1,277 research outputs found
Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Communication Networks for the Maritime Internet of Things: Key Technologies, Opportunities, and Challenges
With the rapid development of marine activities, there has been an increasing
number of maritime mobile terminals, as well as a growing demand for high-speed
and ultra-reliable maritime communications to keep them connected.
Traditionally, the maritime Internet of Things (IoT) is enabled by maritime
satellites. However, satellites are seriously restricted by their high latency
and relatively low data rate. As an alternative, shore & island-based base
stations (BSs) can be built to extend the coverage of terrestrial networks
using fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G), and beyond 5G services.
Unmanned aerial vehicles can also be exploited to serve as aerial maritime BSs.
Despite of all these approaches, there are still open issues for an efficient
maritime communication network (MCN). For example, due to the complicated
electromagnetic propagation environment, the limited geometrically available BS
sites, and rigorous service demands from mission-critical applications,
conventional communication and networking theories and methods should be
tailored for maritime scenarios. Towards this end, we provide a survey on the
demand for maritime communications, the state-of-the-art MCNs, and key
technologies for enhancing transmission efficiency, extending network coverage,
and provisioning maritime-specific services. Future challenges in developing an
environment-aware, service-driven, and integrated satellite-air-ground MCN to
be smart enough to utilize external auxiliary information, e.g., sea state and
atmosphere conditions, are also discussed
Carrier Aggregation in Multi-Beam High Throughput Satellite Systems
Carrier Aggregation (CA) is an integral part of current terrestrial networks.
Its ability to enhance the peak data rate, to efficiently utilize the limited
available spectrum resources and to satisfy the demand for data-hungry
applications has drawn large attention from different wireless network
communities. Given the benefits of CA in the terrestrial wireless environment,
it is of great interest to analyze and evaluate the potential impact of CA in
the satellite domain. In this paper, we study CA in multibeam high throughput
satellite systems. We consider both inter-transponder and intra-transponder CA
at the satellite payload level of the communication stack, and we address the
problem of carrier-user assignment assuming that multiple users can be
multiplexed in each carrier. The transmission parameters of different carriers
are generated considering the transmission characteristics of carriers in
different transponders. In particular, we propose a flexible carrier allocation
approach for a CA-enabled multibeam satellite system targeting a proportionally
fair user demand satisfaction. Simulation results and analysis shed some light
on this rather unexplored scenario and demonstrate the feasibility of the CA in
satellite communication systems
Communication satellites: Guidelines for a strategic plan
To maintain and augment the leadership that the United States has enjoyed and to ensure that the nation is investing sufficiently and wisely to this purpose, a strategic plan for satellite communications research and development was prepared by NASA. Guidelines and recommendations for a NASA plan to support this objective and for the conduct of communication satellite research and development program over the next 25 years were generated. The guidelines are briefly summarized
Low-Profile Wideband Antenna Arrays for Mobile Satellite and 5G Communication
Three innovative low-profile antenna arrays are designed and tested for vehicular satellite and 5G communication. All of the systems presented target key challenges of GEO, LEO and 5G communication. Each design provides a high level of performance for the given application in a far more compact and lower cost design than existing systems.Firstly, a wideband curl antenna array is developed to enable L-band GEO satellite communication for emergency vehicles. This novel 1×3 rotated array utilises a hybrid switch beam and phase shifting technique to enable full beamforming down to 70° in all directions with 40% lower cost than standard phased array systems. Uniquely, this provides excellent azimuth beam steering at low angles from a linear array. This system also utilises a high impedance surface to reduce the height of the antenna elements by 50% compared to existing curl antenna designs.Secondly, a shared aperture antenna array is developed to enable Ka-band LEO satellite communication for vehicular integration. This system utilise a new combination of circular polarised triangular antennas in an interlaced planar triangular lattice such that the topology provides optimal tessellation. As a result, the system provides high performance beam steering and reconfigurable circular polarisation in a highly compact design. This array has been developed such that it is suitable for common PCB manufacturing methods. Unlike existing shared aperture arrays for LEO terminals, this topology enables reconfigurable circular polarisation in a single, planar PCB structure.Finally, a low-cost wideband compressed spiral antenna array is designed and fabricated for global 5G ground-to-air communication for aircraft. An innovative spiral antenna optimisation is presented where the spiral is highly compressed such that it can provide an axial beam over a wide bandwidth while maintaining a lower profile than existing wideband solutions
From Sensing to Predictions and Database Technique: A Review of TV White Space Information Acquisition in Cognitive Radio Networks
Strategies to acquire white space information is the single most significant
functionality in cognitive radio networks (CRNs) and as such, it has gone some evolution
to enhance information accuracy. The evolution trends are spectrum sensing, prediction
algorithm and recently, geo-location database technique. Previously, spectrum sensing was
the main technique for detecting the presence/absence of a primary user (PU) signal in a
given radio frequency (RF) spectrum. However, this expectation could not materialized as
a result of numerous technical challenges ranging from hardware imperfections to RF
signal impairments. To convey the evolutionary trends in the development of white space
information, we present a survey of the contemporary advancements in PU detection with
emphasis on the practical deployment of CRNs i.e. Television white space (TVWS) networks.
It is found that geo-location database is the most reliable technique to acquire
TVWS information although, it is financially driven. Finally, using financially driven
database model, this study compared the data-rate and spectral efficiency of FCC and
Ofcom TV channelization. It was discovered that Ofcom TV channelization outperforms
FCC TV channelization as a result of having higher spectrum bandwidth. We proposed the
adoption of an all-inclusive TVWS information acquisition model as the future research
direction for TVWS information acquisition techniques
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