Optimization of 5G Second Phase Heterogeneous Radio Access Networks with Small Cells

Due to the exponential increase in high data-demanding applications and their services per coverage area, it is becoming challenging for the existing cellular network to handle the massive sum of users with their demands. It is conceded to network operators that the current wireless network may not be capable to shelter future traffic demands. To overcome the challenges the operators are taking interest in efficiently deploying the heterogeneous network. Currently, 5G is in the commercialization phase. Network evolution with addition of small cells will develop the existing wireless network with its enriched capabilities and innovative features. Presently, the 5G global standardization has introduced the 5G New Radio (NR) under the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It can support a wide range of frequency bands (<6 GHz to 100 GHz). For different trends and verticals, 5G NR encounters, functional splitting and its cost evaluation are well-thought-out. The aspects of network slicing to the assessment of the business opportunities and allied standardization endeavours are illustrated. The study explores the carrier aggregation (Pico cellular) technique for 4G to bring high spectral efficiency with the support of small cell massification while benefiting from statistical multiplexing gain. One has been able to obtain values for the goodput considering CA in LTE-Sim (4G), of 40 Mbps for a cell radius of 500 m and of 29 Mbps for a cell radius of 50 m, which is 3 times higher than without CA scenario (2.6 GHz plus 3.5 GHz frequency bands). Heterogeneous networks have been under investigation for many years. Heterogeneous network can improve users service quality and resource utilization compared to homogeneous networks. Quality of service can be enhanced by putting the small cells (Femtocells or Picocells) inside the Microcells or Macrocells coverage area. Deploying indoor Femtocells for 5G inside the Macro cellular network can reduce the network cost. Some service providers have started their solutions for indoor users but there are still many challenges to be addressed. The 5G air-simulator is updated to deploy indoor Femto-cell with proposed assumptions with uniform distribution. For all the possible combinations of apartments side length and transmitter power, the maximum number of supported numbers surpassed the number of users by more than two times compared to papers mentioned in the literature. Within outdoor environments, this study also proposed small cells optimization by putting the Pico cells within a Macro cell to obtain low latency and high data rate with the statistical multiplexing gain of the associated users. Results are presented 5G NR functional split six and split seven, for three frequency bands (2.6 GHz, 3.5GHz and 5.62 GHz). Based on the analysis for shorter radius values, the best is to select the 2.6 GHz to achieve lower PLR and to support a higher number of users, with better goodput, and higher profit (for cell radius u to 400 m). In 4G, with CA, from the analysis of the economic trade-off with Picocell, the Enhanced multi-band scheduler EMBS provide higher revenue, compared to those without CA. It is clearly shown that the profit of CA is more than 4 times than in the without CA scenario. This means that the slight increase in the cost of CA gives back more than 4-time profit relatively to the ”without” CA scenario.Devido ao aumento exponencial de aplicações/serviços de elevado débito por unidade de área, torna-se bastante exigente, para a rede celular existente, lidar com a enormes quantidades de utilizadores e seus requisitos. É reconhecido que as redes móveis e sem fios atuais podem não conseguir suportar a procura de tráfego junto dos operadores. Para responder a estes desafios, os operadores estão-se a interessar pelo desenvolvimento de redes heterogéneas eficientes. Atualmente, a 5G está na fase de comercialização. A evolução destas redes concretizar-se-á com a introdução de pequenas células com aptidões melhoradas e características inovadoras. No presente, os organismos de normalização da 5G globais introduziram os Novos Rádios (NR) 5G no contexto do 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A 5G pode suportar uma gama alargada de bandas de frequência (<6 a 100 GHz). Abordam-se as divisões funcionais e avaliam-se os seus custos para as diferentes tendências e verticais dos NR 5G. Ilustram-se desde os aspetos de particionamento funcional da rede à avaliação das oportunidades de negócio, aliadas aos esforços de normalização. Exploram-se as técnicas de agregação de espetro (do inglês, CA) para pico células, em 4G, a disponibilização de eficiência espetral, com o suporte da massificação de pequenas células, e o ganho de multiplexagem estatística associado. Obtiveram-se valores do débito binário útil, considerando CA no LTE-Sim (4G), de 40 e 29 Mb/s para células de raios 500 e 50 m, respetivamente, três vezes superiores em relação ao caso sem CA (bandas de 2.6 mais 3.5 GHz). Nas redes heterogéneas, alvo de investigação há vários anos, a qualidade de serviço e a utilização de recursos podem ser melhoradas colocando pequenas células (femto- ou pico-células) dentro da área de cobertura de micro- ou macro-células). O desenvolvimento de pequenas células 5G dentro da rede com macro-células pode reduzir os custos da rede. Alguns prestadores de serviços iniciaram as suas soluções para ambientes de interior, mas ainda existem muitos desafios a ser ultrapassados. Atualizou-se o 5G air simulator para representar a implantação de femto-células de interior com os pressupostos propostos e distribuição espacial uniforme. Para todas as combinações possíveis do comprimento lado do apartamento, o número máximo de utilizadores suportado ultrapassou o número de utilizadores suportado (na literatura) em mais de duas vezes. Em ambientes de exterior, propuseram-se pico-células no interior de macro-células, de forma a obter atraso extremo-a-extremo reduzido e taxa de transmissão dados elevada, resultante do ganho de multiplexagem estatística associado. Apresentam-se resultados para as divisões funcionais seis e sete dos NR 5G, para 2.6 GHz, 3.5GHz e 5.62 GHz. Para raios das células curtos, a melhor solução será selecionar a banda dos 2.6 GHz para alcançar PLR (do inglês, PLR) reduzido e suportar um maior número de utilizadores, com débito binário útil e lucro mais elevados (para raios das células até 400 m). Em 4G, com CA, da análise do equilíbrio custos-proveitos com pico-células, o escalonamento multi-banda EMBS (do inglês, Enhanced Multi-band Scheduler) disponibiliza proveitos superiores em comparação com o caso sem CA. Mostra-se claramente que lucro com CA é mais de quatro vezes superior do que no cenário sem CA, o que significa que um aumento ligeiro no custo com CA resulta num aumento de 4-vezes no lucro relativamente ao cenário sem CA

Multicarrier Waveform Candidates for Beyond 5G

To fulfil the requirements of 5G vision of “everything everywhere and always connected”, a new waveform must contain the features to support a greater number of users on high data rate. Although Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has been widely used in the 4th generation, but it can hardly meet the needs of 5G vision. However, many waveforms have been proposed to cope with new challenges. In this paper, we have presented a comparative analysis of several waveform candidates (FBMC, GFDM, UFMC, F-OFDM) on the basis of complexity, hardware design and other valuable characteristics. Filter based waveforms have much better Out of Band Emission (OoBE) as compared to OFDM. However, F-OFDM has smaller filter length compared to filter-based waveforms and provides better transmission with multiple antenna system without any extra processing, while providing flexible frequency multiplexing, shorter latency and relaxed synchronization as compared to other waveforms.This work is funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) ITN TeamUp5G (813391), ORCIP, CONQUEST (CMU/ECE/0030/2017), by UIDB/EEA/50008/2020, and by COST CA 15104. TeamUp5G project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie project number 813391.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Deployment of Beyond 4G Wireless Communication Networks with Carrier Aggregation

With the growing demand for new blend of applications, the user’s dependency on the Internet is increasing day by day. Mobile Internet users are giving more attention to their own experience, especially in terms of communication reliability, high data rate and service stability on the move. This increase in the demand is causing saturation of existing radio frequency bands. To address these challenges, many researchers are finding the best approach, Carrier Aggregation (CA) is one of the newest innovations which seems to fulfil the demands of future spectrum, CA is one the most important feature for Long Term Evolution - Advanced. In direction to get the upcoming International Mobile Telecommunication Advanced (IMT-Advanced) mobile requirements 1 Gb/s peak data rate, the CA scheme is presented by 3GPP to sustain high data rate using widespread frequency bandwidth up to 100 MHz. Technical issues containing the aggregation structure, its implementation, deployment scenarios, control signal technique and challenges for CA technique in LTE-Advanced, with consideration backward compatibility are highlighted. Performance evaluation in macrocellular scenarios through a simulation approach shows the benefits of applying CA and low-complexity multi-band schedulers in service quality and system capacity enhancement. The Enhanced multi-band scheduler is less complex than the General multi-band scheduler and performs better for cell radius longer than 1800 m (and a PLR threshold of 2%).This work is funded by FCT/MCTES through national funds and when applicable co-funded EU funds under the project UIDB/EEA/50008/2020, COST CA 15104 IRACON, ORCIP and CONQUEST (CMU/ECE/0030/2017), TeamUp5G project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie project number 813391.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Study of Indoor Small Cell Deployments

This work aims at studying the indoor deployment of small cells, also known as femtocells, to provide coverage to a 5 × 5 grid geometry. The number of deployed HeNBs is 4, 5, or 6. An updated version of LTE-Sim is considered to extract values for Exponential Effective SINR Mapping (EESM), Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), maximum number of supported users, goodput and delay. Results reveal that the use of four HeNBs corresponds to the highest values of EESM. For the considered geometry, 3GPP suggested a maximum of five HeNBs. However, this deployment shows worser performance compared to the topology with four HeNBs. The geometry with six HeNBs is the one with the best overall performance results for the 5 × 5 grid of apartments.COST CA 15104 IRACON, ORCIP (22141-01/SAICT/2016), TeamUp5G and CONQUEST (CMU/ECE/0030/2017)info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Fractal Patch Antenna based on Crystal Photonic applied to Intelligent Transportation Systems in the 40 GHz Millimeter Waveband

5G (and beyond) has very high bandwidth, short latency, better quality of service, and the right amount of capacity. Technological breakthroughs in mobile communication systems user equipments operating in the millimeter wavebands imply a high gain to compensate the effect of path loss. In this work, a novel photonic crystal-based microstrip patch antenna array with high gain is designed to be used in the next generation intelligent transportation ssytems, e.g., V2X, and other exciting applications. The Photonic Band Gap (PBG) structure and Finite Element Method were considered. By using the High Frequency Structure Simulation (HFSS) software, a fractal microstrip patch antenna operating in the U-band of the electromagnetic spectrum is conceived and modeled on a two-dimensional photonic crystal. The use of the PBG structure improves the antenna’s gain and bandwidth, while the antenna’s fractal form decreases its size and improves its input impedance. The operational frequency range is 41.72-45.12 GHz with a resonant band centered at 43.26 GHz. The proposed antenna is comprised of a 0.45 mm thick copper ground plane, a 0.9 mm thick FR-4 epoxy substrate with a relative transmittance of 4.4, and a 0.45 mm thick copper antenna patch. The achieved frequency band gain is 8.95 dBi.This work was supported by FCT/MCTES through national funds and when applicable co-funded EU funds under the project UIDB/50008/2020. It was also supported by COST CA20120 INTERACT and TeamUp5G. TeamUp5G project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie project number 813391.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Impact of model assumptions on the inference of the evolution of ectomycorrhizal symbiosis in fungi

Ectomycorrhiza (ECM) is a symbiotic relation between plant and fungi that is essential for nutrient uptake of many stand forming trees. There are two conflicting views about the evolution of ECM in fungi suggesting (1) relatively few transitions to ECM followed by reversals to non-ECM, or (2) many independent origins of ECM and no reversals. In this study, we compare these, and other, hypotheses and test the impact of different models on inference. We assembled a dataset of five marker gene sequences (nuc58, nucLSU, nucSSU, rpb1, and rpb2) and 2,174 fungal taxa covering the three subphyla: Agaricomycotina, Mucoromycotina and Pezizomycotina. The fit of different models, including models with variable rates in clades or through time, to the pattern of ECM fungal taxa was tested in a Bayesian framework, and using AIC and simulations. We find that models implementing variable rates are a better fit than models without rate shift, and that the conclusion about the relative rate between ECM and non-ECM depend largely on whether rate shifts are allowed or not. We conclude that standard constant-rate ancestral state reconstruction models are not adequate for the analysis of the evolution of ECM fungi, and may give contradictory results to more extensive analyses

Overview of Network Slicing: Business and Standards Perspective for Beyond 5G Networks

The deployment of fifth-generation wireless communications (5G) networks brought a significant difference in the data rate and throughput to the wireless systems. It ensures ultra-low latency and high reliability. In particular, Network Slicing (NS), one of the enablers for the 5G phase-II and beyond, has opened enormous opportunities for the Communications Service Provider (CSPs). NS allows CSPs to create independent virtual networks in the same physical network to guarantee high service levels. This paper provides an overview of the advances in NS from the perspective of the business opportunities and associated standardization activities. Standardization is critical in research as it intends to maintain interoperability among multi-vendor scenarios in telcos. We emphasize highlighting the technical facets of slicing within the business implementation and industry standardization process. Additionally, we address the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to NS-enabled future networks deployments. A set of use cases and the underlying specific requirements challenges are discussed as well. Finally, future research directions are addressed in detail.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

A Study on Cross-Carrier Scheduler for Carrier Aggregation in Beyond 5G Networks

Carrier Aggregation (CA) allows the network and User Equipment (UE) to aggregate carrier frequencies in licensed, unlicensed, or Shared Access (SA) bands of the same or different spectrum bands to boost the achieved data rates. This work aims to provide a detailed study on CA techniques for 5G New Radio (5G NR) networks while elaborating on CA deployment scenarios, CA-enabled 5G networks, and radio resource management and scheduling techniques. We analyze cross-carrier scheduling schemes in CA-enabled 5G networks for Downlink (DL) resource allocation. The requirements, challenges, and opportunities in allocating Resource Blocks (RBs) and Component Carriers (CCs) are addressed. The study and analysis of various multi-band scheduling techniques are made while maintaining that high throughput and reduced power usage must be achieved at the UE. Finally, we present CA as the critical enabler to advanced systems while discussing how it meets the demands and holds the potential to support beyond 5G networks, followed by discussing open issues in resource allocation and scheduling techniques.This work was supported by FCT/MCTES through national funds and, when applicable, cofounded EU funds under the project UIDB/50008/2020, ORCIP (22141-01/SAICT/2016), COST CA 20120 INTERACT, SNF Scientific Exchange - AISpectrum (project 205842) and TeamUp5G. TeamUp5G has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie ETN TeamUp5G, grant agreement No. 813391.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Trends in Standardization Towards 6G

Mobile networks have always been an indispensable part of a fully connected digital society. The industry and academia have joined hands to develop technologies for the anticipated future wireless communication. The predicted Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and use cases for the 6G networks have raised the bar high. 6G networks are developing to provide the required infrastructure for many new devices and services. The 6G networks are conceptualized to partially inherit 5G technologies and standards but they will open the ground for innovations. This study provides the vision and requirements for beyond 5G (B5G) networks and emphasizes our vision on the required standards to reach a fully functional and interoperable 6G era in general. We highlight various KPIs and enabling technologies for the B5G networks. In addition, standardization activities and initiatives concerning challenges in the se of spectrum are diuscussed in detail.This work was supported by FCT/MCTES through national funds and when applicable cofounded EU funds under the project UIDB/50008/2020, ORCIP (22141-01/SAICT/2016) and TeamUp5G. TeamUp5G has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie ETN TeamUp5G, grant agreement No. 813391.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio