Energy-Efficient NOMA Enabled Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks

Heterogeneous cloud radio access networks (H-CRANs) are envisioned to be promising in the fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. H-CRANs enable users to enjoy diverse services with high energy efficiency, high spectral efficiency, and low-cost operation, which are achieved by using cloud computing and virtualization techniques. However, H-CRANs face many technical challenges due to massive user connectivity, increasingly severe spectrum scarcity and energy-constrained devices. These challenges may significantly decrease the quality of service of users if not properly tackled. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes exploit non-orthogonal resources to provide services for multiple users and are receiving increasing attention for their potential of improving spectral and energy efficiency in 5G networks. In this article a framework for energy-efficient NOMA H-CRANs is presented. The enabling technologies for NOMA H-CRANs are surveyed. Challenges to implement these technologies and open issues are discussed. This article also presents the performance evaluation on energy efficiency of H-CRANs with NOMA.Comment: This work has been accepted by IEEE Network. Pages 18, Figure

Outage Analysis for SWIPT-Enabled Two-Way Cognitive Cooperative Communications

In this paper, we study a cooperative cognitive radio network (CCRN) where the secondary user-transmitter (SU-Tx) assists bi-directional communication between a pair of primary users (PUs) following the principle of two-way relaying. In return, it gets access to the spectrum of the PUs to enable its own transmission to SU-receiver (SU-Rx). Further, in order to support sustainable operation of the network, SU-Tx is assumed to harvest energy from the RF signals received from the PUs, using the technique of simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). Assuming a decode-and-forward behaviour and power-splitting based relaying protocol at SU-Tx, closed form expressions for outage probability of PU and SU are obtained. Simulation results validate our analytical results and illustrate spectrum-efficiency and energy-efficiency advantages of the proposed system over one-way relaying.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technolog

Outage Analysis for SWIPT-Enabled Two-Way Cognitive Cooperative Communications

In this paper, we study a cooperative cognitive radio network (CCRN) where the secondary user-transmitter (SU-Tx) assists bi-directional communication between a pair of primary users (PUs) following the principle of two-way relaying. In return, it gets access to the spectrum of the PUs to enable its own transmission to SU-receiver (SU-Rx). Further, in order to support sustainable operation of the network, SU-Tx is assumed to harvest energy from the RF signals received from the PUs, using the technique of simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). Assuming a decode-and-forward behaviour and power-splitting based relaying protocol at SU-Tx, closed form expressions for outage probability of PU and SU are obtained. Simulation results validate our analytical results and illustrate spectrum-efficiency and energy-efficiency advantages of the proposed system over one-way relaying.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technolog

Resource Allocation in Wireless Networks with RF Energy Harvesting and Transfer

Radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting and transfer techniques have recently become alternative methods to power the next generation of wireless networks. As this emerging technology enables proactive replenishment of wireless devices, it is advantageous in supporting applications with quality-of-service (QoS) requirement. This article focuses on the resource allocation issues in wireless networks with RF energy harvesting capability, referred to as RF energy harvesting networks (RF-EHNs). First, we present an overview of the RF-EHNs, followed by a review of a variety of issues regarding resource allocation. Then, we present a case study of designing in the receiver operation policy, which is of paramount importance in the RF-EHNs. We focus on QoS support and service differentiation, which have not been addressed by previous literatures. Furthermore, we outline some open research directions.Comment: To appear in IEEE Networ

Optimal time sharing in underlay cognitive radio systems with RF energy harvesting

Due to the fundamental tradeoffs, achieving spectrum efficiency and energy efficiency are two contending design challenges for the future wireless networks. However, applying radio-frequency (RF) energy harvesting (EH) in a cognitive radio system could potentially circumvent this tradeoff, resulting in a secondary system with limitless power supply and meaningful achievable information rates. This paper proposes an online solution for the optimal time allocation (time sharing) between the EH phase and the information transmission (IT) phase in an underlay cognitive radio system, which harvests the RF energy originating from the primary system. The proposed online solution maximizes the average achievable rate of the cognitive radio system, subject to the $\varepsilon$-percentile protection criteria for the primary system. The optimal time sharing achieves significant gains compared to equal time allocation between the EH and IT phases.Comment: Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC 2015), 8-12 June 2015, London, U

Generic Multiuser Coordinated Beamforming for Underlay Spectrum Sharing

The beamforming techniques have been recently studied as possible enablers for underlay spectrum sharing. The existing beamforming techniques have several common limitations: they are usually system model specific, cannot operate with arbitrary number of transmit/receive antennas, and cannot serve arbitrary number of users. Moreover, the beamforming techniques for underlay spectrum sharing do not consider the interference originating from the incumbent primary system. This work extends the common underlay sharing model by incorporating the interference originating from the incumbent system into generic combined beamforming design that can be applied on interference, broadcast or multiple access channels. The paper proposes two novel multiuser beamforming algorithms for user fairness and sum rate maximization, utilizing newly derived convex optimization problems for transmit and receive beamformers calculation in a recursive optimization. Both beamforming algorithms provide efficient operation for the interference, broadcast and multiple access channels, as well as for arbitrary number of antennas and secondary users in the system. Furthermore, the paper proposes a successive transmit/receive optimization approach that reduces the computational complexity of the proposed recursive algorithms. The results show that the proposed complexity reduction significantly improves the convergence rates and can facilitate their operation in scenarios which require agile beamformers computation.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figure