Realistic Deployments of LTE-based Hybrid Aerial-Terrestrial Networks for Public Safety

During a large-scale natural disaster or unexpected events, the terrestrial telecommunications become stretched, overloaded or totally destroyed in several cases. In these scenarios, a robust and capable emergency communication system is required to guarantee efficient communication to public safety agencies during the emergency phases. Airborne communication network systems have been recently studied for the provision of wireless communication services in those scenarios and it is a promising candidate for rapidly deployable and resilient emergency networks. However, the choice of communication technologies from aerial platforms is a challenging issue due to their payload capacity constraints. In this paper, we present a realistic Hybrid Aerial-Terrestrial Network (HATN) architecture based on the deployment of 4G-LTE Remote Radio Head (RRH) embedded on Helikite platforms and investigate their applicability and performance characteristics in emergency and unexpected scenarios. We present an adapted simulation model for the analysis of HATN. Our results confirm that the proposed architecture is able to provide high-capacity IP data HATN suitable for many forms of multimedia delivery

Capacity evaluation of aerial LTE base-stations for public safety communications

Aerial-Terrestrial communication networks able to provide rapidly-deployable and resilient communications capable of offering broadband connectivity are emerging as a suitable solution for public safety scenarios. During natural disasters or unexpected events, terrestrial infrastructure can be seriously damaged or disrupted due to physical destruction of network components, disruption in subsystem interconnections and/or network congestion. In this context, Aerial-Terrestrial communication networks are intended to provide temporal large coverage with the provision of broadband services at the disaster area. This paper studies the performance of Aerial UMTS Long Term Evolution (LTE) base stations in terms of coverage and capacity. Network model relies on appropriate channel model, LTE 3GPP specifications and well known schedulers are used. The results show the effect of the temperature, bandwidth, and scheduling discipline on the system capacity while at the same time coverage is investigated in different public safety scenarios

U.C.A.N.'s ultra wide band system: MAC and routing protocols

The European funded project U.C.A.N. (Ultra wide- band Concepts for Ad-hoc Networks) is in the process of designing and implementing an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Impulse Radio (IR) single band communication system. This paper presents the MAC and routing protocols which are currently developed in U.C.A.N. project. Application scenarios for UWB systems are presented. The MAC protocol is an adaptation to UWB from the IEEE 802.15.3 draft standard for narrow-band WPANs. It uses the inherent ranging capability of UWB as a basis for advanced relaying and routing. Some MAC implementation issues on the demonstrator are described. Finally routing metrics and algorithm for the future system are detailed

UWB MAC and Network Solutions for Low Data Rate with Location and Tracking Applications

The object of this paper is to present the main results achieved during the first fifteen months of the 6th framework European Union integrated research project PULSERS [1], regarding Ultra Wide Band (UWB) Medium Access Control (MAC) and network layer issues for low data rate with location and tracking (LDR-LT) applications. Various intended UWB system architectures and their key requirements and parameters are introduced. For such systems, potential MAC schemes and network solutions are illustrated and discussed. New ideas about wireless UWB access, synchronization, resource allocation, and topology management are also presented