49 research outputs found
Urban wireless traffic evolution: the role of new devices and the effect of policy
The emergence of new wireless technologies, such as the Internet of Things,
allows digitalizing new and diverse urban activities. Thus, wireless traffic
grows in volume and complexity, making prediction, investment planning, and
regulation increasingly difficult. This article characterizes urban wireless
traffic evolution, supporting operators to drive mobile network evolution and
policymakers to increase national and local competitiveness. We propose a
holistic method that widens previous research scope, including new devices and
the effect of policy from multiple government levels. We provide an analytical
formulation that combines existing complementary methods on traffic evolution
research and diverse data sources. Results for a centric area of Helsinki
during 2020-2030 indicate that daily volumes increase, albeit a surprisingly
large part of the traffic continues to be generated by smartphones. Machine
traffic gains importance, driven by surveillance video cameras and connected
cars. While camera traffic is sensitive to law enforcement policies and data
regulation, car traffic is less affected by transport electrification policy.
High-priority traffic remains small, even under encouraging autonomous vehicle
policies. We suggest that 5G small cells might be needed around 2025, albeit
the utilization of novel radio technology and additional mid-band spectrum
could delay this need until 2029. We argue that mobile network operators
inevitably need to cooperate in constructing a single, shared small cell
network to mitigate the high deployment costs of massively deploying small
cells. We also provide guidance to local and national policymakers for
IoT-enabled competitive gains via the mitigation of five bottlenecks. For
example, local monopolies for mmWave connectivity should be facilitated on
space-limited urban furniture or risk an eventual capacity crunch, slowing down
digitalization
5G network slicing for rural connectivity: multi-tenancy in wireless networks
As the need for wireless broadband continues to grow around the world, there is an increasing focus to minimise the existing digital divide and ensuring that everyone receives high-quality internet services, especially the inhabitants of rural areas. As a result, different technological solutions are being studied and trialled for improving rural connectivity, such as 5G with dynamic spectrum access. One of the architectures of 5G is network slicing, which supports network virtualisation and consists of independent logical networks, called slices, on the 5G network. Network slicing supports the multi-tenancy of different operators on the same physical network, and this feature is known as neutral host networks (NHN). It allows multiple operators to co-exist on the same physical network but on different virtual networks to serve end users.
Generally, the 5G NHN deployment is handled by an infrastructure provider (InP), who could be a mobile network operator (MNO), an Internet service provider, a third-party operator, etc. At the same time, potential tenants would lease slices from the InP. The NHN strategy would help reduce resource duplication and increase the utilisation of existing resources. The existing research into NHN for small cells, in-building connectivity solutions, and other deployment scenarios help to understand the technological and business requirements. End-to-end sharing across operators to provide services to their end users is another innovative application of 5G NHN that has been tested for dense areas. Meanwhile, the feasibility and policy impact of NHN is not studied extensively for the rural scenario.
The research in this thesis examines the use of NHN in macro- and small-cell networks for 5G communication systems to minimise the digital divide, with a special focus on rural areas. The study also presents and analyses the 5G multi-tenancy system design for the rural wireless scenario, focusing mainly on exploring suitable business cases through network economics, techno-economic study, and game theory analysis. The results obtained from the study, such as cost analysis, business models, sensitivity analysis, and pricing strategies, help in formulating the policy on infrastructure sharing to improve rural connectivity. The contributions of the thesis are useful for stakeholders and policymakers to assess the suitability of the rural 5G NHN by exploring state-of-the-art technologies, techno-economic analysis, sensitivity analysis, newer business models, investment assessment, cost allocation, and risk sharing.
Initially, the research gap is highlighted through the extensive literature review and stakeholders’ views on rural connectivity collected from discussions with them. First, the in-depth discussion on the network economics of the rural 5G NHN includes the study of potential future scenarios, value network configurations, spectrum access strategy models, and business models. Secondly, the techno-economic analysis studies the key performance indicators (KPI), cost analysis, return on investment, net present value, and sensitivity analysis, with the application for the rural parts of the UK and India. Finally, the game theory framework includes the study of strategic interaction among the two key stakeholders, InP and the MNO, using models such as investment games and pricing strategies during multi-tenancy. The research concludes by presenting the contribution towards the knowledge and future work.As the need for wireless broadband continues to grow around the world, there is an increasing focus to minimise the existing digital divide and ensuring that everyone receives high-quality internet services, especially the inhabitants of rural areas. As a result, different technological solutions are being studied and trialled for improving rural connectivity, such as 5G with dynamic spectrum access. One of the architectures of 5G is network slicing, which supports network virtualisation and consists of independent logical networks, called slices, on the 5G network. Network slicing supports the multi-tenancy of different operators on the same physical network, and this feature is known as neutral host networks (NHN). It allows multiple operators to co-exist on the same physical network but on different virtual networks to serve end users.
Generally, the 5G NHN deployment is handled by an infrastructure provider (InP), who could be a mobile network operator (MNO), an Internet service provider, a third-party operator, etc. At the same time, potential tenants would lease slices from the InP. The NHN strategy would help reduce resource duplication and increase the utilisation of existing resources. The existing research into NHN for small cells, in-building connectivity solutions, and other deployment scenarios help to understand the technological and business requirements. End-to-end sharing across operators to provide services to their end users is another innovative application of 5G NHN that has been tested for dense areas. Meanwhile, the feasibility and policy impact of NHN is not studied extensively for the rural scenario.
The research in this thesis examines the use of NHN in macro- and small-cell networks for 5G communication systems to minimise the digital divide, with a special focus on rural areas. The study also presents and analyses the 5G multi-tenancy system design for the rural wireless scenario, focusing mainly on exploring suitable business cases through network economics, techno-economic study, and game theory analysis. The results obtained from the study, such as cost analysis, business models, sensitivity analysis, and pricing strategies, help in formulating the policy on infrastructure sharing to improve rural connectivity. The contributions of the thesis are useful for stakeholders and policymakers to assess the suitability of the rural 5G NHN by exploring state-of-the-art technologies, techno-economic analysis, sensitivity analysis, newer business models, investment assessment, cost allocation, and risk sharing.
Initially, the research gap is highlighted through the extensive literature review and stakeholders’ views on rural connectivity collected from discussions with them. First, the in-depth discussion on the network economics of the rural 5G NHN includes the study of potential future scenarios, value network configurations, spectrum access strategy models, and business models. Secondly, the techno-economic analysis studies the key performance indicators (KPI), cost analysis, return on investment, net present value, and sensitivity analysis, with the application for the rural parts of the UK and India. Finally, the game theory framework includes the study of strategic interaction among the two key stakeholders, InP and the MNO, using models such as investment games and pricing strategies during multi-tenancy. The research concludes by presenting the contribution towards the knowledge and future work
Ondas milimétricas e MIMO massivo para otimização da capacidade e cobertura de redes heterogeneas de 5G
Today's Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) networks cannot support
the exponential growth in mobile traffic forecast for the next decade. By
2020, according to Ericsson, 6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide are projected
to generate 46 exabytes of mobile data traffic monthly from 24 billion
connected devices, smartphones and short-range Internet of Things (IoT)
devices being the key prosumers. In response, 5G networks are foreseen
to markedly outperform legacy 4G systems. Triggered by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the IMT-2020 network initiative, 5G
will support three broad categories of use cases: enhanced mobile broadband
(eMBB) for multi-Gbps data rate applications; ultra-reliable and low latency
communications (URLLC) for critical scenarios; and massive machine
type communications (mMTC) for massive connectivity. Among the several
technology enablers being explored for 5G, millimeter-wave (mmWave)
communication, massive MIMO antenna arrays and ultra-dense small cell
networks (UDNs) feature as the dominant technologies. These technologies
in synergy are anticipated to provide the 1000_ capacity increase for 5G
networks (relative to 4G) through the combined impact of large additional
bandwidth, spectral efficiency (SE) enhancement and high frequency reuse,
respectively. However, although these technologies can pave the way towards
gigabit wireless, there are still several challenges to solve in terms of
how we can fully harness the available bandwidth efficiently through appropriate
beamforming and channel modeling approaches. In this thesis, we
investigate the system performance enhancements realizable with mmWave
massive MIMO in 5G UDN and cellular infrastructure-to-everything (C-I2X)
application scenarios involving pedestrian and vehicular users. As a critical
component of the system-level simulation approach adopted in this thesis,
we implemented 3D channel models for the accurate characterization of the
wireless channels in these scenarios and for realistic performance evaluation.
To address the hardware cost, complexity and power consumption of the
massive MIMO architectures, we propose a novel generalized framework for
hybrid beamforming (HBF) array structures. The generalized model reveals
the opportunities that can be harnessed with the overlapped subarray structures
for a balanced trade-o_ between SE and energy efficiently (EE) of 5G
networks. The key results in this investigation show that mmWave massive
MIMO can deliver multi-Gbps rates for 5G whilst maintaining energy-efficient operation of the network.As redes LTE-A atuais não são capazes de suportar o crescimento exponencial
de tráfego que está previsto para a próxima década. De acordo
com a previsão da Ericsson, espera-se que em 2020, a nível global, 6 mil
milhões de subscritores venham a gerar mensalmente 46 exa bytes de tráfego
de dados a partir de 24 mil milhões de dispositivos ligados à rede móvel,
sendo os telefones inteligentes e dispositivos IoT de curto alcance os principais
responsáveis por tal nível de tráfego. Em resposta a esta exigência,
espera-se que as redes de 5a geração (5G) tenham um desempenho substancialmente
superior às redes de 4a geração (4G) atuais. Desencadeado pelo
UIT (União Internacional das Telecomunicações) no âmbito da iniciativa
IMT-2020, o 5G irá suportar três grandes tipos de utilizações: banda larga
móvel capaz de suportar aplicações com débitos na ordem de vários Gbps;
comunicações de baixa latência e alta fiabilidade indispensáveis em cenários
de emergência; comunicações massivas máquina-a-máquina para conectividade
generalizada. Entre as várias tecnologias capacitadoras que estão a ser
exploradas pelo 5G, as comunicações através de ondas milimétricas, os agregados
MIMO massivo e as redes celulares ultradensas (RUD) apresentam-se
como sendo as tecnologias fundamentais. Antecipa-se que o conjunto
destas tecnologias venha a fornecer às redes 5G um aumento de capacidade
de 1000x através da utilização de maiores larguras de banda, melhoria da
eficiência espectral, e elevada reutilização de frequências respetivamente.
Embora estas tecnologias possam abrir caminho para as redes sem fios
com débitos na ordem dos gigabits, existem ainda vários desafios que têm
que ser resolvidos para que seja possível aproveitar totalmente a largura de
banda disponível de maneira eficiente utilizando abordagens de formatação
de feixe e de modelação de canal adequadas. Nesta tese investigamos a
melhoria de desempenho do sistema conseguida através da utilização de
ondas milimétricas e agregados MIMO massivo em cenários de redes celulares
ultradensas de 5a geração e em cenários 'infraestrutura celular-para-qualquer
coisa' (do inglês: cellular infrastructure-to-everything) envolvendo
utilizadores pedestres e veiculares. Como um componente fundamental das
simulações de sistema utilizadas nesta tese é o canal de propagação, implementamos modelos de canal tridimensional (3D) para caracterizar de
forma precisa o canal de propagação nestes cenários e assim conseguir uma
avaliação de desempenho mais condizente com a realidade. Para resolver os
problemas associados ao custo do equipamento, complexidade e consumo
de energia das arquiteturas MIMO massivo, propomos um modelo inovador
de agregados com formatação de feixe híbrida. Este modelo genérico revela
as oportunidades que podem ser aproveitadas através da sobreposição
de sub-agregados no sentido de obter um compromisso equilibrado entre
eficiência espectral (ES) e eficiência energética (EE) nas redes 5G. Os principais
resultados desta investigação mostram que a utilização conjunta de
ondas milimétricas e de agregados MIMO massivo possibilita a obtenção, em
simultâneo, de taxas de transmissão na ordem de vários Gbps e a operação
de rede de forma energeticamente eficiente.Programa Doutoral em Telecomunicaçõe
Συγκριτική παρουσίαση των τεχνολογιών 5G και WiFi 6.0
Τα τελευταία χρόνια, μεγάλη σημασία έχει δοθεί στην πέμπτη γενιά ασύρματης ευρυζωνικής συνδεσιμότητας γνωστής ως 5G, η οποία υπόσχεται μια σημαντική αναβάθμιση στη ποιότητα και στη χωρητικότητα των κινητών ευρυζωνικών υπηρεσιών αλλά και ένα γενικότερο τεχνολογικό άλμα με τη παροχή μιας πληθώρας νέων δυνατοτήτων. Παραδόξως, έχει δοθεί λιγότερη προσοχή στο Wi-Fi 6, το νέο πρότυπο 802.11ax της IEEE στην οικογένεια τεχνολογιών ασύρματου τοπικού δικτύου, με χαρακτηριστικά που στοχεύουν στα ιδιωτικά, ακραία δίκτυα, υποστηρίζοντας υψηλές ταχύτητες, χαμηλή καθυστέρηση και χαμηλή ενεργειακή κατανάλωση. Αυτή η εργασία εξετάζει την καταλληλότητα των κυψελωτών και των Wi-Fi δικτύων στην παροχή υψηλής ταχύτητας ασύρματης σύνδεσης στο διαδίκτυο. Και οι δύο τεχνολογίες φιλοδοξούν να προσφέρουν σημαντικά βελτιωμένη απόδοση, πολύ πιο γρήγορη ασύρματη ευρυζωνική σύνδεση και περαιτέρω υποστήριξη για το διαδίκτυο των πραγμάτων (IoT) και τις επικοινωνίες τύπου μηχανής, τοποθετώντας τις ως τεχνικά υποκατάστατες σε πολλά σενάρια χρήσης. Και οι δύο είναι πιθανό να διαδραματίσουν σημαντικό ρόλο στο μέλλον και ταυτόχρονα να αξιοποιηθούν ως ανταγωνιστικές και συμπληρωματικές τεχνολογίες. Το 5G αναμένεται να παραμείνει η προτιμώμενη τεχνολογία για την κάλυψη μιας ευρείας περιοχής, ενώ η τεχνολογία Wi-Fi θα παραμείνει κυρίαρχη για εσωτερική χρήση, χάρη στο πολύ χαμηλότερο κόστος ανάπτυξης. Ωστόσο, τα παραδοσιακά όρια που διέκριναν τις προηγούμενες γενιές κινητών και Wi-Fi δικτύων θολώνουν, με τη παρουσία πλέον αυτών των δυο τεχνολογιών να συμβάλει στην επίτευξη του στόχου της παροχής προσιτών, αξιόπιστων, και αδιάλειπτων ασύρματων ευρυζωνικών συνδέσεων υψηλής χωρητικότητας.In recent years, significant attention has been directed toward the fifth generation of wireless broadband connectivity known as ‘5G’, currently being deployed by Mobile Network Operators. 5G promises a significant upgrade in the quality and capacity of mobile broadband services but also a more general technological leap by providing a plethora of new capabilities Surprisingly, there has been considerably less attention paid to ‘Wi-Fi 6’, the new IEEE 802.1ax standard in the family of Wireless Local Area Network technologies with features targeting private, edge-networks, supporting high speeds, low latency and low energy consumption. This work revisits the suitability of cellular and Wi-Fi in delivering high-speed wireless Internet connectivity. Both technologies aspire to deliver significantly enhanced performance, enabling each to deliver much faster wireless broadband connectivity, and provide further support for the Internet of Things and Machine-toMachine communications, positioning the two technologies as technical substitutes in many usage scenarios. We conclude that both are likely to play important roles in the future, and simultaneously serve as competitors and complements. 5G is anticipated to remain the preferred technology for wide-area coverage, while Wi-Fi 6 will remain the preferred technology for indoor use, thanks to its much lower deployment costs. However, the traditional boundaries that differentiated earlier generations of cellular and Wi-Fi are blurring. The presence of both technologies should contribute to achieving the goal of providing affordable, reliable, and seamless high-bandwidth wireless broadband connections
Towards UAV Assisted 5G Public Safety Network
Ensuring ubiquitous mission-critical public safety communications (PSC) to all the first responders in the public safety network is crucial at an emergency site. The first responders heavily rely on mission-critical PSC to save lives, property, and national infrastructure during a natural or human-made emergency. The recent advancements in LTE/LTE-Advanced/5G mobile technologies supported by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have great potential to revolutionize PSC.
However, limited spectrum allocation for LTE-based PSC demands improved channel capacity and spectral efficiency. An additional challenge in designing an LTE-based PSC network is achieving at least 95% coverage of the geographical area and human population with broadband rates. The coverage requirement and efficient spectrum use in the PSC network can be realized through the dense deployment of small cells (both terrestrial and aerial). However, there are several challenges with the dense deployment of small cells in an air-ground heterogeneous network (AG-HetNet). The main challenges which are addressed in this research work are integrating UAVs as both aerial user and aerial base-stations, mitigating inter-cell interference, capacity and coverage enhancements, and optimizing deployment locations of aerial base-stations.
First, LTE signals were investigated using NS-3 simulation and software-defined radio experiment to gain knowledge on the quality of service experienced by the user equipment (UE). Using this understanding, a two-tier LTE-Advanced AG-HetNet with macro base-stations and unmanned aerial base-stations (UABS) is designed, while considering time-domain inter-cell interference coordination techniques. We maximize the capacity of this AG-HetNet in case of a damaged PSC infrastructure by jointly optimizing the inter-cell interference parameters and UABS locations using a meta-heuristic genetic algorithm (GA) and the brute-force technique. Finally, considering the latest specifications in 3GPP, a more realistic three-tier LTE-Advanced AG-HetNet is proposed with macro base-stations, pico base-stations, and ground UEs as terrestrial nodes and UABS and aerial UEs as aerial nodes. Using meta-heuristic techniques such as GA and elitist harmony search algorithm based on the GA, the critical network elements such as energy efficiency, inter-cell interference parameters, and UABS locations are all jointly optimized to maximize the capacity and coverage of the AG-HetNet
Next-generation networks: Necessity of edge sharing
Resource sharing is fundamental to the design of telecommunication networks. The technology, economic and policy forces shaping the transition to next-generation digital networking infrastructure—characterized here as “5G+” (for 5G and beyond)—make new and evolved forms of edge sharing a necessity. Despite this necessity, most of the economic and policy research on Network Sharing Agreements (NSAs) has focused on sharing among service providers offering retail services via networks owned and operated by legacy fixed and mobile network operators (MNOs). In this essay, we make the case for why increased and more dynamic options for sharing, in particular of end-user owned network infrastructure, should be embraced for the future of NSAs. Furthermore, we explain how such a novel sharing paradigm must be matched by appropriate regulatory policies