SDN and NFV for satellite infrastructures

The integration of SDN and NFV enablers into the satellite network could prove to be an essential means to save on physical sites, improve the time to bring new services to the market and open new ways to improve network resiliency, availability and efficiency. It can be considered that the above two enablers can play a central role in the integration of satellite to terrestrial technologies by using federated management of the network resources.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Spectrum trading in virtualized multi-tenant 5G networks

© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.In this research work, we analyze the problem of spectrum trading in virtualized multi-tenant 5G networks using principles from matching theory. More specifically, we deal with the matching problem among the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and we propose a matching scheme that takes into account the preferences of each entity in terms of different utility variables. Our proposal includes a many-to-many matching scheme, that is an extension of the deferred acceptance algorithm, where each MNO and MVNO can cooperate with one or more MVNOs and MNOs, respectively. The performance of our proposed scheme is finally investigated by comparing it with various schemes and some useful conclusions are drawn.Postprint (author's final draft

Enhancing satellite & terrestrial networks integration through NFV/SDN technologies

NFV and SDN technologies can become key facilitators for the combination of terrestrial and satellite networks. Enabling NFV into the SatCom domain will provide operators with appropriate tools and interfaces in order to establish end-to-end fully operable virtualized satellite networks to be offered to third-party operators/service providers. Enabling SDNbased, federated resource management paves way for a unified control plane that would allow operators to efficiently manage and optimize the operation of the hybrid network. The proposed solution is expected to bring improved coverage, optimized communication resources use and better network resilience, along with improved innovation capacity and business agility for deploying communications services over combined networks.Postprint (author's final draft

A programmable, multi-format photonic transceiver platform enabling flexible optical networks

Development of programmable photonic devices for future flexible optical networks is ongoing. To this end, an innovative, multi-format QAM transmitter design is presented. It comprises a segmented-electrode InP IQ-MZM to be fabricated in InP, which can be directly driven by low-power CMOS logic. Arbitrary optical QAM format generation is made possible using only binary electrical signals, without the need for high-performance DACs and high-swing linear drivers. The concept enables a host of Tx-side DSP functionality, including the spectral shaping needed for Nyquist-WDM system concepts. In addition, we report on the development of an optical channel MUX/DEMUX, based on arrays of microresonator filters with reconfigurable bandwidths and center wavelengths. The device is intended for operation with multi-format flexible transceivers, enabling Dense (D)WDM superchannel aggregation and arbitrary spectral slicing in the context of a flexible grid environment

SDN/NFV-enabled satellite communications networks: opportunities, scenarios and challenges

In the context of next generation 5G networks, the satellite industry is clearly committed to revisit and revamp the role of satellite communications. As major drivers in the evolution of (terrestrial) fixed and mobile networks, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) technologies are also being positioned as central technology enablers towards improved and more flexible integration of satellite and terrestrial segments, providing satellite network further service innovation and business agility by advanced network resources management techniques. Through the analysis of scenarios and use cases, this paper provides a description of the benefits that SDN/NFV technologies can bring into satellite communications towards 5G. Three scenarios are presented and analysed to delineate different potential improvement areas pursued through the introduction of SDN/NFV technologies in the satellite ground segment domain. Within each scenario, a number of use cases are developed to gain further insight into specific capabilities and to identify the technical challenges stemming from them.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Location-dependent information extraction for positioning

This paper presents an overview of current research investigations within the WHERE-2 Project with respect to location-dependent information extraction and how this information can be used towards the benefit of positioning. It is split into two main sections; the first one relies on non-radio means such as inertial sensors and prior knowledge about the environment geometry, which can be used in the form of map constraints to improve user positioning precision in indoor environments. The second section presents how location-specific radio information can be exploited in a more sophisticated way into advanced positioning algorithms. The intended solutions include exploitation of the slow fading dynamics in addition to the fast-fading parameters, adaptation of the system to its environment on both network and terminal sides and also how specific environmental properties such as the dielectric wall parameters can be extracted and thereafter used for more accurate fingerprinting database generation using Ray Tracing modelling methods. Most of the techniques presented herein rely on real-life measurements or experiments

Service oriented cloud CPE as a means of a future terminal

The current CPE deployment model, which is based on deploying “intelligent” independent equipment in the customer premises, has important challenges that have been limiting the profitability of services for telecommunications service providers. Cloud CPE model provides a win for cost and service performance for the future, as it reduces onsite CPE complex requirements to a minimum and moves these features into the cloud, under service provider control. The financial analysis proves that the cCPE is a viable solution for the operators and also it is proved that can bring costs down for the operator but also for the end user and can be a viable solution for the 5G ecosystem

Control Framework for Ultra-dense cellular networks

The current work focuses on the current network deployments and the transition to the 5G era, toward encompassing the proposed approaches in the network design. In this direction, the base station densification gain and the control/coordination of the Radio Access Network (RAN) are being taken into account. The densification gain (with respect to the Base Station density) represents the ability of the network to offer the desired data rate and comply with other important key performance indices for a 5G environment. Finally, load balancing and offloading techniques are discussed which are going to play an important role in the future networks. A coordination framework for the whole RAN infrastructure has been described by setting the criteria and the control mechanisms for the management of the network

Efficient Resource Allocation and Spectrum Trading for Virtualized Multi-tenant 5G Networks

The huge increase of mobile devices and user data demand has initiated efforts for more efficient mobile network solutions. To this direction, virtualization has attracted much attention as a promising solution for higher resource utilization and improved system performance. Therefore, basic on-demand wireless resource allocation approaches among multiple tenants are investigated. Taking also into consideration two contrasting terms, the spectrum scarcity and the spectrum underutilization, this work proposes spectrum trading among frequency owners and tenants, enabling dynamic spectrum access and optimal management