A business planning framework for WiMAX applications

Mobile networking refers to wireless technologies which provide communications between devices. Applications for mobile networking have a broad scope as they can be applied to many situations in either industrial or commercial sectors. The challenge for firms is to better match market-induced variability to the organizational issues and systems necessary for technological innovation. This chapter develops a business planning framework for mobile networking applications. This framework recognises the fluidity of the situation when trying to anticipate and model emerging wireless applications. The business planning framework outlined in this chapter is a generic model which can be used by companies to assess the business case for applications utilizing mobile networking technologies

Completing the Connection: Achieving Universal Service Through Municipal Wi-Fi

The federal universal service scheme is designed to ensure that everyone has affordable access to advanced telecommunications and information services. Despite the development of cost-effective technologies that drastically reduce the cost of telephone services vis-à-vis the Internet and Wi-Fi networks, federal regulations generally prevent municipalities or private companies from providing wireless Internet access with universal service funds. Federal regulations have replaced technology costs, lack of business incentives, and consumer affordability as the primary barrier to universal service. Competitive neutrality, the pro-competitive and technology-neutral approach to universal service funding, must be fully embraced in order to empower local communities with the choice of technologies that best suits their residents in providing universal and affordable access to advanced telecommunications and information services

Feasibility, Architecture and Cost Considerations of Using TVWS for Rural Internet Access in 5G

The cellular technology is mostly an urban technology that has been unable to serve rural areas well. This is because the traditional cellular models are not economical for areas with low user density and lesser revenues. In 5G cellular networks, the coverage dilemma is likely to remain the same, thus widening the rural-urban digital divide further. It is about time to identify the root cause that has hindered the rural technology growth and analyse the possible options in 5G architecture to address this issue. We advocate that it can only be accomplished in two phases by sequentially addressing economic viability followed by performance progression. We deliberate how various works in literature focus on the later stage of this ‘two-phase’ problem and are not feasible to implement in the first place. We propose the concept of TV band white space (TVWS) dovetailed with 5G infrastructure for rural coverage and show that it can yield cost-effectiveness from a service provider’s perspective

Will 5G See its Blind Side? Evolving 5G for Universal Internet Access

Internet has shown itself to be a catalyst for economic growth and social equity but its potency is thwarted by the fact that the Internet is off limits for the vast majority of human beings. Mobile phones---the fastest growing technology in the world that now reaches around 80\% of humanity---can enable universal Internet access if it can resolve coverage problems that have historically plagued previous cellular architectures (2G, 3G, and 4G). These conventional architectures have not been able to sustain universal service provisioning since these architectures depend on having enough users per cell for their economic viability and thus are not well suited to rural areas (which are by definition sparsely populated). The new generation of mobile cellular technology (5G), currently in a formative phase and expected to be finalized around 2020, is aimed at orders of magnitude performance enhancement. 5G offers a clean slate to network designers and can be molded into an architecture also amenable to universal Internet provisioning. Keeping in mind the great social benefits of democratizing Internet and connectivity, we believe that the time is ripe for emphasizing universal Internet provisioning as an important goal on the 5G research agenda. In this paper, we investigate the opportunities and challenges in utilizing 5G for global access to the Internet for all (GAIA). We have also identified the major technical issues involved in a 5G-based GAIA solution and have set up a future research agenda by defining open research problems

Sub 1GHz M2M communications standardization: The advancement in white space utilization for enhancing the energy efficiency

Energy efficiency of machine to machine (M2M) communications terminals is one of the major design goals of M2M networks, resulting from anticipated over 50 billion M2M communications devices to be deployed into the networks by 2020 [1]. The stakeholders in the M2M communications have observed that it will be environmental and economic catastrophic to deploy M2M communications devices without solving the energy inefficiencies associated with wireless devices that are expected to be used for M2M communications. In view of the aforementioned energy challenge, sub 1GHz spectra have provided enormous opportunities that can be energy efficient, cost effective and coverage efficiency which can be utilized for M2M communications. This work will evaluate the energy efficiency benefits of optimized Sub 1GHz spectra for M2M communications

Solutions for wireless internet connectivity in remote and rural areas

Abstract. These days internet connectivity is listed in the basic needs of human habitat. Internet provides inevitable support in getting knowledge, professional and social connectivity, entertainment media, and in running majority of businesses. Human dependency on internet for efficient, proficient and time saving work has increased the demand of internet connectivity worldwide. The global index shows a percentage increase in internet users from 16% to 48% (of the world population) from 2005 to 2019. The users are accessing internet via different media, inclusive of fixed lines and wireless connectivity. In wireless connectivity by 2019, 86% of the world population is using mobile broadband services offered by different telecom operators in different regions. Around 44.7% of the world population lives in rural areas as projected in 2018. Telecom operators are now seeking to cover all urban and rural, segregated, and dense, plateaus and hills, small and big geographical areas for internet connectivity. The majority of challenges faced by operators for deployment of internet connectivity services are in rural areas. Internet users cited in rural areas experience poor coverage and bad quality of service (QoS) in wireless internet access. This thesis covers the rural area internet connectivity challenges, existing deployable solutions against the challenges, and provides example solutions to overcome these challenges, to provide wireless network coverage in rural areas of Finland. Many of the existing wireless communication services are directly deployable or adjustable to the remote or rural areas almost the same way as for the urban areas. The major challenge is the low annual revenue per unit and segregated population densities of rural areas, which increase the return of investment time of network service providers. There are other challenges like ease of assembly, technology, backhaul connectivity, and electricity discussed in the thesis. The possible wireless network solutions deployable for wide area network regions and local area network regions are presented in this thesis. Thesis presents all emerging wireless technologies like small cell base station, super tower, balloon Loon project, power line Airgig project, satellite Viasat service, fixed wireless internet, and signal booster. Two possible network solutions for wireless network coverage in rural areas of Finland are analysed in the thesis. Huawei’s RuralStar small cell base station is presented as the first network solution from the viewpoint of network service provider. Hajakaista network services to individual user are presented as the second network solution from the viewpoint of end user. An addition of outdoor router in Hajakaista network architecture is presented as an additional advantage of outdoor Wi-Fi service together with indoor Wi-Fi. The limitations of the network solutions and future work scope are discussed in the discussion part of the thesis.Langattomia tietoliikenneratkaisuja syrjäalueille. Tiivistelmä. Nykyisin internetyhteys nähdään perustarpeeksi koska se antaa pääsyn tietoon, mahdollistaa ammatilliset ja sosiaaliset yhteydet sekä toimii viihdeväylänä ja tärkeänä osana liiketoimintaa. Tämän vuoksi tarve internetyhteydelle on kasvanut maailmanlaajuisesti. Vuonna 2005 maailman ihmisistä 16 % oli yhteys internettiin ja 2019 48 %. Internetyhteys voidaan saada usealla eri tavalla kuten valokuidulla ja langatonta yhteyttä käyttäen. Vuonna 2019 maailman ihmisistä 86 % käytti langatonta tekniikkaa. Vuonna 2018 44,7 % ihmisistä asui maaseutualueilla. Teleoperaattorit yrittävät kattaa kaikki kaupunki- ja maaseutualueet; eristyneet, tasaiset, kukkulaiset, isot ja pienet maantieteelliset alueet. Suurimmat haasteet ovat maaseudulla, jossa ihmiset kokevat huonoa yhteyspeittoa ja yhteyden laatua. Tämä diplomityö tarkastelee, miten nykyisiä langattomia järjestelmiä voitaisiin käyttää maaseudulla toimivien yhteyksien luomiseksi. Työ esittää kaksi esimerkkiratkaisua Suomen olosuhteisiin. Monet nykyisin kaupungeissa käytettävät ratkaisut ovat suoraan tai lähes suoraan sovellettavissa maaseudulle. Päähaasteet ovat matala vuosittainen yksikkötuotto ja hajallaan olevat alueet, jotka syyt kasvattavat investoinnin kuoletusaikaa. Muita haasteita ovat asennus, teknologia, siirtoyhteydet (tukiasemasta verkkoon) ja sähkön saanti, joita tarkastellaan työssä. Mahdollisia langattomia ratkaisuja ovat laajan alueen ja paikalliset ratkaisut, kuten työssä tuodaan esille. Työ tarkastelee solukkoverkkoja, supertornia, palloprojekti Loonia, sähkölinjoihin pohjautuvaa Airgig-projektia, Viasat-satelliittiratkaisua, kiinteää solukkoyhteyttä ja signaalin passiivista vahvistamista. Työ esittää kaksi ratkaisumallia Suomen olosuhteisiin. Toinen perustuu Huawein RuralStar-kevyttukiasemaan, jolla voi jatkaa operaattorin verkkoa. Toinen ratkaisu on kuluttajalähtöinen ja se perustuu Hajakaista Oy:n ratkaisuun. Siinä lisätään Hajakaista Oy:n perusratkaisun eli talon sisäisen Wi-Fi-verkon rinnalle ulkoinen Wi-Fi-verkko. Ratkaisujen rajoitteita tarkastellaan työn keskusteluosuudessa

A Survey on Communication Networks for Electric System Automation

Published in Computer Networks 50 (2006) 877–897, an Elsevier journal. The definitive version of this publication is available from Science Direct. Digital Object Identifier:10.1016/j.comnet.2006.01.005In today’s competitive electric utility marketplace, reliable and real-time information become the key factor for reliable delivery of power to the end-users, profitability of the electric utility and customer satisfaction. The operational and commercial demands of electric utilities require a high-performance data communication network that supports both existing functionalities and future operational requirements. In this respect, since such a communication network constitutes the core of the electric system automation applications, the design of a cost-effective and reliable network architecture is crucial. In this paper, the opportunities and challenges of a hybrid network architecture are discussed for electric system automation. More specifically, Internet based Virtual Private Networks, power line communications, satellite communications and wireless communications (wireless sensor networks, WiMAX and wireless mesh networks) are described in detail. The motivation of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the hybrid network architecture that can provide heterogeneous electric system automation application requirements. In this regard, our aim is to present a structured framework for electric utilities who plan to utilize new communication technologies for automation and hence, to make the decision making process more effective and direct.This work was supported by NEETRAC under Project #04-157