1,634 research outputs found
Unified radio and network control across heterogeneous hardware platforms
Experimentation is an important step in the investigation of techniques for handling spectrum scarcity or the development of new waveforms in future wireless networks. However, it is impractical and not cost effective to construct custom platforms for each future network scenario to be investigated. This problem is addressed by defining Unified Programming Interfaces that allow common access to several platforms for experimentation-based prototyping, research, and development purposes. The design of these interfaces is driven by a diverse set of scenarios that capture the functionality relevant to future network implementations while trying to keep them as generic as possible. Herein, the definition of this set of scenarios is presented as well as the architecture for supporting experimentation-based wireless research over multiple hardware platforms. The proposed architecture for experimentation incorporates both local and global unified interfaces to control any aspect of a wireless system while being completely agnostic to the actual technology incorporated. Control is feasible from the low-level features of individual radios to the entire network stack, including hierarchical control combinations. A testbed to enable the use of the above architecture is utilized that uses a backbone network in order to be able to extract measurements and observe the overall behaviour of the system under test without imposing further communication overhead to the actual experiment. Based on the aforementioned architecture, a system is proposed that is able to support the advancement of intelligent techniques for future networks through experimentation while decoupling promising algorithms and techniques from the capabilities of a specific hardware platform
Exploiting programmable architectures for WiFi/ZigBee inter-technology cooperation
The increasing complexity of wireless standards has shown that protocols cannot be designed once for all possible deployments, especially when unpredictable and mutating interference situations are present due to the coexistence of heterogeneous technologies. As such, flexibility and (re)programmability of wireless devices is crucial in the emerging scenarios of technology proliferation and unpredictable interference conditions.
In this paper, we focus on the possibility to improve coexistence performance of WiFi and ZigBee networks by exploiting novel programmable architectures of wireless devices able to support run-time modifications of medium access operations. Differently from software-defined radio (SDR) platforms, in which every function is programmed from scratch, our programmable architectures are based on a clear decoupling between elementary commands (hard-coded into the devices) and programmable protocol logic (injected into the devices) according to which the commands execution is scheduled.
Our contribution is two-fold: first, we designed and implemented a cross-technology time division multiple access (TDMA) scheme devised to provide a global synchronization signal and allocate alternating channel intervals to WiFi and ZigBee programmable nodes; second, we used the OMF control framework to define an interference detection and adaptation strategy that in principle could work in independent and autonomous networks. Experimental results prove the benefits of the envisioned solution
An approach to achieve zero turnaround time in TDD operation on SDR front-end
Thanks to the digitization and softwarization of radio communication, the development cycle of new radio technologies can be significantly accelerated by prototyping on software-defined radio (SDR) platforms. However, a slow turnaround time (TT) of the front-end of an SDR for switching from receiving mode to transmitting mode or vice versa, are jeopardizing the prototyping of wireless protocols, standards, or systems with stringent latency requirements. In this paper, a novel solution called BaseBand processing unit operating in Half Duplex mode and analog Radio Frequency front-end operating in Full Duplex mode, BBHD-RFFD, is presented to reduce the TT on SDR. A prototype is realized on the widely adopted AD9361 radio frequency frontend to prove the validity of the proposed solution. Experiments unveil that for any type of application, the TT in time division duplex (TDD) operation mode can be reduced to zero by the BBHD-RFFD approach, with negligible impact on the communication system in terms of receiver sensitivity. The impact is measured for an in-house IEEE 802.15.4 compliant transceiver. When compared against the conventional TDD approach, only a 7.5-dB degradation is observed with the BBHD-RFFD approach. The measured sensitivity of -91 dBm is still well above the minimum level (i.e., -85 dBm at 2.4 GHz) defined by the IEEE 802.15.4 standard
Building Programmable Wireless Networks: An Architectural Survey
In recent times, there have been a lot of efforts for improving the ossified
Internet architecture in a bid to sustain unstinted growth and innovation. A
major reason for the perceived architectural ossification is the lack of
ability to program the network as a system. This situation has resulted partly
from historical decisions in the original Internet design which emphasized
decentralized network operations through co-located data and control planes on
each network device. The situation for wireless networks is no different
resulting in a lot of complexity and a plethora of largely incompatible
wireless technologies. The emergence of "programmable wireless networks", that
allow greater flexibility, ease of management and configurability, is a step in
the right direction to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings of the wireless
networks. In this paper, we provide a broad overview of the architectures
proposed in literature for building programmable wireless networks focusing
primarily on three popular techniques, i.e., software defined networks,
cognitive radio networks, and virtualized networks. This survey is a
self-contained tutorial on these techniques and its applications. We also
discuss the opportunities and challenges in building next-generation
programmable wireless networks and identify open research issues and future
research directions.Comment: 19 page
Rapid Prototyping for Evaluating Vehicular Communications
[Abstract] This Thesis details the different elements of a rapid prototyping system able to
implement and evaluate vehicular communications fast, according to the continuously
evolving requirements of the industry. The system is basically composed of a testbed
and a channel emulator, which allow evaluating communication transceivers in realistic
vehicular scenarios.
Two different testbeds are introduced: a generic 2x2 system and a vehicular platform.
The former is used to compare and study space-time block coding (STBC) transmissions
at 2.4 GHz over different indoor channels. The latter makes use of software
transceivers whose performance is evaluated when they work under artificial high-speed
Rayleigh-fading scenarios.
To show the capabilities of both platforms, three software transceivers have been
developed following the specifications for the physical layers of the standards IEEE
802.11p, IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.16e (Mobile WiMAX). The present work details
the different elements that make up each transceiver and indicates how to connect them
to the rest of the system to perform evaluation measurements.
Finally, single-antenna and multi-antenna performances are measured thanks to the
design and implementation of three FPGA-based channel emulators that are able to
recreate up to seven different vehicular scenarios that include urban canyons, suburban
areas and highways[Resumo] A presente Tese detalla os elementos necesarios para constituir un sistema basado en
prototipado rápido capaz de levar a cabo e avaliar comunicacións vehiculares. O hardware
do sistema está composto básicamente por unha plataforma de probas (testbed)
e un emulador de canal, os cales permiten avaliar o rendemento de transceptores
inartiamicos recreando diferentes escenarios vehiculares.
Inicialmente, este traballo céntrase na descripción do hardware do sistema, detallando
a construcción e proba dunha plataforma multi-antena e un testebed vehicular.
Estos sistemas permitiron, respectivamente, estudar o comportamento de códigos STBC
(space-time block codes) en interiores e medir o rendemento de tranceptores software
ao traballar a distintas velocidades vehiculares en canais con desvaecemento Rayleigh.
Tres transceptores software foron creados seguindo as especificacións das capas
físicas dos estándares IEEE 802.11p, IEEE 802.11a e IEEE 802.16e (Mobile WiMAX).
Este traballo detalla os diferentes componentes de cada transceptor, indicando cómo
conectalos ao resto do sistema para realizar a avaliacition do seu rendemento. Dita
avaliación realizouse coa axuda de tres emuladores de canal basados en tecnoloxía
FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), os cales son capaces de recrear ata sete
escenarios vehiculares distintos, incluindo cañóns urbanos, zonas suburbanas e autopistas.[Resumen] La presente Tesis detalla los elementos necesarios para constituir un sistema basado
en prototipado rtiapido capaz de llevar a cabo y evaluar comunicaciones vehiculares.
El hardware del sistema está compuesto por una plataforma de pruebas (testbed) y
un emulador de canal, los cuales permiten evaluar el rendimiento de transceptores
inaltiambricos recreando diferentes escenarios vehiculares.
Inicialmente, este trabajo se centra en la descripcition del hardware del sistema,
detallando la construccition y prueba de una plataforma multi-antena y un testebed
vehicular. Estos sistemas han permitido, respectivamente, estudiar el comportamiento
de ctiodigos STBC (space-time block codes) en interiores y medir el rendimiento en
canal con desvanecimiento Rayleigh de tranceptores software a distintas velocidades
vehiculares.
Tres transceptores software han sido creados siguiendo las especificaciones de las
capas físicas de los estandares IEEE 802.11p, IEEE 802.11a e IEEE 802.16e (Mobile
WiMAX). Este trabajo detalla los diferentes componentes de cada transceptor,
indicando ctiomo conectarlos al resto del sistema para realizar la evaluacition de su
rendimiento. Dicha evaluacition se realiztio con la ayuda de tres emuladores de canal
basados en FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array), los cuales son capaces de recrear
comunicaciones multi-antena en hasta siete escenarios vehiculares distintos, incluyendo
cañones urbanos, zonas suburbanas y autopistas
Network layer access control for context-aware IPv6 applications
As part of the Lancaster GUIDE II project, we have developed a novel wireless access point protocol designed to support the development of next generation mobile context-aware applications in our local environs. Once deployed, this architecture will allow ordinary citizens secure, accountable and convenient access to a set of tailored applications including location, multimedia and context based services, and the public Internet. Our architecture utilises packet marking and network level packet filtering techniques within a modified Mobile IPv6 protocol stack to perform access control over a range of wireless network technologies. In this paper, we describe the rationale for, and components of, our architecture and contrast our approach with other state-of-the- art systems. The paper also contains details of our current implementation work, including preliminary performance measurements
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