly influence network performance. Improving these factors is vital for ensuring optimal service delivery. In comparison to traditional circuit-switched voice calls, VoLTE (Voice over LTE) technology offers faster call setup durations and better battery-saving performance. To validate these claims, a drive test was carried out using the XCAL drive test tool to collect real-time network parameter details in VoLTE and non-VoLTE voice calls. The findings highlight the analysis of real-time network characteristics, such as the call setup delay calculation, battery-saving performance, and DRX mechanism. The study contributes to the understanding of network optimization strategies and provides insights for enhancing the quality of service (QoS) in mobile communication networks. Examining VoLTE and non-VoLTE operations, this research highlights the substantial energy savings obtained by VoLTE. Specifically, VoLTE saves approximately 60.76% of energy before the Service Request and approximately 38.97% of energy after the Service Request. Moreover, VoLTE to VoLTE calls have a 72.6% faster call setup delay than non-VoLTE-based LTE to LTE calls, because of fewer signaling messages required. Furthermore, as compared to non-VoLTE to non-VoLTE calls, VoLTE to non-VoLTE calls offer an 18.6% faster call setup delay. These results showcase the performance advantages of VoLTE and reinforce its potential for offering better services in wireless communication networks.Comment: Accepted for presentation and Publication on the IEEE 10th International Conference on Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics (EECSI 2023

Proportional and Preemption-enabled Traffic Offloading for IP Flow Mobility:Algorithms and Performance Evaluation

IP Flow Mobility (IFOM) enables a user equipment to offload data traffic at the IP flow level. Although the procedure of IFOM-based flow offloading has been specified by 3GPP, how many IP flows should be offloaded and when offloading should be performed are not defined. Consequently, IP flows may be routed to a target access network which has a strong signal strength but with backhaul congestion or insufficient access capability. In this paper, we propose two algorithms, referred to as proportional offloading (PO), and proportional and preemption-enabled offloading (PPO), respectively, for IP flow offloading in hybrid cellular and wireless local area networks. The PO algorithm decides an optimal proportion of IP flows which could be offloaded by considering available resources at the target access network. In the PPO algorithm, both service continuity and network utilization are taken into consideration. Furthermore, a detailed analytical model is developed in order to evaluate the behavior of the proposed algorithms. The analytical model is validated through extensive simulations. The results show that by dynamically adjusting the percentage of traffic flows to be offloaded, PO can reduce blocking probability and increase resource utilization. PPO further improves the performance at the cost of slightly higher offloading overhead

Service Continuity in 3GPP Mobile Networks

The mobile wireless communication network or cellular network landscape is changing gradually from homogeneous to heterogeneous. Future generation networks are envisioned to be a combination of diverse but complimentary access technologies, like GPRS, WCDMA/HSPA, LTE and WLAN. These technologies came up due to the need to increase capacity in cellular networks and recently driven by the proliferation of smart devices which require a lot of bandwidth. The traditional mechanisms to increase capacity in cellular networks have been to upgrade the networks by, e.g. adding small cells solutions or introducing new radio access technologies to regions requiring lots of capacity, but this has not eradicated the problem entirely. The integration of heterogeneous networks poses some challenges such as allocating resources efficiently and enabling seamless handovers between heterogeneous technologies. One issue which has become apparent recently with the proliferation of different link layer technologies is how service providers can offer a consistent service across heterogeneous networks. Service continuity between different radio access technologies systems is identified as one key research item.  The knowledge of the service offering in current and future networks, and supporting interworking technologies is paramount to understand how service continuity will be realized across different radio access technologies. We investigate the handover procedure and performance in current deployed 3GPP heterogeneous mobile networks (2G, 3G and 4G networks). We perform measurements in the field and the lab and measure the handover latency for User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) applications. The results show that intersystem handover latencies in and across 2G and 3G radio access technologies are too long and have an impact on real time packet switched (PS) real-time services. We also investigate the current proposed interworking and handover schemes in 2G, 3G and 4G networks and present their limitations. We further highlight some open issues that still need to be addressed in order to improve handover performance and provide service continuity across heterogeneous mobile wireless networks such as selection of optimal radio access technology and adaptation of multimedia transmission over heterogeneous technologies. We present the enhancements required to enable service continuity and provide a better quality of user experience. 

Improving Capabilities and Strategic Fit in Governmental Agencies

A thesis submitted....The notion of Strategic Fit has been and remains to be one of the most important arguements in the fields of business strategy and strategic management. This research study examines the key concept of ‘strategic fit’ and its associated theories and seeks to investigate the causes that have created ‘strategic drift’ in Abu Dhabi’s governmental agencies in the infrastructure sector with the aim of improving their performance. However, for organisations, public or private, it still remains to be the most important notion and one that cannot be ignored because it is about the success of the organisation in its external environment where all competitive activity takes place. Thus, there are many underlying factors such as organisational culture, structure and organisational history that impact, or influence, the level of fit that organisations achieve. Therefore it is imperative that research is further undertaken on a deeper and wider level to fully understand the concept and importance of strategic fit and how it can be achieved. Hence, a research study in this area, especially in developing cities such as Abu Dhabi, is well justified and needed. The lack of strategic fit that has been witnessed in the Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure sector over the past few years continues to be, and it is a clear indication of a developing mismatch between the government and its policies and the agencies that implement them. However, this is clearly a major issue for the government going forward, if polices are developed with no clear understanding of the available resources and capabilities. Similarly, the study also seeks to determine why a strategic fit has not been achievable by the Abu Dhabi government. Though the government has developed policies to better serve its people, it continuously faces issues of policies not being implemented, or being implemented too late and targets not been met according to the original brief. It has been identified that there are numerous deficiencies between the various government agencies in the infrastructure sector in terms of keeping pace with governmental policies - consequently, resulting in strategic gaps with an increasing possibility of a possible strategic drift, if these issues are not addressed effectively and in a timely manner.The study further wishes to explore if strategic gaps have occurred as a result of inherent cultural, historical, political and/or structural aspects of the Abu Dhabi government and its numerous agencies – simply because these issues can be seen as preventative to change and progress which, in turn, can lead to strategic gaps and strategic drift in the long term. The research paradigm selected for this research study is that of the pragmatist approach and subsequently the key methodology employed throughout this research is that of the mixed methods. That mixed methods research is an intellectual and practical synthesis based on qualitative and quantitative research. Also, This research provides a summary of the important findings, proved hypotheses, achieved aim and objectives, and significant contribution to the knowledge of strategic management through the development of the “Community Innovation Scheme”, the “3-Spectrums of Change”, the “4Ms Change Model”; and the resulting framework model; the “Government Strategy Model”