There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Device-to-device (D2D) communications was initially proposed in cellular networks as a new paradigm for enhancing network performance. The emergence of new applications such as content distribution and location-aware advertisement introduced new user cases for D2D communications in cellular networks. The initial studies showed that D2D communications has advantages such as increased spectral efficiency and reduced communication delay. However, this communication mode introduces complications in terms of interference control overhead and protocols that are still open research problems. The feasibility of D2D communications in Long-Term Evolution Advanced is being studied by academia, industry, and standardization bodies. To date, there are more than 100 papers available on D2D communications in cellular networks, but there is no survey on this field. In this paper, we provide a taxonomy based on the D2D communicating spectrum and review the available literature extensively under the proposed taxonomy. Moreover, we provide new insights into the over-explored and under-explored areas that lead us to identify open research problems of D2D communications in cellular networks.

https://eprints.networks.imdea.org/id/document/2488

A Survey on Device-to-Device Communication in Cellular Networks

There is considerable pressure to define the key requirements of 5G, develop 5G standards, and perform technology trials as quickly as possible. Normally, these activities are best done in series but there is a desire to complete these tasks in parallel so that commercial deployments of 5G can begin by 2020. 5G will not be an incremental improvement over its predecessors; it aims to be a revolutionary leap forward in terms of data rates, latency, massive connectivity, network reliability, and energy efficiency. These capabilities are targeted at realizing high-speed connectivity, the Internet of Things, augmented virtual reality, the tactile internet, and so on. The requirements of 5G are expected to be met by new spectrum in the microwave bands (3.3-4.2 GHz), and utilizing large bandwidths available in mm-wave bands, increasing spatial degrees of freedom via large antenna arrays and 3-D MIMO, network densification, and new waveforms that provide scalability and flexibility to meet the varying demands of 5G services. Unlike the one size fits all 4G core networks, the 5G core network must be flexible and adaptable and is expected to simultaneously provide optimized support for the diverse 5G use case categories. In this paper, we provide an overview of 5G research, standardization trials, and deployment challenges. Due to the enormous scope of 5G systems, it is necessary to provide some direction in a tutorial article, and in this overview, the focus is largely user centric, rather than device centric. In addition to surveying the state of play in the area, we identify leading technologies, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses, and outline the key challenges ahead, with research test beds delivering promising performance but pre-commercial trials lagging behind the desired 5G targets.

5G : A tutorial overview of standards, trials, challenges, deployment, and practice

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication was initially proposed in cellular networks as a new paradigm to enhance network performance. The emergence of new applications such as content distribution and location-aware advertisement introduced new use-cases for D2D communications in cellular networks. The initial studies showed that D2D communication has advantages such as increased spectral efficiency and reduced communication delay. However, this communication mode introduces complications in terms of interference control overhead and protocols that are still open research problems. The feasibility of D2D communications in LTE-A is being studied by academia, industry, and the standardization bodies. To date, there are more than 100 papers available on D2D communications in cellular networks and, there is no survey on this field. In this article, we provide a taxonomy based on the D2D communicating spectrum and review the available literature extensively under the proposed taxonomy. Moreover, we provide new insights to the over-explored and under-explored areas which lead us to identify open research problems of D2D communication in cellular networks.

The IoT paradigm holds the promise to revolutionize the way we live and work by means of a wealth of new services, based on seamless interactions between a large amount of heterogeneous devices. After decades of conceptual inception of the IoT, in recent years a large variety of communication technologies has gradually emerged, reflecting a large diversity of application domains and of communication requirements. Such heterogeneity and fragmentation of the connectivity landscape is currently hampering the full realization of the IoT vision, by posing several complex integration challenges. In this context, the advent of 5G cellular systems, with the availability of a connectivity technology, which is at once truly ubiquitous, reliable, scalable, and cost-efficient, is considered as a potentially key driver for the yet-to emerge global IoT. In the present paper, we analyze in detail the potential of 5G technologies for the IoT, by considering both the technological and standardization aspects. We review the present-day IoT connectivity landscape, as well as the main 5G enablers for the IoT. Last but not least, we illustrate the massive business shifts that a tight link between IoT and 5G may cause in the operator and vendors ecosystem.

/pdf/internet-of-things-in-the-5g-era-enablers-architecture-and-4vjccjwnie.pdf

Internet of Things in the 5G Era: Enablers, Architecture, and Business Models

A wide variety of applications for road safety and traffic efficiency are intended to answer the urgent call for smarter, greener, and safer mobility. Although IEEE 802.11p is considered the de facto standard for on-the-road communications, stakeholders have recently started to investigate the usability of LTE to support vehicular applications. In this article, related work and running standardization activities are scanned and critically discussed; strengths and weaknesses of LTE as an enabling technology for vehicular communications are analyzed; and open issues and critical design choices are highlighted to serve as guidelines for future research in this hot topic.

LTE for vehicular networking: a survey

In view of evolving the Internet infrastructure, ICN is promoting a communication model that is fundamentally different from the traditional IP address-centric model. The ICN approach consists of the retrieval of content by (unique) names, regardless of origin server location (i.e., IP address), application, and distribution channel, thus enabling in-network caching/replication and content-based security. The expected benefits in terms of improved data dissemination efficiency and robustness in challenging communication scenarios indicate the high potential of ICN as an innovative networking paradigm in the IoT domain. IoT is a challenging environment, mainly due to the high number of heterogeneous and potentially constrained networked devices, and unique and heavy traffic patterns. The application of ICN principles in such a context opens new opportunities, while requiring careful design choices. This article critically discusses potential ways toward this goal by surveying the current literature after presenting several possible motivations for the introduction of ICN in the context of IoT. Major challenges and opportunities are also highlighted, serving as guidelines for progress beyond the state of the art in this timely and increasingly relevant topic.

Information-centric networking for the internet of things: challenges and opportunities

The multitude of key vertical markets targeted by 5G networks calls for the support of multiple network slices on a common and programmable infrastructure. A network slice is intended as a collection of logical network functions and parameter configurations tailored to support the requirements of a particular service. In this article, we present our vision on the design of 5G network slice(s) customized for vehicle-to-everything services, which involve vehicles exchanging data with each other, with the infrastructure and any communicating entity for improved transport fluidity, safety, and comfort on the road. The suggested slicing solutions involve the partition(s) of the core network and the radio access network resources, as well as configuration of the vehicular end-device functionality, to support different vehicle-to-everything use cases. This research article aims to elaborate on the technological options and enablers, concerns, and challenges for the succesful deployment of 5G slice(s) for multitenant vehicle-to-everything services.

5G Network Slicing for Vehicle-to-Everything Services

In the connected vehicle ecosystem, a high volume of information-rich and safety-critical data will be exchanged by roadside units and onboard transceivers to improve the driving and traveling experience. However, poor-quality wireless links and the mobility of vehicles highly challenge data delivery. The IP address-centric model of the current Internet barely works in such extremely dynamic environments and poorly matches the localized nature of the majority of vehicular communications, which typically target specific road areas (e.g., in the proximity of a hazard or a point of interest) regardless of the identity/address of a single vehicle passing by. Therefore, a paradigm shift is advocated from traditional IP-based networking toward the groundbreaking information- centric networking. In this article, we scrutinize the applicability of this paradigm in vehicular environments by reviewing its core functionalities and the related work. The analysis shows that, thanks to features like named content retrieval, innate multicast support, and in-network data caching, information-centric networking is positioned to meet the challenging demands of vehicular networks and their evolution. Interoperability with the standard architectures for vehicular applications along with synergies with emerging computing and networking paradigms are debated as future research perspectives.

Information-centric networking for connected vehicles: a survey and future perspectives

IEEE 802.11p/WAVE (Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments) is an emerging family of standards intended to support wireless access in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs). Broadcasting of data and control packets is expected to be crucial in this environment. Both safety-related and non-safety applications rely on broadcasting for the exchange of data or status and advertisement messages. Most of the broadcasting traffic is designed to be delivered on a given frequency during the control channel (CCH) interval set by the WAVE draft standard. The rest of the time, vehicles switch over to one of available service channels (SCHs) for non-safety related data exchange. Although broadcasting in VANETs has been analytically studied, related works neither consider the WAVE channel switching nor its effects on the VANET performance. In this letter, a new analytical model is designed for evaluating the broadcasting performance on CCH in IEEE 802.11p/WAVE vehicular networks. This model explicitly accounts for the WAVE channel switching and computes packet delivery probability as a function of contention window size and number of vehicles.

/pdf/modeling-broadcasting-in-ieee-802-11p-wave-vehicular-2hhlek7lpx.pdf

Antonella Molinaro

Papers

LTE for vehicular networking: a survey

Information-centric networking for the internet of things: challenges and opportunities

5G Network Slicing for Vehicle-to-Everything Services

Information-centric networking for connected vehicles: a survey and future perspectives

Modeling Broadcasting in IEEE 802.11p/WAVE Vehicular Networks