Dense wireless network design and evaluation – an aircraft cabin use case

One of the key requirements of fifth generation (5G) systems is having a connection to mobile networks without interruption at anytime and anywhere, which is also known as seamless connectivity. Nowadays, fourth generation (4G) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A), are mature enough to provide connectivity to most terrestrial mobile users. However, for airborne mobile users, there is no connection that exists without interruption. According to the regulations, mobile connectivity for aircraft passengers can only be established when the altitude of the aircraft is above 3000 m. Along with demands to have mobile connectivity during a flight and the seamless connectivity requirement of 5G systems, there is a notable interest in providing in-flight wireless services during all phases of a flight. In this thesis, many issues related to the deployment and operation of the onboard systems have been investigated. A measurement and modelling procedure to investigate radio frequency (RF) propagation inside an aircraft is proposed in this thesis. Unlike in existing studies for in-cabin channel characterization, the proposed procedure takes into account the deployment of a multi-cell onboard system. The proposed model is verified through another set of measurements where reference signal received power (RSRP) levels inside the aircraft are measured. The results show that the proposed model closely matches the in-cabin RSRP measurements. Moreover, in order to enforce the distance between a user and an interfering resource, cell sectorization is employed in the multi-cell onboard system deployment. The proposed propagation model is used to find an optimum antenna orientation that minimizes the interference level among the neighbouring evolved nodeBs (eNBs). Once the optimum antenna deployment is obtained, comprehensive downlink performance evaluations of the multi-cell, multi-user onboard LTE-A system is carried out. Techniques that are proposed for LTE-A systems, namely enhanced inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC) and carrier aggregation (CA), are employed in the system analysis. Different numbers of eNBs, antenna mounting positions and scheduling policies are examined. A scheduling algorithm that provides a good tradeoff between fairness and system throughput is proposed. The results show that the downlink performance of the proposed onboard LTE-A system achieves not only 75% of the theoretical limits of the overall system throughput but also fair user data rate performance, irrespective of a passenger’s seat location. In order to provide the seamless connectivity requirement of 5G systems, compatibility between the proposed onboard system deployment and the already deployed terrestrial networks is investigated. Simulation based analyses are carried out to investigate power leakage from the onboard systems while the aircraft is in the parked position on the apron. According to the regulations, the onboard system should not increase the noise level of the already deployed terrestrial system by 1 dB. Results show that the proposed onboard communication system can be operated while the aircraft is in the parked position on the apron without exceeding the 1 dB increase in the noise level of the already deployed terrestrial 4G network. Furthermore, handover parameters are obtained for different transmission power levels of both the terrestrial and onboard systems to make the transition from one system to another without interruption while a passenger boards or leaves the aircraft. Simulation and measurement based analyses show that when the RSRP level of the terrestrial system is below -65 dBm around the aircraft, a boarding passenger can be smoothly handed over to the onboard system and vice versa. Moreover, in order to trigger the handover process without interfering with the data transmission, a broadcast control channel (BCCH) power boosting feature is proposed for the in-cabin eNBs. Results show that employing the BCCH power boosting feature helps to trigger the handover process as soon as the passengers step on board the aircraft

5G-CLARITY: 5G-Advanced Private Networks Integrating 5GNR, WiFi, and LiFi

The future of the manufacturing industry highly depends on digital systems that transform existing production and monitoring systems into autonomous systems fulfilling stringent requirements in terms of availability, reliability, security, low latency, and positioning with high accuracy. In order to meet such requirements, private 5G networks are considered as a key enabling technology. In this article, we introduce the 5G-CLARITY system that integrates 5GNR, WiFi, and LiFi access networks, and develops novel management enablers to operate 5G-Advanced private networks. We describe three core features of 5G-CLARITY, including a multi-connectivity framework, a high-precision positioning server, and a management system to orchestrate private network slices. These features are evaluated by means of packet-level simulations and an experimental testbed demonstrating the ability of 5G-CLARITY to police access network traffic, to achieve centimeter-level positioning accuracy, and to provision private network slices in less than one minuteThis work is supported by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 871428, 5G-CLARITY project

Towards versatile access networks (Chapter 3)

Compared to its previous generations, the 5th generation (5G) cellular network features an additional type of densification, i.e., a large number of active antennas per access point (AP) can be deployed. This technique is known as massive multipleinput multiple-output (mMIMO) [1]. Meanwhile, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) evolution, e.g., in channel state information (CSI) enhancement, and also on the study of a larger number of orthogonal demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports for MU-MIMO, was one of the Release 18 of 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP Rel-18) work item. This release (3GPP Rel-18) package approval, in the fourth quarter of 2021, marked the start of the 5G Advanced evolution in 3GPP. The other items in 3GPP Rel-18 are to study and add functionality in the areas of network energy savings, coverage, mobility support, multicast broadcast services, and positionin

5G-CLARITY Deliverable D6.7 Restricted Deliverable on Exploitation Plan

This document is a restricted deliverable D6.7 on the updated exploitation plan. It corresponds to the 5GCLARITY T6.4 'Exploitation, Innovation Management and IPR'. The main objective of the 5G-CLARITY WP6 is to create both the broadest awareness of the 5G-CLARITY proposed enabling technologies and their highest impact on the ecosystem. This deliverable is prepared for addressing reviewers' comments received during the project review meeting happened in July 2021. This deliverable presents the main exploitable outcomes of 5G-CLARITY project while introducing the principles and methodologies followed to identify them. Also, an update on each partner's exploitation plan is reported based on the initial proposal in 5G-CLARITY D6.1 [1]. This deliverable is positioned as an interim update on the exploitation analysis and plan. The final report on such topics will be addressed in '5G-CLARITY D6.5 – Final report on innovation management, exploitation and IPR'

5G-CLARITY: Integrating 5GNR, WiFi and LiFi in private networks with slicing support

This paper introduces 5G-CLARITY, a 5G-PPP project exploring beyond 5G private networks integrating heterogeneous wireless access including 5GNR, WiFi, and LiFi. The project targets enhancements to current 5GNR performance including multi-connectivity and indoor positioning accuracy. It also develops novel management enablers that allow to operate the private network with a high level intent interface, while being able to natively embed Machine Learning (ML) functions.This work is supported by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement #871428, 5G-CLARITY project.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

5G-CLARITY Deliverable D3.3 Complete Design and Final Evaluation of the Coexistence, Multi-Connectivity, Resource Management, and Positioning Frameworks

This document, 5G-CLARITY D3.3, provides the final refinements on the initially designed and proposed 5G-CLARITY control and user plane architecture, which is reported in 5G-CLARITY D3.1 [1]. This deliverable covers the last tier of refinements and potential deviations from the initial 5G-CLARITY control and use plane architecture. The design and implementation details of the integrated coexistence, multi-connectivity, resource management, and positioning/localization frameworks are aligned with the 5G-CLARITY architectural principles and technical requirements for "Network Function and Application Stratum" provided in 5G-CLARITY D2.2 [3