Control-data separation architecture for cellular radio access networks: a survey and outlook

Conventional cellular systems are designed to ensure ubiquitous coverage with an always present wireless channel irrespective of the spatial and temporal demand of service. This approach raises several problems due to the tight coupling between network and data access points, as well as the paradigm shift towards data-oriented services, heterogeneous deployments and network densification. A logical separation between control and data planes is seen as a promising solution that could overcome these issues, by providing data services under the umbrella of a coverage layer. This article presents a holistic survey of existing literature on the control-data separation architecture (CDSA) for cellular radio access networks. As a starting point, we discuss the fundamentals, concepts, and general structure of the CDSA. Then, we point out limitations of the conventional architecture in futuristic deployment scenarios. In addition, we present and critically discuss the work that has been done to investigate potential benefits of the CDSA, as well as its technical challenges and enabling technologies. Finally, an overview of standardisation proposals related to this research vision is provided

An architecture for converging reconfigurable radio systems

Since mobile telecommunication systems were rst introduced in the early 1980s they have become a pervasive part of modern life, with an estimated 85% of the global population believed to be in possession of a mobile communications device. To address the ever-increasing demand for fast ubiquitous provision of multimedia and data services, new Radio Access Technologies (RATs) capable of meeting those demands are constantly being developed and standardised. Currently the fourth generation of RATs is being deployed by network operators around the world, with standards bodies already working to develop and standardise even more advanced RATs. The introduction of any new, and often upgraded, RATs almost always requires network operators to purchase new hardware systems capable of supporting the new RATs, which must then be integrated with the plethora of RATs already present in the network operator's heterogeneous Radio Access Network (RAN). This process is costly and poses risks for network operators, as they must rst invest signi cant amounts of capital on new network hardware and then they have to convince their subscribers to purchase new mobile devices which are capable of supporting the new RAT. Recon gurable Radio Systems (RRSs) are a relatively new approach to developing, implementing and managing RATs within a RAN. A RRS di ers from a traditional radio system, in that each RAT is de ned in software which can be reused across multiple generic hardware platforms. Many RRSs also provide the functionality to manage and control the dynamic implementation of di erent RATs in network elements throughout a RAN. Although RRSs are the subject of numerous research e orts, there is currently no unifying approach or set of requirements for an RRS architecture or framework. In- stead various researchers focus their e orts on speci c topics relating to RRS, such as the recon gurable management system, or how RATs are modelled and implemented in software. This lack of formal standardisation or approach to developing RRSs represents a hindrance to the widespread adoption of RRSs

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) II

This Edited Volume Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) II is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, offering a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the field of Computer and Information Science. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and edited by an expert active in the Computer and Information Science research area. All chapters are complete in itself but united under a common research study topic. This publication aims at providing a thorough overview of the latest research efforts by international authors on Computer and Information Science, and open new possible research paths for further novel developments

Kommunikation und Bildverarbeitung in der Automation

In diesem Open-Access-Tagungsband sind die besten Beiträge des 9. Jahreskolloquiums "Kommunikation in der Automation" (KommA 2018) und des 6. Jahreskolloquiums "Bildverarbeitung in der Automation" (BVAu 2018) enthalten. Die Kolloquien fanden am 20. und 21. November 2018 in der SmartFactoryOWL, einer gemeinsamen Einrichtung des Fraunhofer IOSB-INA und der Technischen Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe statt. Die vorgestellten neuesten Forschungsergebnisse auf den Gebieten der industriellen Kommunikationstechnik und Bildverarbeitung erweitern den aktuellen Stand der Forschung und Technik. Die in den Beiträgen enthaltenen anschaulichen Beispiele aus dem Bereich der Automation setzen die Ergebnisse in den direkten Anwendungsbezug

Architecture matérielle logicielle pour l'exécution à latence réduite d'applications de télécommunications émergentes sur centre de données

RÉSUMÉ L’industrie des technologies de l’information et des communications fait face à une demande croissante de services sans fil et Internet omniprésents. Cette demande est alimentée par une explosion du nombre d’appareils mobiles riches en multimédia. Il a été estimé qu’à partir de cette année, 2020, le volume de trafic de données mobiles doublera chaque année pour plusieurs années. En conséquence, il en résulte une augmentation significative des dépenses en capital pour les systèmes construits sur les technologies actuelles de réseau d’accès ra-dio qui sont essentiellement basées sur des architectures avec une structure fixe utilisant des plates-formes propriétaires et des mécanismes de contrôle et de gestion de réseau distribués. D’autre part, pour garantir la qualité de service requise, les sous-systèmes sont dimensionnés en fonction des demandes de pointe. Par conséquent, l’extension du réseau aura un impact considérable sur les dépenses d’exploitation. La recherche proposée vise à développer une architecture matérielle et logicielle adaptée à une grappe d’unités de traitement virtualisée pour les signaux en bande de base d’accès radio en nuagique. Ce type d’architecture de-vra prendre en charge le traitement en temps réel avec des processeurs généralistes sur une plateforme hétérogène. Cela soulève deux défis principaux : la planification des tâches en temps réel et leur exécution d’une manière plus déterministe par rapport aux plates-formes généralistes existantes. Ainsi, les mécanismes d’allocation et de gestion des ressources dans les grappes informatiques doivent être revus. Le deuxième défi est d’obtenir un comporte-ment à faible variance qui implique deux préoccupations majeures : le temps de calcul et le délai de communication. Essentiellement, la variation du temps de calcul est inhérente à tous les processeurs généralistes. Néanmoins, l’infrastructure de communication des grappes informatiques existantes ne fournit aucun soutien pour les communications à faible variance. La recherche proposée est divisée en deux principaux sujets : Le calcul dynamique, l’allocation et la gestion des ressources réseau dans une grappeinformatique (hétérogène) : les algorithmes d’allocation dynamique des ressources et de planification des tâches en temps réel formeront la fonctionnalité de base prise en charge par le plan de contrôle. Afin de répondre aux fortes contraintes en temps réel de cette classe d’applications, une implémentation matérielle parallèle basée sur circuit logique programmable (FPGA) du plan de contrôle est proposée.----------ABSTRACT The Information and Communications Technology industry is facing an increasing demand for ubiquitous wireless and Internet services introduced by an explosion of multimedia-rich mobile devices. It is estimated that starting this year, 2020, the volume of mobile data traÿcs will double every year. Consequently, it results in significant increases of capital expenditures for systems built on the current Radio Access Network technologies, which are essentially based on architectures with a fixed structure (not reconfigurable) using proprietary platforms with distributed network control and management mechanisms. To ensure the required quality of service, subsystems are dimensioned with respect to the peak demands. Therefore, network expansion will considerably impact on operating expenditures. This thesis aims at developing an architecture at both hardware and software levels suitable for a virtualized Baseband Processing Unit pool in Cloud Radio Acces Network in order to support real-time processing in a General Purpose Processor based platform. This raises two main challenges: scheduling tasks in real-time and executing them in a manner that is reduces variance compared to the existing General Purpose Processor based platforms. Real-time tasks from radio air interface in the Cloud Radio Access Network must be scheduled at a finer grain and must be completed within a given timeslot. Thus, mechanisms for resource allocation and management in computing clusters must be revisited. The second challenge is obtaining a behavior with reduced variability that involves two major concerns: computing time and communication delay. Nevertheless, the communication infrastructure of existing computing clusters does not provide any support for low variance communications. The proposed research is divided into the following main subjects:Adaptive computing and network resource allocation and management in (hetero-geneous) computing clusters: The algorithms for dynamic resources allocation and real-time task scheduling will form the core functionality that the control plane will support. In order to meet the hard real-time constraints of that class of applications, a parallel Field Programable Gate Array based hardware implementation of the control plane is proposed

Control and evaluation of the ad-fmcomms5-ebz software-defined radio

Software-defined radios (SDR) have presented a new way to do telecommunication systems in a configurable, efficient and portable manner. With the rapid evolving capabilities of these systems, the traditional non-software-configurable ones are being left behind. This project explores the concept of software-defined radio in a theoretical and practical way using the ADFMComms5-EBZ, a SDR provided by Analog Devices with 4 transceivers. A complete analysis is done on the AD-FMComms5-EBZ, understanding all its physical components and its digital interface that make it software-configurable. Furthemore, its interaction with MATLAB/Simulink and with the IIO Oscilloscope application is studied, providing a profound explanation of the board's capabilities on these software. Finally, a few algorithms we found interesting are designed with MATLAB to enable all the potential of the board by reaching MIMO capabilities, analysing the phase of each transmitter and the reception order of symbols.Les ràdios definides per software (SDR) s'han presentat com a una nova manera de fer sistemes de telecomunicacions gràcies a la seva configurabilitat, eficiència i portabilitat. La seva evolució ha sigut ràpida i contínua, fent que els sistemes tradicionals que no son configurables en software s'hagin quedat enrere. Aquest projecte explora el concepte de ràdio definida per software de forma teòrica i pràctica utilitzant l'AD-FMComms5-EBZ, una SDR dissenyada per Analog Devices que incorpora 4 transceptors. En el projecte s'hi fa una anàlisi completa de l'AD-FMComms5-EBZ, entenent tots els seus components físics i la seva interfície digital que en permet la configurabilitat per via de software dels seus components. A més, s'estudia la seva interacció amb MATLAB/Simulink i amb l'aplicació IIO Oscilloscope, donant una explicació profusa de les capacitats de la placa amb aquest programari. Finalment, es dissenyen alguns algoritmes que hem trobat interessants amb MATLAB per a habilitar tot el potencial de la placa, aconseguint que funcioni com a un sistema MIMO, analitzant la fase ens els diferents transmissors i l'ordre de la recepció dels símbols.Las radios definidas por software (SDR) se han presentado como una nueva manera de hacer sistemas de telecomunicaciones gracias a su configurabilidad, eficiencia y portabilidad. Su evolución ha sido rápida y continua, haciendo que los sistemas tradicionales que no son configurables en software se hayan quedado atrás. Este proyecto explora el concepto de radio definida por software de forma teórica y práctica utilizando el AD-FMComms5-EBZ, una SDR diseñada por Analog Devices que incorpora 4 transceptores. En el proyecto se hace un análisis completo de la AD-FMComms5-EBZ, entendiendo todos sus componentes físicos y su interfaz digital que permite su configurabilidad por vía de software de sus componentes. Además, se estudia su interacción con MATLAB / Simulink y con la aplicación IIO Oscilloscope, dando una explicación profusa de las capacidades de la placa con este software. Finalmente, se diseñan algunos algoritmos que hemos encontrado interesantes con MATLAB para habilitar todo el potencial de la placa, consiguiendo que funcione como un sistema MIMO, analizando la fase en los diferentes transmisores y el orden de la recepción de los símbolos