85,249 research outputs found
Fronthaul-Constrained Cloud Radio Access Networks: Insights and Challenges
As a promising paradigm for fifth generation (5G) wireless communication
systems, cloud radio access networks (C-RANs) have been shown to reduce both
capital and operating expenditures, as well as to provide high spectral
efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE). The fronthaul in such networks,
defined as the transmission link between a baseband unit (BBU) and a remote
radio head (RRH), requires high capacity, but is often constrained. This
article comprehensively surveys recent advances in fronthaul-constrained
C-RANs, including system architectures and key techniques. In particular, key
techniques for alleviating the impact of constrained fronthaul on SE/EE and
quality of service for users, including compression and quantization,
large-scale coordinated processing and clustering, and resource allocation
optimization, are discussed. Open issues in terms of software-defined
networking, network function virtualization, and partial centralization are
also identified.Comment: 5 Figures, accepted by IEEE Wireless Communications. arXiv admin
note: text overlap with arXiv:1407.3855 by other author
Joint Beamforming and Power Control in Coordinated Multicell: Max-Min Duality, Effective Network and Large System Transition
This paper studies joint beamforming and power control in a coordinated
multicell downlink system that serves multiple users per cell to maximize the
minimum weighted signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio. The optimal solution
and distributed algorithm with geometrically fast convergence rate are derived
by employing the nonlinear Perron-Frobenius theory and the multicell network
duality. The iterative algorithm, though operating in a distributed manner,
still requires instantaneous power update within the coordinated cluster
through the backhaul. The backhaul information exchange and message passing may
become prohibitive with increasing number of transmit antennas and increasing
number of users. In order to derive asymptotically optimal solution, random
matrix theory is leveraged to design a distributed algorithm that only requires
statistical information. The advantage of our approach is that there is no
instantaneous power update through backhaul. Moreover, by using nonlinear
Perron-Frobenius theory and random matrix theory, an effective primal network
and an effective dual network are proposed to characterize and interpret the
asymptotic solution.Comment: Some typos in the version publised in the IEEE Transactions on
Wireless Communications are correcte
Optimality Properties, Distributed Strategies, and Measurement-Based Evaluation of Coordinated Multicell OFDMA Transmission
The throughput of multicell systems is inherently limited by interference and
the available communication resources. Coordinated resource allocation is the
key to efficient performance, but the demand on backhaul signaling and
computational resources grows rapidly with number of cells, terminals, and
subcarriers. To handle this, we propose a novel multicell framework with
dynamic cooperation clusters where each terminal is jointly served by a small
set of base stations. Each base station coordinates interference to neighboring
terminals only, thus limiting backhaul signalling and making the framework
scalable. This framework can describe anything from interference channels to
ideal joint multicell transmission.
The resource allocation (i.e., precoding and scheduling) is formulated as an
optimization problem (P1) with performance described by arbitrary monotonic
functions of the signal-to-interference-and-noise ratios (SINRs) and arbitrary
linear power constraints. Although (P1) is non-convex and difficult to solve
optimally, we are able to prove: 1) Optimality of single-stream beamforming; 2)
Conditions for full power usage; and 3) A precoding parametrization based on a
few parameters between zero and one. These optimality properties are used to
propose low-complexity strategies: both a centralized scheme and a distributed
version that only requires local channel knowledge and processing. We evaluate
the performance on measured multicell channels and observe that the proposed
strategies achieve close-to-optimal performance among centralized and
distributed solutions, respectively. In addition, we show that multicell
interference coordination can give substantial improvements in sum performance,
but that joint transmission is very sensitive to synchronization errors and
that some terminals can experience performance degradations.Comment: Published in IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 15 pages, 7
figures. This version corrects typos related to Eq. (4) and Eq. (28
Ubiquitous Cell-Free Massive MIMO Communications
Since the first cellular networks were trialled in the 1970s, we have
witnessed an incredible wireless revolution. From 1G to 4G, the massive traffic
growth has been managed by a combination of wider bandwidths, refined radio
interfaces, and network densification, namely increasing the number of antennas
per site. Due its cost-efficiency, the latter has contributed the most. Massive
MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) is a key 5G technology that uses massive
antenna arrays to provide a very high beamforming gain and spatially
multiplexing of users, and hence, increases the spectral and energy efficiency.
It constitutes a centralized solution to densify a network, and its performance
is limited by the inter-cell interference inherent in its cell-centric design.
Conversely, ubiquitous cell-free Massive MIMO refers to a distributed Massive
MIMO system implementing coherent user-centric transmission to overcome the
inter-cell interference limitation in cellular networks and provide additional
macro-diversity. These features, combined with the system scalability inherent
in the Massive MIMO design, distinguishes ubiquitous cell-free Massive MIMO
from prior coordinated distributed wireless systems. In this article, we
investigate the enormous potential of this promising technology while
addressing practical deployment issues to deal with the increased
back/front-hauling overhead deriving from the signal co-processing.Comment: Published in EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and
Networking on August 5, 201
Separation Framework: An Enabler for Cooperative and D2D Communication for Future 5G Networks
Soaring capacity and coverage demands dictate that future cellular networks
need to soon migrate towards ultra-dense networks. However, network
densification comes with a host of challenges that include compromised energy
efficiency, complex interference management, cumbersome mobility management,
burdensome signaling overheads and higher backhaul costs. Interestingly, most
of the problems, that beleaguer network densification, stem from legacy
networks' one common feature i.e., tight coupling between the control and data
planes regardless of their degree of heterogeneity and cell density.
Consequently, in wake of 5G, control and data planes separation architecture
(SARC) has recently been conceived as a promising paradigm that has potential
to address most of aforementioned challenges. In this article, we review
various proposals that have been presented in literature so far to enable SARC.
More specifically, we analyze how and to what degree various SARC proposals
address the four main challenges in network densification namely: energy
efficiency, system level capacity maximization, interference management and
mobility management. We then focus on two salient features of future cellular
networks that have not yet been adapted in legacy networks at wide scale and
thus remain a hallmark of 5G, i.e., coordinated multipoint (CoMP), and
device-to-device (D2D) communications. After providing necessary background on
CoMP and D2D, we analyze how SARC can particularly act as a major enabler for
CoMP and D2D in context of 5G. This article thus serves as both a tutorial as
well as an up to date survey on SARC, CoMP and D2D. Most importantly, the
article provides an extensive outlook of challenges and opportunities that lie
at the crossroads of these three mutually entangled emerging technologies.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 201
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