264 research outputs found
Multicasting Over 6G Non-Terrestrial Networks: A Softwarization-Based Approach
Multicast/broadcast delivery is a critical challenge of future 6G mobile networks where massive Internet of Things (IoT) deployment and extended reality multimedia such as teleportation are target application scenarios. Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) are considered essential for the success of 6G, which aims to provide true 'global' services by extending mobile access worldwide, thus overcoming the coverage limit of current terrestrial networks (TNs). This article discusses how the main distinguishing features of NTNs can be effectively exploited for 6G multicasting. Furthermore, in line with the evolution of future 6G networks toward softwarized systems, we evaluate the potential of using the softwarization paradigm in the heterogeneous TN-NTN architecture to deliver multicast services
Multiuser Diversity Management for Multicast/Broadcast Services in 5G and Beyond Networks
The envisaged fifth-generation (5G) and beyond networks represent a paradigm shift for global communications, offering unprecedented breakthroughs in media service delivery with novel capabilities and use cases. Addressing the critical research verticals and challenges that characterize the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)-2030 framework requires a compelling mix of enabling radio access technologies (RAT) and native softwarized, disaggregated, and intelligent radio access network (RAN) conceptions. In such a context, the multicast/broadcast ser
vice (MBS) capability is an appealing feature to address the ever-growing traffic demands, disruptive multimedia services, massive connectivity, and low-latency applications.
Embracing the MBS capability as a primary component of the envisaged 5G and beyond networks comes with multiple open challenges. In this research, we contextualize and address the necessity of ensuring stringent quality of service (QoS)/quality of experience (QoE) requirements, multicasting over millimeter-wave (mmWave) and sub-Terahertz (THz) frequencies, and handling complex mobility behaviors. In the broad problem space around these three significant challenges, we focus on the specific research problems of effectively handling the trade-off between multicasting gain and multiuser diversity, along with the trade-off between optimal network performance and computational complexity.
In this research, we cover essential aspects at the intersection of MBS, radio resource management (RRM), machine learning (ML), and the Open RAN (O-RAN) framework. We characterize and address the dynamic multicast multiuser diversity through low-complexity RRM solutions aided by ML, orthogonal multiple access (OMA) and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) techniques in 5G MBS and beyond networks. We characterize the performance of the multicast access techniques conventional multicast scheme (CMS), subgrouping based on OMA (S-OMA), and subgrouping based on NOMA (S-NOMA). We provide conditions for their adequate selection regarding the specific network conditions (Chapter 4). Consequently,
we propose heuristic methods for the dynamic multicast access technique selection and resource allocation, taking advantage of the multiuser diversity (Chapter 5.1). Moreover, we proposed a multicasting strategy based on fixed pre-computed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) multi-beams and S-NOMA (Chapter 5.2). Our approach tackles specific throughput requirements for enabling extended reality (XR) applications attending multiple users and handling their spatial and channel quality diversity.
We address the computational complexity (CC) associated with the dynamic multicast RRM strategies and highlight the implications of fast variations in the reception conditions of the multicast group (MG) members. We propose a low complexity ML-based solution structured by a multicast-oriented trigger to avoid overrunning the algorithm, a K-Means clustering for group-oriented detection and splitting, and a classifier for selecting the most suitable multicast access technique (Chapter 6.1). Our proposed approaches allow addressing the trade-off between optimal network performance and CC by maximizing specific QoS parameters through non-optimal solutions, considerably reducing the CC of conventional exhaustive mechanisms. Moreover, we discuss the insertion of ML-based multicasting RRM solutions into the envisioned disaggregated O-RAN framework (Chapter 6.2.5). We
analyze specific MBS tasks and the importance of a native decentralized, softwarized, and intelligent conception.
We assess the effectiveness of our proposal under multiple numerical and link level simulations of recreated 5G MBS use cases operating in μWave and mmWave. We evaluate various network conditions, service constraints, and users’ mobility behaviors
Models and Methods for Network Selection and Balancing in Heterogeneous Scenarios
The outbreak of 5G technologies for wireless communications can be considered a response to the need for widespread coverage, in terms of connectivity and bandwidth, to guarantee broadband services, such as streaming or on-demand programs offered by the main television networks or new generation services based on augmented and virtual reality (AR / VR).
The purpose of the study conducted for this thesis aims to solve two of the main problems that will occur with the outbreak of 5G, that is, the search for the best possible connectivity, in order to offer users the resources necessary to take advantage of the new generation services, and multicast as required by the eMBMS.
The aim of the thesis is the search for innovative algorithms that will allow to obtain the best connectivity to offer users the resources necessary to use the 5G services in a heterogeneous scenario. Study UF that allows you to improve the search for the best candidate network and to achieve a balance that allows you to avoid congestion of the chosen networks. To achieve these two important focuses, I conducted a study on the main mathematical methods that made it possible to select the network based on QoS parameters based on the type of traffic made by users. A further goal was to improve the computational computation performance they present.
Furthermore, I carried out a study in order to obtain an innovative algorithm that would allow the management of multicast. The algorithm that has been implemented responds to the needs present in the eMBMS, in realistic scenarios
Radio resource allocation algorithms for multicast OFDM systems
Mención Internacional en el tÃtulo de doctorVideo services have become highly demanded in mobile networks leading
to an unprecedented traffic growth. It is expected that traffic from wireless
and mobile devices will account for nearly 70 percent of total IP traffic
by the year 2020, and the video services will account for nearly 75 percent
of mobile data traffic by 2022. Multicast transmission is one of the key
enablers towards a more spectral and energy efficient distribution of multimedia
content in current and envisaged mobile networks. It is worth noting
that multicast is a mechanism that efficiently delivers the same content to
many users, not only focusing on video broadcasting, but also distributing
many other media, such as software updates, weather forecast or breaking
news.
Although multicast services are available in Long Term Evolution (LTE)
and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) networks, new improvements are needed in
some areas to handle the demands expected in the near future. Resource
allocation techniques for multicast services are one of the main challenging
issues, since it is required the development of novel schemes to meet the
demands of their evolution towards the next generation. Most multicast
techniques adopt rather conservative strategies that select a very robust
modulation and coding scheme (MCS), whose characteristics are determined
by the propagation conditions experienced by the worst user in the group
in order to ensure that all users in a multicast group are able to correctly
decode the received data. Obviously, this robustness comes at the prize of
a low spectral efficiency.
This thesis presents an exhaustive study of broadcast/multicast technology
for current mobile networks, especially focusing on the scheduling
and resource allocation (SRA) strategies to maximize the potential benefits
that multicast transmissions imply on the spectral efficiency. Based on that
issue, some contributions have been made to the state of the art in the radio
resource management (RRM) for current and beyond mobile multicast
services.
• In the frame of LTE/LTE-A, the evolved multimedia broadcast and
multicast service (eMBMS) shares the physical layer resources with the
unicast transmission mode (at least up to Release 12). Consequently,
the time allocation to multicast transmission is limited to a maximum
of a 60 percent, and the remaining subframes (at least 40 percent)
are reserved for unicast transmissions. With the aim of achieving the
maximum aggregated data rate (ADR) among the multicast users, we
have implemented several innovative SRA schemes that combine the
allocation of multicast and unicast resources in the LTE/LTE-A frame,
guaranteeing the prescribed quality of service (QoS) requirements for
every user.
• In the specific context of wideband communication systems, the selection
of the multicast MCS has often relied on the use of wideband
channel quality indicators (CQIs), providing rather imprecise information
regarding the potential capacity of the multicast channel. Only
recently has the per-subband CQI been used to improve the spectral
efficiency of the system without compromising the link robustness.
We have proposed novel subband CQI-based multicast SRA strategies
that, relying on the selection of more spectrally efficient transmission
modes, lead to increased data rates while still being able to fulfill
prescribed QoS metrics.
• Mobile broadcast/multicast video services require effective and low complexity
SRA strategies. We have proposed an SRA strategy based
on multicast subgrouping and the scalable video coding (SVC) technique for multicast video delivery. This scheme focuses on reducing
the search space of solutions and optimizes the ADR. The results in
terms of ADR, spectral efficiency, and fairness among multicast users,
along with the low complexity of the algorithm, show that this new
scheme is adequate for real systems.
These contributions are intended to serve as a reference that motivate
ongoing and future investigation in the challenging field of RRM for broadcast/
multicast services in next generation mobile networks.La demanda de servicios de vÃdeo en las redes móviles ha sufrido un incremento
exponencial en los últimos años, lo que a su vez ha desembocado
en un aumento sin precedentes del tráfico de datos. Se espera que antes
del año 2020, el trafico debido a dispositivos móviles alcance cerca del 70
por ciento del tráfico IP total, mientras que se prevé que los servicios de
vÃdeo sean prácticamente el 75 por ciento del tráfico de datos en las redes
móviles hacia el 2022. Las transmisiones multicast son una de las tecnologÃas
clave para conseguir una distribución más eficiente, tanto espectral como
energéticamente, del contenido multimedia en las redes móviles actuales y
futuras. Merece la pena reseñar que el multicast es un mecanismo de entrega
del mismo contenido a muchos usuarios, que no se enfoca exclusivamente
en la distribución de vÃdeo, sino que también permite la distribución de
otros muchos contenidos, como actualizaciones software, información meteorológica o noticias de última hora.
A pesar de que los servicios multicast ya se encuentran disponibles en
las redes Long Term Evolution (LTE) y LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), la mejora
en algunos ámbitos resulta necesaria para manejar las demandas que se
prevén a corto plazo. Las técnicas de asignación de recursos para los servicios
multicast suponen uno de los mayores desafÃos, ya que es necesario
el desarrollo de nuevos esquemas que nos permitan acometer las exigencias
que supone su evolución hacia la próxima generación. La mayor parte de
las técnicas multicast adoptan estrategias conservadoras, seleccionando esquemas
de modulación y codificación (MCS) impuestos por las condiciones de propagación que experimenta el usuario del grupo con peor canal, para
asà asegurar que todos los usuarios pertenecientes al grupo multicast sean
capaces de decodificar correctamente los datos recibidos. Como resulta obvio,
la utilización de esquemas tan robustos conlleva el precio de sufrir una
baja eficiencia espectral.
Esta tesis presenta un exhaustivo estudio de la tecnologÃa broadcast/
multicast para las redes móviles actuales, que se centra especialmente en
las estrategias de asignación de recursos (SRA), cuyo objetivo es maximizar
los beneficios que la utilización de transmisiones multicast potencialmente
implica en términos de eficiencia espectral. A partir de dicho estudio, hemos
realizado varias contribuciones al estado del arte en el ámbito de la gestión
de recursos radio (RRM) para los servicios multicast, aplicables en las redes
móviles actuales y futuras.
• En el marco de LTE/LTE-A, el eMBMS comparte los recursos de la
capa fÃsica con las transmisiones unicast (al menos hasta la revisión
12). Por lo tanto, la disponibilidad temporal de las transmisiones
multicast está limitada a un máximo del 60 por ciento, reservándose
las subtramas restantes (al menos el 40 por ciento) para las transmisiones
unicast. Con el objetivo de alcanzar la máxima tasa total de
datos (ADR) entre los usuarios multicast, hemos implementado varios
esquemas innovadores de SRA que combinan la asignación de los recursos
multicast y unicast de la trama LTE/LTE-A, garantizando los
requisitos de QoS a cada usuario.
• En los sistemas de comunicaciones de banda ancha, la selección del
MCS para transmisiones multicast se basa habitualmente en la utilización de CQIs de banda ancha, lo que proporciona información bastante
imprecisa acerca de la capacidad potencial del canal multicast.
Recientemente se ha empezado a utilizar el CQI por subbanda para
mejorar la eficiencia espectral del sistema sin comprometer la robustez
de los enlaces. Hemos propuesto nuevas estrategias para SRA multicast
basadas en el CQI por subbanda que, basándose en la selección de los modos de transmisión con mayor eficiencia espectral, conducen
a mejores tasas de datos, a la vez que permiten cumplir los requisitos
de QoS.
• Los servicios móviles de vÃdeo broadcast/multicast precisan estrategias
eficientes de SRA con baja complejidad. Hemos propuesto una
estrategia de SRA basada en subgrupos multicast y la técnica de
codificación de vÃdeo escalable (SVC) para la difusión de vÃdeo multicast,
la cual se centra en reducir el espacio de búsqueda de soluciones
y optimizar el ADR. Los resultados obtenidos en términos de ADR,
eficiencia espectral y equidad entre los usuarios multicast, junto con la
baja complejidad del algoritmo, ponen de manifiesto que el esquema
propuesto es adecuado para su implantación en sistemas reales.
Estas contribuciones pretenden servir de referencia que motive la investigación actual y futura en el interesante ámbito de RRM para los servicios
broadcast/multicast en las redes móviles de próxima generación.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Multimedia y ComunicacionesPresidente: Atilio Manuel Da Silva Gameiro.- Secretario: VÃctor Pedro Gil Jiménez.- Vocal: MarÃa de Diego Antó
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
Adaptive subframe allocation for next generation multimedia delivery over hybrid LTE unicast broadcast
The continued global roll-out of long term evolution (LTE) networks is providing mobile users with perpetually increasing ubiquitous access to a rich selection of high quality multimedia. Interactive viewing experiences including 3-D or free-viewpoint video require the synchronous delivery of multiple video streams. This paper presents a novel hybrid unicast broadcast synchronisation (HUBS) framework to synchronously deliver multi-stream content. Previous techniques on hybrid LTE implementations include staggered modulation and coding scheme grouping, adaptive modulation coding or implementing error recover techniques; the work presented here instead focuses on dynamic allocation of resources between unicast and broadcast, improving stream synchronisation as well as overall cell resource usage. Furthermore, the HUBS framework has been developed to work within the limitations imposed by the LTE specification. Performance evaluation of the framework is performed through the simulation of probable future scenarios, where a popular live event is broadcast with stereo 3-D or multi-angle companion views interactively offered to capable users. The proposed framework forms a ``HUBS group'' that monitors the radio bearer queues to establish a time lead or lag between broadcast and unicast streams. Since unicast and broadcast share the same radio resources, the number of subframes allocated to the broadcast transmission are then dynamically increased or decreased to minimise the average lead/lag time offset between the streams. Dynamic allocation showed improvements for all services across the cell, whilst keeping streams synchronised despite increased user loading
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