Modular Software-Defined Radio

<p>In view of the technical and commercial boundary conditions for software-defined radio (SDR), it is suggestive to reconsider the concept anew from an unconventional point of view. The organizational principles of signal processing (rather than the signal processing algorithms themselves) are the main focus of this work on modular software-defined radio. Modularity and flexibility are just two key characteristics of the SDR environment which extend smoothly into the modeling of hardware and software. In particular, the proposed model of signal processing software includes irregular, connected, directed, acyclic graphs with random node weights and random edges. Several approaches for mapping such software to a given hardware are discussed. Taking into account previous findings as well as new results from system simulations presented here, the paper finally concludes with the utility of pipelining as a general design guideline for modular software-defined radio.</p

LTE-Advanced radio access enhancements: A survey

Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-Advanced) is the next step in LTE evolution and allows operators to improve network performance and service capabilities through smooth deployment of new techniques and technologies. LTE-Advanced uses some new features on top of the existing LTE standards to provide better user experience and higher throughputs. Some of the most significant features introduced in LTE-Advanced are carrier aggregation, enhancements in heterogeneous networks, coordinated multipoint transmission and reception, enhanced multiple input multiple output usage and deployment of relay nodes in the radio network. Mentioned features are mainly aimed to enhance the radio access part of the cellular networks. This survey article presents an overview of the key radio access features and functionalities of the LTE-Advanced radio access network, supported by the simulation results. We also provide a detailed review of the literature together with a very rich list of the references for each of the features. An LTE-Advanced roadmap and the latest updates and trends in LTE markets are also presented

Cellular system information capacity change at higher frequencies due to propagation loss and system parameters

In this paper, mathematical analysis supported by computer simulation is used to study cellular system information capacity change due to propagation loss and system parameters (such as path loss exponent, shadowing and antenna height) at microwave carrier frequencies greater than 2 GHz and smaller cell size radius. An improved co-channel interference model, which includes the second tier co-channel interfering cells is used for the analysis. The system performance is measured in terms of the uplink information capacity of a time-division multiple access (TDMA) based cellular wireless system. The analysis and simulation results show that the second tier co-channel interfering cells become active at higher microwave carrier frequencies and smaller cell size radius. The results show that for both distance-dependent: path loss, shadowing and effective road height the uplink information capacity of the cellular wireless system decreases as carrier frequency increases and cell size radius R decreases. For example at a carrier frequency fc = 15.75 GHz, basic path loss exponent α = 2 and cell size radius R = 100, 500 and 1000m the decrease in information capacity was 20, 5.29 and 2.68%

Self-optimization of pilot power in enterprise femtocells using multi objective heuristic

Deployment of a large number of femtocells to jointly provide coverage in an enterprise environment raises critical challenges especially in future self-organizing networks which rely on plug-and-play techniques for configuration. This paper proposes a multi-objective heuristic based on a genetic algorithm for a centralized self-optimizing network containing a group of UMTS femtocells. In order to optimize the network coverage in terms of handled load, coverage gaps, and overlaps, the algorithm provides a dynamic update of the downlink pilot powers of the deployed femtocells. The results demonstrate that the algorithm can effectively optimize the coverage based on the current statistics of the global traffic distribution and the levels of interference between neighboring femtocells. The algorithm was also compared with the fixed pilot power scheme. The results show over fifty percent reduction in pilot power pollution and a significant enhancement in network performance. Finally, for a given traffic distribution, the solution quality and the efficiency of the described algorithm were evaluated by comparing the results generated by an exhaustive search with the same pilot power configuration

A survey of self organisation in future cellular networks

This article surveys the literature over the period of the last decade on the emerging field of self organisation as applied to wireless cellular communication networks. Self organisation has been extensively studied and applied in adhoc networks, wireless sensor networks and autonomic computer networks; however in the context of wireless cellular networks, this is the first attempt to put in perspective the various efforts in form of a tutorial/survey. We provide a comprehensive survey of the existing literature, projects and standards in self organising cellular networks. Additionally, we also aim to present a clear understanding of this active research area, identifying a clear taxonomy and guidelines for design of self organising mechanisms. We compare strength and weakness of existing solutions and highlight the key research areas for further development. This paper serves as a guide and a starting point for anyone willing to delve into research on self organisation in wireless cellular communication networks

Experimental Determination of Penetration Loss into Multi-Storey Buildings at 900 and 1800MHz

This study presents building pentration loss into and around multi-storey buildings at 900 and 1800MHz based on experimental data obtained through drive test, using Test Mobile System (TEMS) investigation tools. The received signal level was measured inside and outside three buildings; the Senate building of the University of Lagos (B1), Mike Adenuga Towers (B2) and the Sapetro Towers (B3) located in Victoria Island, Lagos Nigeria. The building penetration loss (BPL) was derived from measurements, and the average and standard deviations of the BPL were computed. Results showed that the average BPL of 17.0dB and 13.8dB obtained from building B1 at 900 and 1800MHz, respectively, are comparatively higher than those of buildings B2 and B3. The standard deviation of the BPL shows an increase from 5.2dB at 900MHz to 7.8dB at 1800MHz for building B1, whereas it fell drastically from 8.65dB at 900MHz to 1.40dB at 1800MHz for B2, and a similar behaviour in B1 is seen for building B3 where it rises sharply from 1.55dB at 900MHz to 6.55dB at 1800MHz. This is in agreement with the general trend of increasing penetration loss with increase in frequency except for building B2 where an anomaly is observed. In order to examine the correlation between the measured and the predicted BPL, cubic regression was used to fit a third order polynomial to the measured BPL. Overrall, the fitted models could find useful applications in the design of novel and robust BPL models for modern multi-floored buildings

Survey of millimeter-wave propagation measurements and models in indoor environments

The millimeter-wave (mmWave) is expected to deliver a huge bandwidth to address the future demands for higher data rate transmissions. However, one of the major challenges in the mmWave band is the increase in signal loss as the operating frequency increases. This has attracted several research interests both from academia and the industry for indoor and outdoor mmWave operations. This paper focuses on the works that have been carried out in the study of the mmWave channel measurement in indoor environments. A survey of the measurement techniques, prominent path loss models, analysis of path loss and delay spread for mmWave in different indoor environments is presented. This covers the mmWave frequencies from 28 GHz to 100 GHz that have been considered in the last two decades. In addition, the possible future trends for the mmWave indoor propagation studies and measurements have been discussed. These include the critical indoor environment, the roles of artificial intelligence, channel characterization for indoor devices, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and mmWave for 6G systems. This survey can help engineers and researchers to plan, design, and optimize reliable 5G wireless indoor networks. It will also motivate the researchers and engineering communities towards finding a better outcome in the future trends of the mmWave indoor wireless network for 6G systems and beyond