A. Nakata

Bio: A. Nakata is an academic researcher from NEC. The author has contributed to research in topics: Femtocell & Macrocell. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 359 citations.

Interference Management in Femtocells

Abstract: Increase in system capacity and data rates can be achieved efficiently in a wireless system by getting the transmitter and receiver closer to each other. Femtocells deployed in the macrocell significantly improve the indoor coverage and provide better user experience. The femtocell base station called as Femtocell Access Point (FAP) is fully user deployed and hence reduces the infrastructure, maintenance and operational cost of the operator while at the same time providing good Quality of Service (QoS) to the end user and high network capacity gains. However, the mass deployment of femtocell faces a number of challenges, among which interference management is of much importance, as the fundamental limits of capacity and achievable data rates mainly depends on the interference faced by the femtocell network. To cope with the technical challenges including interference management faced by the femtocells, researchers have suggested a variety of solutions. These solutions vary depending on the physical layer technology and the specific scenarios considered. Furthermore, the cognitive capabilities, as a functionality of femtocell have also been discussed in this survey. This article summarises the main concepts of femtocells that are covered in literature and the major challenges faced in its large scale deployment. The main challenge of interference management is discussed in detail with its types in femtocells and the solutions proposed over the years to manage interference have been summarised. In addition an overview of the current femtocell standardisation and the future research direction of femtocells have also been provided.

Interference Tolerable Threshold Analysis in Cognitive Femtocells

Abstract: In this paper interference management in co-channel deployment of macrocell and cognitive femtocells is investigated. For the purpose of the aggregate interference mitigation from all femtocell access points (FAP) to macrocell user equipment (MUE) and the purpose to increase the radio link quality of femtocell system, a parameter named interference tolerable threshold (Ith) is introduced, the aim is to reduce the interference an individual FAP causes to MUE to a level lower than Ith. A dynamic Ith control scheme is proposed to determine the appropriate value of this threshold. The simulation results show that the highest available Ith depends on the total number of FAPs, a larger number of FAPs does affect aggregate interference even if the individual interference is in acceptable range. The proposed method, however, achieves the adaptation of the highest available Ith without needing knowledge about the number of FAPs in the vicinity of MUEs.

Cognitive Radio for Smart Grids: Survey of Architectures, Spectrum Sensing Mechanisms, and Networking Protocols

Abstract: Traditional power grids are currently being transformed into smart grids (SGs). SGs feature multi-way communication among energy generation, transmission, distribution, and usage facilities. The reliable, efficient, and intelligent management of complex power systems requires integration of high-speed, reliable, and secure data information and communication technology into the SGs to monitor and regulate power generation and usage. Despite several challenges, such as trade-offs between wireless coverage and capacity as well as limited spectral resources in SGs, wireless communication is a promising SG communications technology. Cognitive radio networks (CRNs) in particular are highly promising for providing timely SG wireless communications by utilizing all available spectrum resources. We provide in this paper a comprehensive survey on the CRN communication paradigm in SGs, including the system architecture, communication network compositions, applications, and CR-based communication technologies. We highlight potential applications of CR-based SG systems. We survey CR-based spectrum sensing approaches with their major classifications. We also provide a survey on CR-based routing and MAC protocols, and describe interference mitigation schemes. We furthermore present open issues and research challenges faced by CR-based SG networks along with future directions.

Joint Computation Offloading and User Association in Multi-Task Mobile Edge Computing

Abstract: Computation intensive and delay-sensitive applications impose severe requirements on mobile devices of providing required computation capacity and ensuring latency. Mobile edge computing (MEC) is a promising technology that can alleviate computation limitation of mobile users and prolong their lifetime through computation offloading. However, computation offloading in an MEC environment faces severe issues due to dense deployment of MEC servers. Moreover, a mobile user has multiple mutually dependent tasks, which make offloading policy design even more challenging. To address the above-mentioned problems in this paper, we first propose a novel two-tier computation offloading framework in heterogeneous networks. Then, we formulate joint computation offloading and user association problem for multi-task mobile edge computing system to minimize overall energy consumption. To solve the optimization problem, we develop an efficient computation offloading algorithm by jointly optimizing user association and computation offloading where computation resource allocation and transmission power allocation are also considered. Numerical results illustrate fast convergence of the proposed algorithm, and demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed algorithm compared to state of the art solutions.

Mobility Management for Femtocells in LTE-Advanced: Key Aspects and Survey of Handover Decision Algorithms

Abstract: Support of femtocells is an integral part of the Long Term Evolution - Advanced (LTE-A) system and a key enabler for its wide adoption in a broad scale. Femtocells are short-range, low-power and low-cost cellular stations which are installed by the consumers in an unplanned manner. Even though current literature includes various studies towards understanding the main challenges of interference management in the presence of femtocells, little light has been shed on the open issues of mobility management (MM) in the two-tier macrocell-femtocell network. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive discussion on the key aspects and research challenges of MM support in the presence of femtocells, with the emphasis given on the phases of a) cell identification, b) access control, c) cell search, d) cell selection/reselection, e) handover (HO) decision, and f) HO execution. A detailed overview of the respective MM procedures in the LTE-A system is also provided to better comprehend the solutions and open issues posed in real-life systems. Based on the discussion for the HO decision phase, we subsequently survey and classify existing HO decision algorithms for the two-tier macrocell-femtocell network, depending on the primary HO decision criterion used. For each class, we overview up to three representative algorithms and provide detailed flowcharts to describe their fundamental operation. A comparative summary of the main decision parameters and key features of selected HO decision algorithms concludes this work, providing insights for future algorithmic design and standardization activities.

Licensed Spectrum Sharing Schemes for Mobile Operators: A Survey and Outlook

Abstract: The ongoing development of mobile communication networks to support a wide range of superfast broadband services has led to massive capacity demand. This problem is expected to be a significant concern during the deployment of the 5G wireless networks. The demand for additional spectrum to accommodate mobile services supporting higher data rates and having lower latency requirements, as well as the need to provide ubiquitous connectivity with the advent of the Internet of Things sector, is likely to considerably exceed the supply, based on the current policy of exclusive spectrum allocation to mobile cellular systems. Hence, the imminent spectrum shortage has introduced a new impetus to identify practical solutions to make the most efficient use of scarce licensed bands in a shared manner. Recently, the concept of dynamic spectrum sharing has received considerable attention from regulatory bodies and governments globally, as it could potentially open new opportunities for mobile operators to exploit spectrum bands whenever they are underutilized by their owners, subject to service level agreements. Although various sharing paradigms have been proposed and discussed, the impact and performance gains of different schemes can be scenario-specific, and may vary depending on the nature of the sharing players, the level of sharing and spectrum access scheme. In this survey, we study the main concepts of dynamic spectrum sharing, different sharing scenarios, as well as the major challenges associated with sharing of licensed bands. Finally, we conclude this survey with open research challenges and suggest some future research directions.

Recent Advances in Radio Resource Management for Heterogeneous LTE/LTE-A Networks

Abstract: As heterogeneous networks (HetNets) emerge as one of the most promising developments toward realizing the target specifications of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) networks, radio resource management (RRM) research for such networks has, in recent times, been intensively pursued Clearly, recent research mainly concentrates on the aspect of interference mitigation Other RRM aspects, such as radio resource utilization, fairness, complexity, and QoS, have not been given much attention In this paper, we aim to provide an overview of the key challenges arising from HetNets and highlight their importance Subsequently, we present a comprehensive survey of the RRM schemes that have been studied in recent years for LTE/LTE-A HetNets, with a particular focus on those for femtocells and relay nodes Furthermore, we classify these RRM schemes according to their underlying approaches In addition, these RRM schemes are qualitatively analyzed and compared to each other We also identify a number of potential research directions for future RRM development Finally, we discuss the lack of current RRM research and the importance of multi-objective RRM studies