In-band relays for next generation communication systems

Next generation mobile communication systems will operate at high system bandwidths of up to 100MHz and at carrier frequencies beyond 2GHz to provide peak data rates of up to 1Gbit/s with similar average revenues per user as todays cellular networks. High bit rates should be available to all users in a cell which is challenging due to the unfavorable propagation conditions in these bands. In-band relays are a seen as a promising technology for cellular networks to extend the high bit rate coverage and to enable cost efficient network deployments. The research in this thesis has contributed to the development of the relaying concept within the European research project WINNER. WINNER has designed a next generation radio system concept based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) with the inclusion of relays as one of the major innovations. In our work we have identified the radio resource management as the most important function to exploit the potential benefits of relay based deployments. We develop a flexible radio resource management framework that adapts to a wide range of deployments, whereas our main focus is on metropolitan area deployments. Here we propose to utilize a dynamic resource assignment based on soft frequency reuse. Further, we propose a practical way to integrate cooperative relaying in a relay network. This concept allows the cooperation of multiple radio access points within a relay enhanced cell with low overhead and small delays. In system simulations we compare the performance of relay deployments to base station only deployments in a metropolitan area network. Our results show that relay deployments are cost efficient and they increase both the network throughput as well as the high bit rate coverage of the network. Further, they show that our proposed soft frequency reuse scheme outperforms competing interference coordination schemes in the studied metropolitan area scenario. Even though the results have been obtained for WINNER system parameters, the conclusions can also be applied to OFDMA based systems such as 3GPP Long Term Evolution and WiMAX

Biomarkers of conversion to alpha-synucleinopathy in isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder

Patients with isolated rapid-eye-movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) are commonly regarded as being in the early stages of a progressive neurodegenerative disease involving \u3b1-synuclein pathology, such as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, or multiple system atrophy. Abnormal \u3b1-synuclein deposition occurs early in the neurodegenerative process across the central and peripheral nervous systems and might precede the appearance of motor symptoms and cognitive decline by several decades. These findings provide the rationale to develop reliable biomarkers that can better predict conversion to clinically manifest \u3b1-synucleinopathies. In addition, biomarkers of disease progression will be essential to monitor treatment response once disease-modifying therapies become available, and biomarkers of disease subtype will be essential to enable prediction of which subtype of \u3b1-synucleinopathy patients with isolated RBD might develop

Dynamic resource assignment and cooperative relaying in cellular networks: Concept and performance assessment

Relays are a cost-efficient way to extend or distribute high data rate coverage more evenly in next generation cellular networks. This paper introduces a radio resource management solution based on dynamic and flexible resource assignment and cooperative relaying as key technologies to enhance the downlink performance of relay-based OFDMA cellular networks. It is illustrated how the dynamic resource assignment is combined with beamforming in a macrocellular deployment and with soft-frequency reuse in a metropolitan area deployment. The cooperative relaying solution allows multiple radio access points to cooperatively serve mobile stations by combining their antennas and using the multiantenna techniques available in the system. The proposed schemes are compared to BS only deployments in test scenarios, which have been defined in the WINNER project to be representative for next generation networks. The test scenarios are well defined and motivated and can serve as reference scenarios in standardisation and research. The results show that the proposed schemes increase the average cell throughput and more importantly the number of users with low throughput is greatly reduced.Peer reviewe

Dynamic Resource Assignment and Cooperative Relaying in Cellular Networks: Concept and Performance Assessment

Relays are a cost-efficient way to extend or distribute high data rate coverage more evenly in next generation cellular networks. This paper introduces a radio resource management solution based on dynamic and flexible resource assignment and cooperative relaying as key technologies to enhance the downlink performance of relay-based OFDMA cellular networks. It is illustrated how the dynamic resource assignment is combined with beamforming in a macrocellular deployment and with soft-frequency reuse in a metropolitan area deployment. The cooperative relaying solution allows multiple radio access points to cooperatively serve mobile stations by combining their antennas and using the multiantenna techniques available in the system. The proposed schemes are compared to BS only deployments in test scenarios, which have been defined in the WINNER project to be representative for next generation networks. The test scenarios are well defined and motivated and can serve as reference scenarios in standardisation and research. The results show that the proposed schemes increase the average cell throughput and more importantly the number of users with low throughput is greatly reduced.</p

Toward low-latency and ultra-reliable virtual reality

Abstract VR is expected to be one of the killer applications in 5G networks. However, many technical bottlenecks and challenges need to be overcome to facilitate its wide adoption. In particular, VR requirements in terms of high throughput, low latency, and reliable communication call for innovative solutions and fundamental research cutting across several disciplines. In view of the above, this article discusses the challenges and enablers for ultra-reliable and low-latency VR. Furthermore, in an interactive VR gaming arcade case study, we show that a smart network design that leverages the use of mmWave communication, edge computing, and proactive caching can achieve the future vision of VR over wireless