19 research outputs found
Encapsulation Techniques and Traffic Characterisation of an Ethernet-Based 5G Fronthaul
This paper first overviews how, in the 5G Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN), the Next
generation NodeB (gNB) functions are split into Distributed Unit (DU) and Central Unit (CU). Then it describes
the proposed fronthaul transport solutions, such as Common Packet Radio Interface (CPRI), eCPRI, IEEE
P1914.3 and their relationship with the Ethernet protocol. Finally, a characterisation of the traffic generated by
the fronthaul is presented. Such characterisation may guide in the selection of the right network for fronthaul
transport.This work has been partially funded by the EU H2020 “5G-Transformer” Project (grant no. 761536)
Lightweight error correction technique in industrial IEEE802.15.4 networks
Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) are nowadays becoming more and more popular thanks to their flexibility and pervasive monitoring capabilities to support process automation and remote maintenance applications. In such a scenario, channel errors due to the wireless medium can result in data packet losses, and consequently in unreliable IWSN services. To mitigate the above reported problem, this paper presents a lightweight error correction scheme specially developed for IEEE802.15.4-based IWSNs. By adding error correction and detection information inside the IEEE802.15.4 MAC data frame, the proposed FEC scheme is able to guarantee a backward compatibility with the standard while providing advanced capabilities in recovering data packets affected by bit errors. In the paper the benefits of the proposed technique are first evaluated through simulated loss traces, then they are validated in a real environment by considering real loss traces collected in an electricity power plant. The proposed error correction scheme is able to recover around 50% of the data packets that would be lost in case of a standard communication without any error correction capability
Impact of Virtualization Technologies on Virtualized RAN Midhaul Latency Budget: A Quantitative Experimental Evaluation
In the Next Generation Radio Access Network (NGRAN)
defined by 3GPP for the fifth generation of mobile
communications (5G), the next generation NodeB (gNB) is split
into a Radio Unit (RU), a Distributed Unit (DU), and a Central
Unit (CU). RU, DU, and CU are connected through the fronthaul
(RU-DU) and midhaul (DU-CU) segments. If the RAN is also
virtualised RAN (VRAN), DU and CU are deployed in virtual
machines or containers. Different latency and jitter requirements
are demanded on the midhaul according to the distribution of
the protocol functions between DU and CU.
This study shows that, in VRAN, the virtualisation technologies,
the functional split option, and the number of elements
deployed in the same computational resource affect the latency
budget available for the midhaul. Moreover, it provides an
expression for the midhaul allowable latency as a function of the
aforementioned parameters. Finally, it shows that, the virtualised
DUs featuring a lower layer split option shall be deployed not
in the sameThis work has been partially funded by the EC
H2020 “5G-Transformer” Project (grant no. 761536)
Remote Control of a Robot Rover Combining 5G, AI, and GPU Image Processing at the Edge
This paper has been presented at 2020 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC)The demo shows the effectiveness of a low latency remote control based on 5G and
image processing at the edge exploiting artificial intelligence and GPUs to make a robot rover slalom between posts.This work has been partially supported by TIM under the Cooperation Agreement with Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna for the 5G MISE Trial in Bari and Matera 2018-2022 and the EU Commission through the 5GROWTH project (grant agreement no. 856709)
The economic impact of moderate stage Alzheimer's disease in Italy: Evidence from the UP-TECH randomized trial
Background: There is consensus that dementia is the most burdensome disease for modern societies. Few cost-of-illness studies examined the complexity of Alzheimer's disease (AD) burden, considering at the same time health and social care, cash allowances, informal care, and out-of-pocket expenditure by families. Methods: This is a comprehensive cost-of-illness study based on the baseline data from a randomized controlled trial (UP-TECH) enrolling 438 patients with moderate AD and their primary caregiver living in the community. Results: The societal burden of AD, composed of public, patient, and informal care costs, was about �20,000/yr. Out of this, the cost borne by the public sector was �4,534/yr. The main driver of public cost was the national cash-for-care allowance (�2,324/yr), followed by drug prescriptions (�1,402/yr). Out-of-pocket expenditure predominantly concerned the cost of private care workers. The value of informal care peaked at �13,590/yr. Socioeconomic factors do not influence AD public cost, but do affect the level of out-of-pocket expenditure. Conclusion: The burden of AD reflects the structure of Italian welfare. The families predominantly manage AD patients. The public expenditure is mostly for drugs and cash-for-care benefits. From a State perspective in the short term, the advantage of these care arrangements is clear, compared to the cost of residential care. However, if caregivers are not adequately supported, savings may be soon offset by higher risk of caregiver morbidity and mortality produced by high burden and stress. The study has been registered on the website www.clinicaltrials.org (Trial Registration number: NCT01700556). Copyright � International Psychogeriatric Association 2015
Socioeconomic Predictors of the Employment of Migrant Care Workers by Italian Families Assisting Older Alzheimer's Disease Patients: Evidence from the Up-Tech Study
Background: The availability of family caregivers of older people is decreasing in Italy as the number of migrant care workers (MCWs) hired by families increases. There is little evidence on the influence of socioeconomic factors in the employment of MCWs. Method: We analyzed baseline data from 438 older people with moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD), and their family caregivers enrolled in the Up-Tech trial. We used bivariate analysis and multilevel regressions to investigate the association between independent variables - education, social class, and the availability of a care allowance - and three outcomes - employment of a MCW, hours of care provided by the primary family caregiver, and by the family network (primary and other family caregivers). Results: The availability of a care allowance and the educational level were independently associated with employing MCWs. A significant interaction between education and care allowance was found, suggesting that more educated families are more likely to spend the care allowance to hire a MCW. Discussion: Socioeconomic inequalities negatively influenced access both to private care and to care allowance, leading disadvantaged families to directly provide more assistance to AD patients. Care allowance entitlement needs to be reformed in Italy and in countries with similar long-term care and migration systems. � 2015 The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved
WB3.2-Exploiting Programmable and Reconfigurable Hardware in 5G (Invited)
International audienc
Exploiting reconfigurable computing in 5G A case study of latency critical function Invited Paper
International audienc
Exploiting PDCP filtering for implementing capacity efficient virtual RAN recovery
This study proposes to jointly utilize virtual distributed unit (vDU) and central unit (vCU) hot backup and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) filtering to shorten the fronthaul connection recovery time upon virtualized function failure and reduce the required backup capacity during normal working conditions. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves about three seconds fronthaul recovery time and reduces up to 95% the fronthaul backup connection capacity requirements