Separation Framework: An Enabler for Cooperative and D2D Communication for Future 5G Networks

Soaring capacity and coverage demands dictate that future cellular networks need to soon migrate towards ultra-dense networks. However, network densification comes with a host of challenges that include compromised energy efficiency, complex interference management, cumbersome mobility management, burdensome signaling overheads and higher backhaul costs. Interestingly, most of the problems, that beleaguer network densification, stem from legacy networks' one common feature i.e., tight coupling between the control and data planes regardless of their degree of heterogeneity and cell density. Consequently, in wake of 5G, control and data planes separation architecture (SARC) has recently been conceived as a promising paradigm that has potential to address most of aforementioned challenges. In this article, we review various proposals that have been presented in literature so far to enable SARC. More specifically, we analyze how and to what degree various SARC proposals address the four main challenges in network densification namely: energy efficiency, system level capacity maximization, interference management and mobility management. We then focus on two salient features of future cellular networks that have not yet been adapted in legacy networks at wide scale and thus remain a hallmark of 5G, i.e., coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and device-to-device (D2D) communications. After providing necessary background on CoMP and D2D, we analyze how SARC can particularly act as a major enabler for CoMP and D2D in context of 5G. This article thus serves as both a tutorial as well as an up to date survey on SARC, CoMP and D2D. Most importantly, the article provides an extensive outlook of challenges and opportunities that lie at the crossroads of these three mutually entangled emerging technologies.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 201

D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies

This document provides the most recent updates on the technical contributions and research challenges focused in WP3. Each Technology Component (TeC) has been evaluated under possible uniform assessment framework of WP3 which is based on the simulation guidelines of WP6. The performance assessment is supported by the simulation results which are in their mature and stable state. An update on the Most Promising Technology Approaches (MPTAs) and their associated TeCs is the main focus of this document. Based on the input of all the TeCs in WP3, a consolidated view of WP3 on the role of multinode/multi-antenna transmission technologies in 5G systems has also been provided. This consolidated view is further supported in this document by the presentation of the impact of MPTAs on METIS scenarios and the addressed METIS goals.Aziz, D.; Baracca, P.; De Carvalho, E.; Fantini, R.; Rajatheva, N.; Popovski, P.; Sørensen, JH.... (2015). D 3. 3 Final performance results and consolidated view on the most promising multi -node/multi -antenna transmission technologies. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/7675

Improved interference management techniques for multi-cell multi-user MIMO systems

One major limiting factor for wireless communication systems is the limited available bandwidth for cellular networks. Current technologies like Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) have standardised a frequency reuse factor of 1 to enable more channel resources in each cell. Also multi-layer networks that consist of overlapping macro cells and small cells like pico cells, micro cells and femto cells have also been used to improve the capacity of the cellular network system. These multi-layer networks are known as heterogeneous networks or HetNets while the single layer, traditional cellular systems are referred to as homogeneous networks or HomoNets. Several interference management systems and techniques have been proposed in the past to deal with the effect of inter-cell interference (ICI) (i.e., the interference from a macro cell base station (BS) to a macro cell user in another macro cell) and inter-user interference (IUI) (i.e., the interference of another user's data signal to a given user within the same cell on the same time and frequency slot). Interference cancellation techniques such as beamforming, uses transmit pre-coders and receive beam-formers to limit the effect of interference. The interference alignment strategy ensures that the interference is aligned into a given subspace and leaves a residual subspace free for the desired signal. Coordinated scheduling/beam-forming and coordinated multi-point transmission (CoMP) have also been used to limit the interference within the cellular network. For HetNets, interference avoidance techniques based on radio resource management (RRM) have been used to limit the effect of interference within the network and improve the attainable system capacity. This thesis investigates the challenges of two main interference management techniques and proposes methods to alleviate these issues without impeding the expected performance already attained. The main techniques considered for HomoNets and HetNets are: CoMP transmission under the interference cancellation technique and resource block allocation (RBA) under the interference avoidance technique. The setbacks for the well known CoMP transmission strategy are high data overhead, energy consumption and other associated costs to the network provider. Further investigations were carried out and a joint selection of transmit antennas for the users was proposed with the main aim of preserving or exceeding the already achieved gains but obtaining a further reduction in the data overhead. Fully distributed RBA solutions are required, especially since future networks tend to become self-organising networks (SON). Another major consideration in choosing the resource blocks (RBs) for the users in each cell is the RBA metric. Since the capacity of the cell is dependent on the sum-rate of the users, it is important to consider the maximisation of the sum-rate or sum-SINR (i.e the sum signal to interference and noise ratio) when assigning RBs to users. The RBA technique aims to choose the RBs such that the interference within the cell is avoided. To achieve this, a RBA metric is required to obtain the qualification matrix before allocating RBs to the users. Many authors in the past have proposed several metrics for RBA but avoided any RBA metric that required a direct estimation of the interference power on each RB for each user's allocation. This is because the SINR or interference power on each RB for any user can only be obtained with pre-knowledge of already occupied RBs in neighbouring cells. In this thesis, two distributed RBA solutions based on a direct interference estimation was proposed to obtain the required qualification matrix for the RBA under the HomoNet and HetNet system models. The gains and advantages obtained are shown and analysed using the obtained simulation results. The issue of interference coupled with limited available channels remains a major limiting factor for HetNets. Therefore, it is very important to develop techniques that maximise the utilisation of available bandwidth for each cell while minimising possible interference from neighbouring cells. Finally, this thesis considers and investigates a possible joint solution using both interference avoidance and interference mitigation techniques. Hence two solutions are proposed: joint RBA plus beam-forming and joint RBA plus CoMP transmission, to further mitigate the high interference in HetNets. The simulation results have shown significantly improved system performance especially for a highly dense HetNet

D4.2 Final report on trade-off investigations

Research activities in METIS WP4 include several as pects related to the network-level of future wireless communication networks. Thereby, a large variety of scenarios is considered and solutions are proposed to serve the needs envis ioned for the year 2020 and beyond. This document provides vital findings about several trade-offs that need to be leveraged when designing future network-level solutions. In more detail, it elaborates on the following trade- offs: • Complexity vs. Performance improvement • Centralized vs. Decentralized • Long time-scale vs. Short time-scale • Information Interflow vs. Throughput/Mobility enha ncement • Energy Efficiency vs. Network Coverage and Capacity Outlining the advantages and disadvantages in each trade-off, this document serves as a guideline for the application of different network-level solutions in different situations and therefore greatly assists in the design of future communication network architectures.Aydin, O.; Ren, Z.; Bostov, M.; Lakshmana, TR.; Sui, Y.; Svensson, T.; Sun, W.... (2014). D4.2 Final report on trade-off investigations. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/7676