Interference control and radio spectrum allocation in shared spectrum access

With demands on the radio spectrum intensifying, it is necessary to use this scarce resource as efficiently as possible. One way forward is to apply flexible authorization schemes such as shared spectrum access. While such schemes are expected to make additional radio resource available and lower the spectrum access barriers, they also bring new challenges toward effectively dealing with the created extra interference which degrades the performance of networks, limiting the potential gains in a shared use of spectrum. In this thesis, to address the interference issue, different spectrum access schemes and deployment scenarios are investigated.  Firstly, we consider licensed shared access where database-assisted TV white space network architecture is employed to facilitate the controlled access of the secondary system to the TV band. The operation of the secondary system is allowed only if the quality of service experienced by the incumbent users is preserved. Furthermore, the secondary system should benefit itself from utilizing the TV band in licensed shared access mode. One challenge for efficient operation of the licensed secondary system is to control the cross-tier interference generated at the TV receiver, taking into account the self-interference in the secondary system.  Secondly, we consider co-primary shared access where multiple operators share a part of their spectrum. This can be done in two different operational levels, users and cells. The user level is done in the context of D2D communications where two users subscribed to different operators can transmit directly to each other. The cell level allows spectrum sharing between two small cells, e.g., indoor and outdoor small cells, in a dense urban environments. The main challenges for such scenarios are to manage the cross-tier interference generated by other users or cells subscribed to different operators, and to identify the amount of radio spectrum each operator contributes.  There are several approaches to reduce the risk of interference, but they often come at a high price in terms of complexity and signaling overhead. In this thesis, we aim to propose low complexity mechanisms that take interference control and radio spectrum allocation into account. The proposed mechanisms are based on tractable models which characterize the effects of the fundamental design parameters on the system behavior in shared spectrum access. The models are leveraged to capture the statistic of the aggregate interference and its effects on the performance metrics

On three use cases of multi-connectivity paradigm in emerging wireless networks

As envisioned by global network operators, the increasing trend of data traffic demand is expected to continue with exponential growth in the coming years. To cope with this rapid increase, significant efforts from the research community, industry and even regulators have been focused towards improving two main aspects of the wireless spectrum: (i) spectrum capacity and (ii) spectral efficiency. Concerning the spectrum capacity enhancement, the multi-connectivity paradigm has been seen to be fundamentally important to solve the capacity problem in the next generation networks. Multi-connectivity is a feature that allows wireless devices to establish and maintain multiple simultaneous connections across homogeneous or heterogeneous technologies. In this thesis, we focus on identifying the core issues in applying the multi-connectivity paradigm for different use cases and propose novel solutions to address them. Specifically, this thesis studies three use cases of the multi-connectivity paradigm. First, we study the uplink/downlink decoupling problem in 4G networks. More specifically, we focus on the user association problem in the decoupling context, which is considered challenging due to the conflicting objectives of different entities (e.g., mobile users and base stations) in the system. We use a combination of matching theory and stochastic geometry to reconcile competing objectives between users in the uplink/downlink directions and also from the perspective of base stations. Second, we tackle the spectrum aggregation problem for wireless backhauling links in unlicensed opportunistic shared spectrum bands, specifically, TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum. In relation to this, we present a DIY mobile network deployment model to accelerate the roll-out of high-end mobile services in rural and developing regions. As part of this model, we highlight the importance of low-cost and high-capacity backhaul infrastructure for which TVWS spectrum can be exploited. Building on that, we conduct a thorough analytical study to identify the characteristics of TVWS in rural areas. Our study sheds light on the nature of TVWS spectrum fragmentation for the backhauling use case, which in turn poses requirements for the design of spectrum aggregation systems for TVWS backhaul. Motivated by these findings, we design and implement WhiteHaul, a flexible platform for spectrum aggregation in TVWS. Three challenges have been tackled in this work. First, TVWS spectrum is fragmented in that the spectrum is available in non-contiguous manner. To fully utilize the available spectrum, multiple radios should be enabled to work simultaneously. However, all the radios have to share only a single antenna. The key challenge is to design a system architecture that is capable of achieving different aggregation configurations while avoiding the interference. Second, the heterogeneous nature of the available spectrum (i.e., in terms of bandwidth and link characteristics) requires a design of efficient traffic distribution algorithm that takes into account these factors. Third, TVWS is unlicensed opportunistic shared spectrum. Thus, the coordination mechanism between the two nodes of backhauling link is essential to enable seamless channel switching. Third, we study the integration of multiple radio access technologies (RATs) in the context of 4G/5G networks. More specifically, we study the potential gain of enabling the Multi-RAT integration at the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer compared with doing it at the transport layer. In this work, we consider ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) as one of the motivating services. This work tackles the different challenges that arise from enabling the Multi-RAT integration at the PDCP layer, including, packet reordering and traffic scheduling

D5.2 - Evaluation of Selected Measurement-based Techniques

Deliverable D5.2 del projecte FARAMIRPreprin

Secondary spectrum usage in TV white space

Currently, the use of TV frequencies is exclusively license based with the area not covered by licensed TV transmitters being known as TV white space. In TV white space, the spectrum can be reused by a secondary user. This thesis studies how the TV white space can be used by a cellular system. The study addresses the problems of how the access to the spectrum is arranged, how the spectrum usage is constrained and how much capacity a secondary system will have. The access to TV white space can be arranged by using spectrum sensing or a geolocation database. This spectrum sensing relies on the performance of the signal detection algorithm. The detector has to operate in a fading environment where it should identify very low signal levels. In this thesis, the detector performance in a slow and fast fading environment is modeled. The model indicates that for a sufficiently long measurement time the impact of the fast fading can be averaged out. Unfortunately, simple single antenna-based detectors are not able to operate at a low enough signal-to-noise level. We propose a novel multi antenna-based detection algorithm that is specially designed to operate in a fading environment. TV white space is characterized by the amount of spectrum available for secondary usage. Because of the signal detection errors, a system using the sensing-based access is not able to use the entire available spectrum. This dissertation provides a method for estimating the spectrum utilization efficiency. The method illustrates how the detection error level affects the amount of available spectrum. One of the central questions studied in this thesis is how to describe the interference generated by the secondary transmitters. In the conventional model, the interference is computed as the sum of the interfering powers from individual transmitters. An alternative approach, pursued here, is to characterize the transmitter by its transmission power density per area. With such a model, the interference computation is done by integrating over the secondary system deployment area. The proposed method simplifies the interference estimation process. In data communication systems the spectrum attractiveness depends on the data rate the system can provide. Within the scope of this work, the achievable data rate is computed for a cellular system. Such computation is described as an optimization problem. The solution to this problem is found by searching for the optimal power allocation among the cochannels and the adjacent channels of a nearby TV transmitter

D13.3 Overall assessment of selected techniques on energy- and bandwidth-efficient communications

Deliverable D13.3 del projecte europeu NEWCOM#The report presents the outcome of the Joint Research Activities (JRA) of WP1.3 in the last year of the Newcom# project. The activities focus on the investigation of bandwidth and energy efficient techniques for current and emerging wireless systems. The JRAs are categorized in three Tasks: (i) the first deals with techniques for power efficiency and minimization at the transceiver and network level; (ii) the second deals with the handling of interference by appropriate low interference transmission techniques; (iii) the third is concentrated on Radio Resource Management (RRM) and Interference Management (IM) in selected scenarios, including HetNets and multi-tier networks.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Stochastic geometry approach towards interference management and control in cognitive radio network : a survey

Interference management and control in the cognitive radio network (CRN) is a necessity if the activities of primary users must be protected from excessive interference resulting from the activities of neighboring users. Hence, interference experienced in wireless communication networks has earlier been characterized using the traditional grid model. Such models, however, lead to non-tractable analyses, which often require unrealistic assumptions, leading to inaccurate results. These limitations of the traditional grid models mean that the adoption of stochastic geometry (SG) continues to receive a lot of attention owing to its ability to capture the distribution of users properly, while producing scalable and tractable analyses for various performance metrics of interest. Despite the importance of CRN to next-generation networks, no survey of the existing literature has been done when it comes to SG-based interference management and control in the domain of CRN. Such a survey is, however, necessary to provide the current state of the art as well as future directions. This paper hence presents a comprehensive survey related to the use of SG to effect interference management and control in CRN. We show that most of the existing approaches in CRN failed to capture the relationship between the spatial location of users and temporal traffic dynamics and are only restricted to interference modeling among non-mobile users with full buffers. This survey hence encourages further research in this area. Finally, this paper provides open problems and future directions to aid in finding more solutions to achieve efficient and effective usage of the scarce spectral resources for wireless communications.The SENTECH Chair in Broadband Wireless Multimedia Communications (BWMC), Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/comcomhj2022Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

D13.1 Fundamental issues on energy- and bandwidth-efficient communications and networking

Deliverable D13.1 del projecte europeu NEWCOM#The report presents the current status in the research area of energy- and bandwidth-efficient communications and networking and highlights the fundamental issues still open for further investigation. Furthermore, the report presents the Joint Research Activities (JRAs) which will be performed within WP1.3. For each activity there is the description, the identification of the adherence with the identified fundamental open issues, a presentation of the initial results, and a roadmap for the planned joint research work in each topic.Preprin