16 research outputs found

    Interference management techniques in large-scale wireless networks

    Get PDF
    In this thesis, advanced interference management techniques are designed and evaluated for large-scale wireless networks with realistic assumptions, such as signal propagation loss, random node distribution and non-instantaneous channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). In the first part of the thesis, the Maddah-Ali and Tse (MAT) scheme for the 2-user and 2-antenna base station (BS) broadcast channel (BC) is generalised and optimised using the probabilistic-constrained optimisation approach. With consideration of the unknown channel entries, the proposed optimisation approach guarantees a high probability that the interference leakage power is below a certain threshold in the presence of minimum interference leakage receivers. The desired signal detectability is maximised at the same time and the closed-form solution for the receiving matrices is provided. Afterwards, the proposed optimisation approach is extended to the 3-user BC with 2-antenna BS. Simulation results show substantial sum rate gain over the MAT scheme, especially with a large spatial correlation at the receiver side. In the second part, the MAT scheme is extended to the time-correlated channels in three scenarios, in which degrees of freedom (DoF) regions as well as achievability schemes are studied: 1) 2-user interference channel (IC) using imperfect current and imperfect delayed CSIT; 2) K-user BC with K-antenna BS using imperfect current and perfect delayed CSIT; 3) 3-user BC with 2-antenna BS using imperfect current and perfect delayed CSIT. Notably, the consistency of the proposed DoF regions with the MAT scheme and the ZF beamforming schemes using perfect current CSIT consents to the optimality of the proposed achievability schemes. In the third part, the performance of the ZF receiver is evaluated in Poisson distributed wireless networks. Simple static networks as well as dynamic networks are studied. For the static network, transmission capacity is derived whereby the receiver can eliminate interference from nearby transmitters. It is shown that more spatial receive degrees of freedom (SRDoF) should be allocated to decode the desired symbol in the presence of low transmitter intensity. For the dynamic network, in which the data traffic is modelled by queueing theory, interference alignment (IA) beamforming is considered and implemented sequentially. Interestingly, transmitting one data stream achieves the highest area spectrum efficiency. Finally, a distance-dependent IA beamforming scheme is designed for a generic 2-tier heterogeneous wireless network. Second-tier transmitters partially align their interferences to the dominant cross-tier interference overheard by the receivers in the same cluster. Essentially, the proposed IA scheme compromises between enhancing the signal-to-interference ratio and increasing the multiplexing gain. It is shown that acquiring accurate distance knowledge brings insignificant throughput gain compared to statistical distance knowledge. Simulation results validate the derived expressions of success probabilities as well as throughput, and show that the distance-dependent IA scheme significantly outperforms the traditional IA scheme in the presence of path-loss effect

    Integrated Data and Energy Communication Network: A Comprehensive Survey

    Get PDF
    OAPA In order to satisfy the power thirsty of communication devices in the imminent 5G era, wireless charging techniques have attracted much attention both from the academic and industrial communities. Although the inductive coupling and magnetic resonance based charging techniques are indeed capable of supplying energy in a wireless manner, they tend to restrict the freedom of movement. By contrast, RF signals are capable of supplying energy over distances, which are gradually inclining closer to our ultimate goal – charging anytime and anywhere. Furthermore, transmitters capable of emitting RF signals have been widely deployed, such as TV towers, cellular base stations and Wi-Fi access points. This communication infrastructure may indeed be employed also for wireless energy transfer (WET). Therefore, no extra investment in dedicated WET infrastructure is required. However, allowing RF signal based WET may impair the wireless information transfer (WIT) operating in the same spectrum. Hence, it is crucial to coordinate and balance WET and WIT for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT), which evolves to Integrated Data and Energy communication Networks (IDENs). To this end, a ubiquitous IDEN architecture is introduced by summarising its natural heterogeneity and by synthesising a diverse range of integrated WET and WIT scenarios. Then the inherent relationship between WET and WIT is revealed from an information theoretical perspective, which is followed by the critical appraisal of the hardware enabling techniques extracting energy from RF signals. Furthermore, the transceiver design, resource allocation and user scheduling as well as networking aspects are elaborated on. In a nutshell, this treatise can be used as a handbook for researchers and engineers, who are interested in enriching their knowledge base of IDENs and in putting this vision into practice

    Opportunistic communications in large uncoordinated networks

    Get PDF
    (English) The increase of wireless devices offering high data rate services limits the coexistence of wireless systems sharing the same resources in a given geographical area because of inter-system interference. Therefore, interference management plays a key role in permitting the coexistence of several heterogeneous communication services. However, classical interference management strategies require lateral information giving rise to the need for inter-system coordination and cooperation, which is not always practical. Opportunistic communications offer a potential solution to the problem of inter-system interference management. The basic principle of opportunistic communications is to efficiently and robustly exploit the resources available in a wireless network and adapt the transmitted signals to the state of the network to avoid inter-system interference. Therefore, opportunistic communications depend on inferring the available network resources that can be safely exploited without inducing interference in coexisting communication nodes. Once the available network resources are identified, the most prominent opportunistic communication techniques consist in designing scenario-adapted precoding/decoding strategies to exploit the so-called null space. Despite this, classical solutions in the literature suffer from two main drawbacks: the lack of robustness to detection errors and the need for intra-system cooperation. This thesis focuses on the design of a null space-based opportunistic communication scheme that addresses the drawbacks exhibited by existing methodologies under the assumption that opportunistic nodes do not cooperate. For this purpose, a generalized detection error model independent of the null-space identification mechanism is introduced that allows the design of solutions that exhibit minimal inter-system interference in the worst case. These solutions respond to a maximum signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) criterion, which is optimal under non-cooperative conditions. The proposed methodology allows the design of a family of orthonormal waveforms that perform a spreading of the modulated symbols within the detected null space, which is key to minimizing the induced interference density. The proposed solutions are invariant within the inferred null space, allowing the removal of the feedback link without giving up coherent waveform detection. In the absence of coordination, the waveform design relies solely on locally sensed network state information, inducing a mismatch between the null spaces identified by the transmitter and receiver that may worsen system performance. Although the proposed solution is robust to this mismatch, the design of enhanced receivers using active subspace detection schemes is also studied. When the total number of network resources increases arbitrarily, the proposed solutions tend to be linear combinations of complex exponentials, providing an interpretation in the frequency domain. This asymptotic behavior allows us to adapt the proposed solution to frequency-selective channels by means of a cyclic prefix and to study an efficient modulation similar to the time division multiplexing scheme but using circulant waveforms. Finally, the impact of the use of multiple antennas in opportunistic null space-based communications is studied. The performed analysis reveals that, in any case, the structure of the antenna clusters affects the opportunistic communication, since the proposed waveform mimics the behavior of a single-antenna transmitter. On the other hand, the number of sensors employed translates into an improvement in terms of SIR.(Catal脿) El creixement incremental dels dispositius sense fils que requereixen serveis d'alta velocitat de dades limita la coexist猫ncia de sistemes sense fils que comparteixen els mateixos recursos en una 脿rea geogr脿fica donada a causa de la interfer猫ncia entre sistemes. Conseq眉entment, la gesti贸 d'interfer猫ncia juga un paper fonamental per a facilitar la coexist猫ncia de diversos serveis de comunicaci贸 heterogenis. No obstant aix貌, les estrat猫gies cl脿ssiques de gesti贸 d'interfer猫ncia requereixen informaci贸 lateral originant la necessitat de coordinaci贸 i cooperaci贸 entre sistemes, que no sempre 茅s pr脿ctica. Les comunicacions oportunistes ofereixen una soluci贸 potencial al problema de la gesti贸 de les interfer猫ncies entre sistemes. El principi b脿sic de les comunicacions oportunistes 茅s explotar de manera eficient i robusta els recursos disponibles en una xarxa sense fils i adaptar els senyals transmesos a l'estat de la xarxa per evitar interfer猫ncies entre sistemes. Per tant, les comunicacions oportunistes depenen de la infer猫ncia dels recursos de xarxa disponibles que poden ser explotats de manera segura sense induir interfer猫ncia en els nodes de comunicaci贸 coexistents. Una vegada que s'han identificat els recursos de xarxa disponibles, les t猫cniques de comunicaci贸 oportunistes m茅s prominents consisteixen en el disseny d'estrat猫gies de precodificaci贸/descodificaci贸 adaptades a l'escenari per explotar l'anomenat espai nul. Malgrat aix貌, les solucions cl脿ssiques en la literatura sofreixen dos inconvenients principals: la falta de robustesa als errors de detecci贸 i la necessitat de cooperaci贸 intra-sistema. Aquesta tesi tracta el disseny d'un esquema de comunicaci贸 oportunista basat en l'espai nul que afronta els inconvenients exposats per les metodologies existents assumint que els nodes oportunistes no cooperen. Per a aquest prop貌sit, s'introdueix un model generalitzat d'error de detecci贸 independent del mecanisme d'identificaci贸 de l'espai nul que permet el disseny de solucions que exhibeixen interfer猫ncies m铆nimes entre sistemes en el cas pitjor. Aquestes solucions responen a un criteri de m脿xima relaci贸 de senyal a interfer猫ncia (SIR), que 茅s 貌ptim en condicions de no cooperaci贸. La metodologia proposada permet dissenyar una fam铆lia de formes d'ona ortonormals que realitzen un spreading dels s铆mbols modulats dins de l'espai nul detectat, que 茅s clau per minimitzar la densitat d鈥檌nterfer猫ncia indu茂da. Les solucions proposades s贸n invariants dins de l'espai nul inferit, permetent suprimir l'enlla莽 de retroalimentaci贸 i, tot i aix铆, realitzar una detecci贸 coherent de forma d'ona. Sota l鈥檃bs猫ncia de coordinaci贸, el disseny de la forma d'ona es basa 煤nicament en la informaci贸 de l'estat de la xarxa detectada localment, induint un desajust entre els espais nuls identificats pel transmissor i receptor que pot empitjorar el rendiment del sistema. Tot i que la soluci贸 proposada 茅s robusta a aquest desajust, tamb茅 s'estudia el disseny de receptors millorats fent 煤s de t猫cniques de detecci贸 de subespai actiu. Quan el nombre total de recursos de xarxa augmenta arbitr脿riament, les solucions proposades tendeixen a ser combinacions lineals d'exponencials complexes, proporcionant una interpretaci贸 en el domini freq眉encial. Aquest comportament asimpt貌tic permet adaptar la soluci贸 proposada a entorns selectius en freq眉猫ncia fent 煤s d'un prefix c铆clic i estudiar una modulaci贸 eficient derivada de l'esquema de multiplexat per divisi贸 de temps emprant formes d'ona circulant. Finalment, s鈥檈studia l'impacte de l'煤s de m煤ltiples antenes en comunicacions oportunistes basades en l'espai nul. L'an脿lisi realitzada permet concloure que, en cap cas, l'estructura de les agrupacions d'antenes tenen un impacte sobre la comunicaci贸 oportunista, ja que la forma d'ona proposada imita el comportament d'un transmissor mono-antena. D'altra banda, el nombre de sensors emprat es tradueix en una millora en termes de SIR.(Espa帽ol) El incremento de los dispositivos inal谩mbricos que ofrecen servicios de alta velocidad de datos limita la coexistencia de sistemas inal谩mbricos que comparten los mismos recursos en un 谩rea geogr谩fica dada a causa de la interferencia inter-sistema. Por tanto, la gesti贸n de interferencia juega un papel fundamental para facilitar la coexistencia de varios servicios de comunicaci贸n heterog茅neos. Sin embargo, las estrategias cl谩sicas de gesti贸n de interferencia requieren informaci贸n lateral originando la necesidad de coordinaci贸n y cooperaci贸n entre sistemas, que no siempre es pr谩ctica. Las comunicaciones oportunistas ofrecen una soluci贸n potencial al problema de la gesti贸n de las interferencias entre sistemas. El principio b谩sico de las comunicaciones oportunistas es explotar de manera eficiente y robusta los recursos disponibles en una red inal谩mbricas y adaptar las se帽ales transmitidas al estado de la red para evitar interferencias entre sistemas. Por lo tanto, las comunicaciones oportunistas dependen de la inferencia de los recursos de red disponibles que pueden ser explotados de manera segura sin inducir interferencia en los nodos de comunicaci贸n coexistentes. Una vez identificados los recursos disponibles, las t茅cnicas de comunicaci贸n oportunistas m谩s prominentes consisten en el dise帽o de estrategias de precodificaci贸n/descodificaci贸n adaptadas al escenario para explotar el llamado espacio nulo. A pesar de esto, las soluciones cl谩sicas en la literatura sufren dos inconvenientes principales: la falta de robustez a los errores de detecci贸n y la necesidad de cooperaci贸n intra-sistema. Esta tesis propone dise帽ar un esquema de comunicaci贸n oportunista basado en el espacio nulo que afronta los inconvenientes expuestos por las metodolog铆as existentes asumiendo que los nodos oportunistas no cooperan. Para este prop贸sito, se introduce un modelo generalizado de error de detecci贸n independiente del mecanismo de identificaci贸n del espacio nulo que permite el dise帽o de soluciones que exhiben interferencias m铆nimas entre sistemas en el caso peor. Estas soluciones responden a un criterio de m谩xima relaci贸n de se帽al a interferencia (SIR), que es 贸ptimo en condiciones de no cooperaci贸n. La metodolog铆a propuesta permite dise帽ar una familia de formas de onda ortonormales que realizan un spreading de los s铆mbolos modulados dentro del espacio nulo detectado, que es clave para minimizar la densidad de interferencia inducida. Las soluciones propuestas son invariantes dentro del espacio nulo inferido, permitiendo suprimir el enlace de retroalimentaci贸n sin renunciar a la detecci贸n coherente de forma de onda. En ausencia de coordinaci贸n, el dise帽o de la forma de onda se basa 煤nicamente en la informaci贸n del estado de la red detectada localmente, induciendo un desajuste entre los espacios nulos identificados por el transmisor y receptor que puede empeorar el rendimiento del sistema. A pesar de que la soluci贸n propuesta es robusta a este desajuste, tambi茅n se estudia el dise帽o de receptores mejorados usando t茅cnicas de detecci贸n de subespacio activo. Cuando el n煤mero total de recursos de red aumenta arbitrariamente, las soluciones propuestas tienden a ser combinaciones lineales de exponenciales complejas, proporcionando una interpretaci贸n en el dominio frecuencial. Este comportamiento asint贸tico permite adaptar la soluci贸n propuesta a canales selectivos en frecuencia mediante un prefijo c铆clico y estudiar una modulaci贸n eficiente derivada del esquema de multiplexado por divisi贸n de tiempo empleando formas de onda circulante. Finalmente, se estudia el impacto del uso de m煤ltiples antenas en comunicaciones oportunistas basadas en el espacio nulo. El an谩lisis realizado revela que la estructura de las agrupaciones de antenas no afecta la comunicaci贸n oportunista, ya que la forma de onda propuesta imita el comportamiento de un transmisor mono-antena. Por otro lado, el n煤mero de sensores empleado se traduce en una mejora en t茅rminos de SIR.Postprint (published version

    6G for Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communications: Enabling Technologies, Challenges, and Opportunities

    Get PDF
    We are on the cusp of a new era of connected autonomous vehicles with unprecedented user experiences, tremendously improved road safety and air quality, highly diverse transportation environments and use cases, as well as a plethora of advanced applications. Realizing this grand vision requires a significantly enhanced vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication network which should be extremely intelligent and capable of concurrently supporting hyper-fast, ultra-reliable, and low-latency massive information exchange. It is anticipated that the sixth-generation (6G) communication systems will fulfill these requirements of the next-generation V2X. In this article, we outline a series of key enabling technologies from a range of domains, such as new materials, algorithms, and system architectures. Aiming for truly intelligent transportation systems, we envision that machine learning will play an instrumental role for advanced vehicular communication and networking. To this end, we provide an overview on the recent advances of machine learning in 6G vehicular networks. To stimulate future research in this area, we discuss the strength, open challenges, maturity, and enhancing areas of these technologies

    Radio Communications

    Get PDF
    In the last decades the restless evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT) brought to a deep transformation of our habits. The growth of the Internet and the advances in hardware and software implementations modi铿乪d our way to communicate and to share information. In this book, an overview of the major issues faced today by researchers in the 铿乪ld of radio communications is given through 35 high quality chapters written by specialists working in universities and research centers all over the world. Various aspects will be deeply discussed: channel modeling, beamforming, multiple antennas, cooperative networks, opportunistic scheduling, advanced admission control, handover management, systems performance assessment, routing issues in mobility conditions, localization, web security. Advanced techniques for the radio resource management will be discussed both in single and multiple radio technologies; either in infrastructure, mesh or ad hoc networks

    Adaptive Communications for Next Generation Broadband Wireless Access Systems

    Get PDF
    Un dels aspectes claus en el disseny i gesti贸 de les xarxes sense fils d'acc茅s de banda ampla 茅s l'煤s eficient dels recursos radio. Des del punt de vista de l'operador, l'ample de banda 茅s un b茅 esc脿s i preuat que s麓ha d'explotar i gestionar de la forma m茅s eficient possible tot garantint la qualitat del servei que es vol proporcionar. Per altra banda, des del punt de vista del usuari, la qualitat del servei ofert ha de ser comparable al de les xarxes fixes, requerint aix铆 un baix retard i una baixa p猫rdua de paquets per cadascun dels fluxos de dades entre la xarxa i l'usuari. Durant els darrers anys s麓han desenvolupat nombroses t猫cniques i algoritmes amb l'objectiu d'incrementar l'efici猫ncia espectral. Entre aquestes t猫cniques destaca l'煤s de m煤ltiples antenes al transmissor i al receptor amb l'objectiu de transmetre diferents fluxos de dades simultaneament sense necessitat d'augmentar l'ample de banda. Per altra banda, la optimizaci贸 conjunta de la capa d'acc茅s al medi i la capa f铆sica (fent 煤s de l'estat del canal per tal de gestionar de manera optima els recursos) tamb茅 permet incrementar sensiblement l'efici猫ncia espectral del sistema.L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi 茅s l'estudi i desenvolupament de noves t猫cniques d'adaptaci贸 de l'enlla莽 i gesti贸 dels recursos r脿dio aplicades sobre sistemes d'acc茅s r脿dio de propera generaci贸 (Beyond 3G). Els estudis realitzats parteixen de la premissa que el transmisor coneix (parcialment) l'estat del canal i que la transmissi贸 es realitza fent servir un esquema multiportadora amb m煤ltiples antenes al transmisor i al receptor. En aquesta tesi es presenten dues l铆nies d'investigaci贸, la primera per casos d'una sola antenna a cada banda de l'enlla莽, i la segona en cas de m煤ltiples antenes. En el cas d'una sola antena al transmissor i al receptor, un nou esquema d'assignaci贸 de recursos r脿dio i prioritzaci贸 dels paquets (scheduling) 茅s proposat i analitzat integrant totes dues funcions sobre una mateixa entitat (cross-layer). L'esquema proposat t茅 com a principal caracter铆stica la seva baixa complexitat i que permet operar amb transmissions multimedia. Alhora, posteriors millores realitzades per l'autor sobre l'esquema proposat han perm猫s tamb茅 reduir els requeriments de senyalitzaci贸 i combinar de forma 贸ptima usuaris d'alta i baixa mobilitat sobre el mateix acc茅s r脿dio, millorant encara m茅s l'efici猫ncia espectral del sistema. En cas d'enlla莽os amb m煤ltiples antenes es proposa un nou esquema que combina la selecci贸 del conjunt optim d'antenes transmissores amb la selecci贸 de la codificaci贸 espai- (frequ猫ncia-) temps. Finalment es donen una s猫rie de recomanacions per tal de combinar totes dues l铆nies d'investigaci贸, aix铆 con un estat de l'art de les t猫cniques proposades per altres autors que combinen en part la gesti贸 dels recursos r脿dio i els esquemes de transmissi贸 amb m煤ltiples antenes.Uno de los aspectos claves en el dise帽o y gesti贸n de las redes inal谩mbricas de banda ancha es el uso eficiente de los recursos radio. Desde el punto de vista del operador, el ancho de banda es un bien escaso y valioso que se debe explotar y gestionar de la forma m谩s eficiente posible sin afectar a la calidad del servicio ofrecido. Por otro lado, desde el punto de vista del usuario, la calidad del servicio ha de ser comparable al ofrecido por las redes fijas, requiriendo as铆 un bajo retardo y una baja tasa de perdida de paquetes para cada uno de los flujos de datos entre la red y el usuario. Durante los 煤ltimos a帽os el n煤mero de t茅cnicas y algoritmos que tratan de incrementar la eficiencia espectral en dichas redes es bastante amplio. Entre estas t茅cnicas destaca el uso de m煤ltiples antenas en el transmisor y en el receptor con el objetivo de poder transmitir simult谩neamente diferentes flujos de datos sin necesidad de incrementar el ancho de banda. Por otro lado, la optimizaci贸n conjunta de la capa de acceso al medio y la capa f铆sica (utilizando informaci贸n de estado del canal para gestionar de manera 贸ptima los recursos) tambi茅n permite incrementar sensiblemente la eficiencia espectral del sistema.El objetivo de esta tesis es el estudio y desarrollo de nuevas t茅cnicas de adaptaci贸n del enlace y la gesti贸n de los recursos radio, y su posterior aplicaci贸n sobre los sistemas de acceso radio de pr贸xima generaci贸n (Beyond 3G). Los estudios realizados parten de la premisa de que el transmisor conoce (parcialmente) el estado del canal a la vez que se considera que la transmisi贸n se realiza sobre un sistema de transmisi贸n multiportadora con m煤ltiple antenas en el transmisor y el receptor. La tesis se centra sobre dos l铆neas de investigaci贸n, la primera para casos de una 煤nica antena en cada lado del enlace, y la segunda en caso de m煤ltiples antenas en cada lado. Para el caso de una 煤nica antena en el transmisor y en el receptor, se ha desarrollado un nuevo esquema de asignaci贸n de los recursos radio as铆 como de priorizaci贸n de los paquetes de datos (scheduling) integrando ambas funciones sobre una misma entidad (cross-layer). El esquema propuesto tiene como principal caracter铆stica su bajo coste computacional a la vez que se puede aplicar en caso de transmisiones multimedia. Posteriores mejoras realizadas por el autor sobre el esquema propuesto han permitido tambi茅n reducir los requisitos de se帽alizaci贸n as铆 como combinar de forma 贸ptima usuarios de alta y baja movilidad. Por otro lado, en caso de enlaces con m煤ltiples antenas en transmisi贸n y recepci贸n, se presenta un nuevo esquema de adaptaci贸n en el cual se combina la selecci贸n de la(s) antena(s) transmisora(s) con la selecci贸n del esquema de codificaci贸n espacio-(frecuencia-) tiempo. Para finalizar, se dan una serie de recomendaciones con el objetivo de combinar ambas l铆neas de investigaci贸n, as铆 como un estado del arte de las t茅cnicas propuestas por otros autores que combinan en parte la gesti贸n de los recursos radio y los esquemas de transmisi贸n con m煤ltiples antenas.In Broadband Wireless Access systems the efficient use of the resources is crucial from many points of views. From the operator point of view, the bandwidth is a scarce, valuable, and expensive resource which must be exploited in an efficient manner while the Quality of Service (QoS) provided to the users is guaranteed. On the other hand, a tight delay and link quality constraints are imposed on each data flow hence the user experiences the same quality as in fixed networks. During the last few years many techniques have been developed in order to increase the spectral efficiency and the throughput. Among them, the use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and the receiver (exploiting spatial multiplexing) with the joint optimization of the medium access control layer and the physical layer parameters.In this Ph.D. thesis, different adaptive techniques for B3G multicarrier wireless systems are developed and proposed focusing on the SS-MC-MA and the OFDM(A) (IEEE 802.16a/e/m standards) communication schemes. The research lines emphasize into the adaptation of the transmission having (Partial) knowledge of the Channel State Information for both; single antenna and multiple antenna links. For single antenna links, the implementation of a joint resource allocation and scheduling strategy by including adaptive modulation and coding is investigated. A low complexity resource allocation and scheduling algorithm is proposed with the objective to cope with real- and/or non-real- time requirements and constraints. A special attention is also devoted in reducing the required signalling. However, for multiple antenna links, the performance of a proposed adaptive transmit antenna selection scheme jointly with space-time block coding selection is investigated and compared with conventional structures. In this research line, mainly two optimizations criteria are proposed for spatial link adaptation, one based on the minimum error rate for fixed throughput, and the second focused on the maximisation of the rate for fixed error rate. Finally, some indications are given on how to include the spatial adaptation into the investigated and proposed resource allocation and scheduling process developed for single antenna transmission
    corecore