362 research outputs found
Architectures and Key Technical Challenges for 5G Systems Incorporating Satellites
Satellite Communication systems are a promising solution to extend and
complement terrestrial networks in unserved or under-served areas. This aspect
is reflected by recent commercial and standardisation endeavours. In
particular, 3GPP recently initiated a Study Item for New Radio-based, i.e., 5G,
Non-Terrestrial Networks aimed at deploying satellite systems either as a
stand-alone solution or as an integration to terrestrial networks in mobile
broadband and machine-type communication scenarios. However, typical satellite
channel impairments, as large path losses, delays, and Doppler shifts, pose
severe challenges to the realisation of a satellite-based NR network. In this
paper, based on the architecture options currently being discussed in the
standardisation fora, we discuss and assess the impact of the satellite channel
characteristics on the physical and Medium Access Control layers, both in terms
of transmitted waveforms and procedures for enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB)
and NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) applications. The proposed analysis
shows that the main technical challenges are related to the PHY/MAC procedures,
in particular Random Access (RA), Timing Advance (TA), and Hybrid Automatic
Repeat reQuest (HARQ) and, depending on the considered service and
architecture, different solutions are proposed.Comment: Submitted to Transactions on Vehicular Technologies, April 201
End-to-End Simulation of 5G mmWave Networks
Due to its potential for multi-gigabit and low latency wireless links,
millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is expected to play a central role in 5th
generation cellular systems. While there has been considerable progress in
understanding the mmWave physical layer, innovations will be required at all
layers of the protocol stack, in both the access and the core network.
Discrete-event network simulation is essential for end-to-end, cross-layer
research and development. This paper provides a tutorial on a recently
developed full-stack mmWave module integrated into the widely used open-source
ns--3 simulator. The module includes a number of detailed statistical channel
models as well as the ability to incorporate real measurements or ray-tracing
data. The Physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers are modular and
highly customizable, making it easy to integrate algorithms or compare
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) numerologies, for example.
The module is interfaced with the core network of the ns--3 Long Term Evolution
(LTE) module for full-stack simulations of end-to-end connectivity, and
advanced architectural features, such as dual-connectivity, are also available.
To facilitate the understanding of the module, and verify its correct
functioning, we provide several examples that show the performance of the
custom mmWave stack as well as custom congestion control algorithms designed
specifically for efficient utilization of the mmWave channel.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, submitted to IEEE Communications Surveys and
Tutorials (revised Jan. 2018
Tiny Codes for Guaranteeable Delay
Future 5G systems will need to support ultra-reliable low-latency
communications scenarios. From a latency-reliability viewpoint, it is
inefficient to rely on average utility-based system design. Therefore, we
introduce the notion of guaranteeable delay which is the average delay plus
three standard deviations of the mean. We investigate the trade-off between
guaranteeable delay and throughput for point-to-point wireless erasure links
with unreliable and delayed feedback, by bringing together signal flow
techniques to the area of coding. We use tiny codes, i.e. sliding window by
coding with just 2 packets, and design three variations of selective-repeat ARQ
protocols, by building on the baseline scheme, i.e. uncoded ARQ, developed by
Ausavapattanakun and Nosratinia: (i) Hybrid ARQ with soft combining at the
receiver; (ii) cumulative feedback-based ARQ without rate adaptation; and (iii)
Coded ARQ with rate adaptation based on the cumulative feedback. Contrasting
the performance of these protocols with uncoded ARQ, we demonstrate that HARQ
performs only slightly better, cumulative feedback-based ARQ does not provide
significant throughput while it has better average delay, and Coded ARQ can
provide gains up to about 40% in terms of throughput. Coded ARQ also provides
delay guarantees, and is robust to various challenges such as imperfect and
delayed feedback, burst erasures, and round-trip time fluctuations. This
feature may be preferable for meeting the strict end-to-end latency and
reliability requirements of future use cases of ultra-reliable low-latency
communications in 5G, such as mission-critical communications and industrial
control for critical control messaging.Comment: to appear in IEEE JSAC Special Issue on URLLC in Wireless Network
Integration of Satellites in 5G through LEO Constellations
The standardization of 5G systems is entering in its critical phase, with
3GPP that will publish the PHY standard by June 2017. In order to meet the
demanding 5G requirements both in terms of large throughput and global
connectivity, Satellite Communications provide a valuable resource to extend
and complement terrestrial networks. In this context, we consider a
heterogeneous architecture in which a LEO mega-constellation satellite system
provides backhaul connectivity to terrestrial 5G Relay Nodes, which create an
on-ground 5G network. Since large delays and Doppler shifts related to
satellite channels pose severe challenges to terrestrial-based systems, in this
paper we assess their impact on the future 5G PHY and MAC layer procedures. In
addition, solutions are proposed for Random Access, waveform numerology, and
HARQ procedures.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM) 201
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