ROLAX: LOCATION DETERMINATION TECHNIQUES IN 4G NETWORKS

In this dissertation, ROLAX location determination system in 4G networks is presented. ROLAX provides two primary solutions for the location determination in the 4G networks. First, it provides techniques to detect the error-prone wireless conditions in geometric approaches of Time of Arrival (ToA) and Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA). ROLAX provides techniques for a Mobile Station (MS) to determine the Dominant Line-of-Sight Path (DLP) condition given the measurements of the downlink signals from the Base Station (BS). Second, robust RF fingerprinting techniques for the 4G networks are designed. The causes for the signal measurement variation are identified, and the system is designed taking those into account, leading to a significant improvement in accuracy. ROLAX is organized in two phases: offline and online phases. During the offline phase, the radiomap is constructed by wardriving. In order to provide the portability of the techniques, standard radio measurements such as Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) and Carrier to Interference Noise Ratio(CINR) are used in constructing the radiomap. During the online phase, a MS performs the DLP condition test for each BS it can observe. If the number of the BSs under DLP is small, the MS attempts to determine its location by using the RF fingerprinting. In ROLAX, the DLP condition is determined from the RSSI, CINR, and RTD (Round Trip Delay) measurements. Features generated from the RSSI difference between two antennas of the MS were also used. The features, including the variance, the level crossing rate, the correlation between the RSSI and RTD, and Kullback-Leibler Divergence, were successfully used in detecting the DLP condition. We note that, compared to using a single feature, appropriately combined multiple features lead to a very accurate DLP condition detection. A number of pattern matching techniques are evaluated for the purpose of the DLP condition detection. Artificial neural networks, instance-based learning, and Rotation Forest are particularly used in the DLP detection. When the Rotation Forest is used, a detection accuracy of 94.8\% was achieved in the live 4G networks. It has been noted that features designed in the DLP detection can be useful in the RF fingerprinting. In ROLAX, in addition to the DLP detection features, mean of RSSI and mean of CINR are used to create unique RF fingerprints. ROLAX RF fingerprinting techniques include: (1) a number of gridding techniques, including overlapped gridding; (2) an automatic radiomap generation technique by the Delaunay triangulation-based interpolation; (3) the filtering of measurements based upon the power-capture relationship between BSs; and (4) algorithms dealing with the missing data. In this work, software was developed using the interfaces provided by Beceem/Broadcom chip-set based software. Signals were collected from both the home network (MAXWell 4G network) and the foreign network (Clear 4G network). By combining the techniques in ROLAX, a distance error in the order of 4 meters was achieved in the live 4G networks

Planning and dynamic spectrum management in heterogeneous mobile networks with QoE optimization

The radio and network planning and optimisation are continuous processes that do not end after the network has been launched. To achieve the best trade-offs, especially between quality and costs, operators make use of several coverage and capacity enhancement methods. The research from this thesis proposes methods such as the implementation of cell zooming and Relay Stations (RSs) with dynamic sleep modes and Carrier Aggregation (CA) for coverage and capacity enhancements. Initially, a survey is presented on ubiquitous mesh networks implementation scenarios and an updated characterization of requirements for services and applications is proposed. The performance targets for the key parameters, delay, delay variation, information loss and throughput have been addressed for all types of services. Furthermore, with the increased competition, mobile operator’s success does not only depend on how good the offered Quality of Service (QoS) is, but also if it meets the end user’s expectations, i.e., Quality of Experience (QoE). In this context, a model for the mapping between QoS parameters and QoE has been proposed for multimedia traffic. The planning and optimization of fixed Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) networks with RSs in conjunction with cell zooming has been addressed. The challenging case of a propagation measurement-based scenario in the hilly region of Covilhã has been considered. A cost/revenue function has been developed by taking into account the cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure with the use of RSs. This part of the work also investigates the energy efficiency and economic implications of the use of power saving modes for RSs in conjunction with cell zooming. Assuming that the RSs can be switched-off or zoomed out to zero in periods when the traffic exchange is low, such as nights and weekends, it has been shown that energy consumption may be reduced whereas cellular coverage and capacity, as well as economic performance may be improved. An integrated Common Radio Resource Management (iCRRM) entity is proposed that implements inter-band CA by performing scheduling between two Long Term Evolution – Advanced (LTE-A) Component Carriers (CCs). Considering the bandwidths available in Portugal, the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz CCs have been considered whilst mobile video traffic is addressed. Through extensive simulations it has been found that the proposed multi-band schedulers overcome the capacity of LTE systems without CA. Result shown a clear improvement of the QoS, QoE and economic trade-off with CA

The Design and Implementation of an Over-the-top Cloud-based Vertical Handover Decision Service for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

The widespread availability of heterogeneous wireless networks (hetnets) presents a resource allocation challenge to network operators and administrators. Overlapping network coverage should be utilized to its fullest extent, providing users with a fair share of bandwidth while maximizing the efficient use of the operator\u27s resources. Currently, network selection occurs locally at the mobile device and does not take into account factors such as the state of other networks that might be available in the device\u27s location. The local decision made by the device can often result in underutilization of network resources and a degraded user experience. This type of selfish network selection might not result in optimal bandwidth allocation when compared to approaches that make use of a centralized resource controller \cite{gpf}. The decision making process behind the selection of these networks continues to be an open area of research, and a variety of algorithms have been proposed to solve this problem. An over-the-top handover decision service treats each wireless access network in a hetnet as a black box, assuming detailed network topology and state information is unavailable to the handover decision algorithm. The algorithm then uses network data gathered empirically from users to provide them with a network selection service that considers the current conditions of available networks in a given location. This is a departure from past designs of vertical handover decision algorithms, which tend to approach the problem from the perspective of individual network operators. The wide range of radio access technologies operated by different network operators that are available to a device within a hetnet, coupled with the mobile data offload effort, is the primary motivator behind our novel choice in direction. This thesis documents the design and implementation of such an over-the-top vertical handover decision service

Smart Sensor Technologies for IoT

The recent development in wireless networks and devices has led to novel services that will utilize wireless communication on a new level. Much effort and resources have been dedicated to establishing new communication networks that will support machine-to-machine communication and the Internet of Things (IoT). In these systems, various smart and sensory devices are deployed and connected, enabling large amounts of data to be streamed. Smart services represent new trends in mobile services, i.e., a completely new spectrum of context-aware, personalized, and intelligent services and applications. A variety of existing services utilize information about the position of the user or mobile device. The position of mobile devices is often achieved using the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chips that are integrated into all modern mobile devices (smartphones). However, GNSS is not always a reliable source of position estimates due to multipath propagation and signal blockage. Moreover, integrating GNSS chips into all devices might have a negative impact on the battery life of future IoT applications. Therefore, alternative solutions to position estimation should be investigated and implemented in IoT applications. This Special Issue, “Smart Sensor Technologies for IoT” aims to report on some of the recent research efforts on this increasingly important topic. The twelve accepted papers in this issue cover various aspects of Smart Sensor Technologies for IoT

Design and theoretical analysis of advanced power based positioning in RF system

Accurate locating and tracking of people and resources has become a fundamental requirement for many applications. The global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) is widely used. But its accuracy suffers from signal obstruction by buildings, multipath fading, and disruption due to jamming and spoof. Hence, it is required to supplement GPS with inertial sensors and indoor localization schemes that make use of WiFi APs or beacon nodes. In the GPS-challenging or fault scenario, radio-frequency (RF) infrastructure based localization schemes can be a fallback solution for robust navigation. For the indoor/outdoor transition scenario, we propose hypothesis test based fusion method to integrate multi-modal localization sensors. In the first paper, a ubiquitous tracking using motion and location sensor (UTMLS) is proposed. As a fallback approach, power-based schemes are cost-effective when compared with the existing ToA or AoA schemes. However, traditional power-based positioning methods suffer from low accuracy and are vulnerable to environmental fading. Also, the expected accuracy of power-based localization is not well understood but is needed to derive the hypothesis test for the fusion scheme. Hence, in paper 2-5, we focus on developing more accurate power-based localization schemes. The second paper improves the power-based range estimation accuracy by estimating the LoS component. The ranging error model in fading channel is derived. The third paper introduces the LoS-based positioning method with corresponding theoretical limits and error models. In the fourth and fifth paper, a novel antenna radiation-pattern-aware power-based positioning (ARPAP) system and power contour circle fitting (PCCF) algorithm are proposed to address antenna directivity effect on power-based localization. Overall, a complete LoS signal power based positioning system has been developed that can be included in the fusion scheme --Abstract, page iv

Architectures and Novel Functionalities for Optical Access OFDM Networks "Arquitecturas y Nuevas Funcionalidades para Redes OFDM de Acceso Óptico"

En los últimos años ha habido un gran aumento en el despliegue de redes de acceso ópticas de fibra hasta el hogar (FTTH, del inglés fibre-to-the home). FTTH es una solución flexible, una tecnología de acceso de futuro que permite proporcionar tasas de datos del orden de Gbit/s por ususario. Diversos estudios indican que FTTH se convertirá en la diferencia clave entre los operadores más importantes. Además, FTTH es la única tecnolotgía capaz de crear nuevas fuentes de ingresos de aplicaciones de alta velocidad, como por ejemple entretenimiento de alta definición (vído y juegos de alta definición...) Dede el punto de vista del operador, una de las vientajas importantes que proporciona FTTH es que permite una mayor eficiencia operativa en coparción con otras tecnologías de acceso, principalmente por la reducción de costes de mantenimiento y de operación. Además, FTTH reduce los requisitos de los equipos de las centrales. Esta tesis doctoral tiene como ojetivo extender estas ventajas más allá del concepto FTTH mediante la integración de la red óptica de distribución desplegada dentro del hogar así como el enlace radio final de corto o medio alcance inalámbrico. Esto proporciona una arquitctura de red FFTH integrada de extremo a extremo. De este modo, los beneficios de la reducción de costes operativos y mayor eficiencia se extienden hasta el usuario final de la red. En esta tesis doctoral, se propone una arqutectura de acceso integrada óptica-radio basada en la multiplexación por división ortogonal de fecuencia (OFDM, del inglés orthogonal frequency división multiplexing) para proporcionar diferentes servicios al usuario como Internet, teléfono/voz, televisión de lata definición, conexión inalámbrica y seguridad en el hogar. Las señales OFDM se utilizan en muchos estándares inalámbricos como las señales de banda ultraancha (UWB, del inglés ultra-wide band), WiMAX, LTE, WLAN, DVB-T o DAB. Estos formatos aprovechan las características intrínsecas de la modulación OFDM como su mayor inmunidad ante desvanecimiento multi-camino. Esta tesis incluye la propuesta y la demostración experimental de la transmisión simultánea y bi-direccional de señales OFDM multi-estándar en radio-sobre-fibra proporcionando servicios triple-play basados en OFDM como UWB para televisión de alta definición, WiMAX para datos de Internet, y LTE para el servicio telefónico.Morant Perez, M. (2012). Architectures and Novel Functionalities for Optical Access OFDM Networks "Arquitecturas y Nuevas Funcionalidades para Redes OFDM de Acceso Óptico" [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/15076Palanci

Building the Future Internet through FIRE

The Internet as we know it today is the result of a continuous activity for improving network communications, end user services, computational processes and also information technology infrastructures. The Internet has become a critical infrastructure for the human-being by offering complex networking services and end-user applications that all together have transformed all aspects, mainly economical, of our lives. Recently, with the advent of new paradigms and the progress in wireless technology, sensor networks and information systems and also the inexorable shift towards everything connected paradigm, first as known as the Internet of Things and lately envisioning into the Internet of Everything, a data-driven society has been created. In a data-driven society, productivity, knowledge, and experience are dependent on increasingly open, dynamic, interdependent and complex Internet services. The challenge for the Internet of the Future design is to build robust enabling technologies, implement and deploy adaptive systems, to create business opportunities considering increasing uncertainties and emergent systemic behaviors where humans and machines seamlessly cooperate