Challenges of System-Level Simulations and Performance Evaluation for 5G Wireless Networks
TL;DR: The challenges of building a simulation platform for 5G considering the emerging new technologies and network architectures are analyzed and a cloud-based two-level framework of system-level simulator is proposed to validate the candidate technologies and fulfill the promising technology performance identified for5G.
Abstract: With the evaluation and simulation of long-term evolution/4G cellular network and hot discussion about new technologies or network architecture for 5G, the appearance of simulation and evaluation guidelines for 5G is in urgent need This paper analyzes the challenges of building a simulation platform for 5G considering the emerging new technologies and network architectures Based on the overview of evaluation methodologies issued for 4G candidates, challenges in 5G evaluation are formulated Additionally, a cloud-based two-level framework of system-level simulator is proposed to validate the candidate technologies and fulfill the promising technology performance identified for 5G
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TL;DR: The most significant use cases expected for 5G including their corresponding scenarios and traffic models are presented and guidelines to help and ease the performance evaluation of current and future 5G innovations, as well as the dimensioning of 5G future deployments are provided.
Abstract: The fifth-generation mobile initiative, 5G, is a tremendous and collective effort to specify, standardize, design, manufacture, and deploy the next cellular network generation. 5G networks will support demanding services such as enhanced Mobile Broadband, Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications and massive Machine-Type Communications, which will require data rates of tens of Gbps, latencies of few milliseconds and connection densities of millions of devices per square kilometer. This survey presents the most significant use cases expected for 5G including their corresponding scenarios and traffic models. First, the paper analyzes the characteristics and requirements for 5G communications, considering aspects such as traffic volume, network deployments, and main performance targets. Secondly, emphasizing the definition of performance evaluation criteria for 5G technologies, the paper reviews related proposals from principal standards development organizations and industry alliances. Finally, well-defined and significant 5G use cases are provided. As a result, these guidelines will help and ease the performance evaluation of current and future 5G innovations, as well as the dimensioning of 5G future deployments.
399 citations
Cites background from "Challenges of System-Level Simulati..."
...Similarly, [24] proposes another system-level simulator for the performance evaluation of 5G related technologies, identifying five emerging scenarios (some of them from IMT-Advanced and 3GPP): heterogeneous network, high-rise building, Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, high-speed mobile environment, and traditional typical simulation scenario....
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TL;DR: This paper evaluates the relevant PHY and MAC techniques for their ability to improve the reliability and reduce the latency and identifies that enabling long-term evolution to coexist in the unlicensed spectrum is also a potential enabler of URLLC in theUnlicensed band.
Abstract: Future 5th generation networks are expected to enable three key services—enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type communications and ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). As per the 3rd generation partnership project URLLC requirements, it is expected that the reliability of one transmission of a 32 byte packet will be at least 99.999% and the latency will be at most 1 ms. This unprecedented level of reliability and latency will yield various new applications, such as smart grids, industrial automation and intelligent transport systems. In this survey we present potential future URLLC applications, and summarize the corresponding reliability and latency requirements. We provide a comprehensive discussion on physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layer techniques that enable URLLC, addressing both licensed and unlicensed bands. This paper evaluates the relevant PHY and MAC techniques for their ability to improve the reliability and reduce the latency. We identify that enabling long-term evolution to coexist in the unlicensed spectrum is also a potential enabler of URLLC in the unlicensed band, and provide numerical evaluations. Lastly, this paper discusses the potential future research directions and challenges in achieving the URLLC requirements.
185 citations
Cites background from "Challenges of System-Level Simulati..."
...[202] propose a cloud-based two-level network simulation framework, which acquires scalability, flexible resource calling, and self-management, to improve the evaluation efficiency in various simulation scenarios....
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TL;DR: The paper proposes a classification, performance evaluation and optimization of PAPR reduction techniques for commercial, public safety, and tactical applications, and includes a new category, namely, hybrid techniques.
Abstract: Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is an efficient multi-carrier modulation technique for wireless communication. However, one of the main drawbacks encountered in implementing it is its resultant high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). Many techniques have been proposed in the literature to substantially decrease the peaks in the OFDM signal. The problem with these, however, is that their effects on other parameters are not always positive. These effects include a decrease in the bit error rate (BER), an increase in complexity, or a reduction in the bit rate. The objective of this paper is to describe the PAPR problem in a bid to reduce the peaks in the OFDM signal. The paper proposes a classification, performance evaluation and optimization of PAPR reduction techniques for commercial, public safety, and tactical applications. In the taxonomy proposed herein, we also include a new category, namely, hybrid techniques. Furthermore, we compare the principal characteristics through a complementary cumulative distribution function and BER evaluation, and conclude on the importance of hybrid techniques, when the goal is to both improve the BER and reduce the PAPR.
128 citations
Cites background from "Challenges of System-Level Simulati..."
...For example, in [2], it was predicted that 5th generation (5G) mobile networks should achieve 1000 times the system capacity, 10 times the spectral efficiency, higher data rates, 25 times the average cell throughput and other improvements, of the present generation 4G systems....
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TL;DR: The Vienna 5G system level simulator is presented, which allows to perform numerical performance evaluation of large-scale multi-tier networks, with numerous types of network nodes, based on Matlab and implemented in a modular fashion to conveniently investigate arbitrary network and parameter constellations.
Abstract: The investigation and prediction of new trends and technologies for mobile cellular networks is of utmost importance for researchers and network providers to quickly identify promising developments. With the verge of the fifth generation of mobile communications (5G), networks become more and more heterogeneous and dynamic while the amount of active users within a cell keeps ever increasing. Therefore, the search for more efficient network layouts and configurations attracts massive attention while on the other hand becomes more and more complex. In this contribution, we present the Vienna 5G system level simulator, which allows to perform numerical performance evaluation of large-scale multi-tier networks, with numerous types of network nodes. The simulator is based on Matlab and is implemented in a modular fashion, to conveniently investigate arbitrary network and parameter constellations, which can be enhanced effortlessly. We first discuss the distinguishing aspects of our simulator platform, describe its structure, and then showcase its functionality by demonstrating the key aspects in more detail.
107 citations
TL;DR: This paper presents potential techniques that can be applied for HEWs, in order to achieve the required performance in dense HEW deployment scenarios, as expected in the near future.
Abstract: The emerging paradigm of the Internet of Everything, along with the increasing demand of Internet services everywhere, results in a remarkable and continuous growth of the global Internet traffic. As a cost-effective Internet access solution, WiFi networks currently generate a major portion of the global Internet traffic. Furthermore, the number of WiFi public hotspots worldwide is expected to increase by more than sevenfold by 2018. To face this huge increase in the number of densely deployed WiFi networks, and the massive amount of data to be supported by these networks in indoor and outdoor environments, it is necessary to improve the current WiFi standard and define specifications for high efficiency wireless local area networks (HEWs). This paper presents potential techniques that can be applied for HEWs, in order to achieve the required performance in dense HEW deployment scenarios, as expected in the near future. The HEW solutions under consideration includes physical layer techniques, medium access control layer strategies, spatial frequency reuse schemes, and power saving mechanisms. To accurately assess a newly proposed HEW scheme, we discuss suitable evaluation methodologies, by defining simulation scenarios that represent future HEW usage models, performance metrics that reflect HEW user experience, traffic models for dominant HEW applications, and channel models for indoor and outdoor HEW deployments. Finally, we highlight open issues for future HEW research and development.
104 citations
Cites background from "Challenges of System-Level Simulati..."
...Furthermore, new simulation scenarios should be designed, which exploit the use of IBFD communications, in order to assess the performance of HEWs in the presence of self-interference [231]....
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References
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TL;DR: While massive MIMO renders many traditional research problems irrelevant, it uncovers entirely new problems that urgently need attention: the challenge of making many low-cost low-precision components that work effectively together, acquisition and synchronization for newly joined terminals, the exploitation of extra degrees of freedom provided by the excess of service antennas, reducing internal power consumption to achieve total energy efficiency reductions, and finding new deployment scenarios.
Abstract: Multi-user MIMO offers big advantages over conventional point-to-point MIMO: it works with cheap single-antenna terminals, a rich scattering environment is not required, and resource allocation is simplified because every active terminal utilizes all of the time-frequency bins. However, multi-user MIMO, as originally envisioned, with roughly equal numbers of service antennas and terminals and frequency-division duplex operation, is not a scalable technology. Massive MIMO (also known as large-scale antenna systems, very large MIMO, hyper MIMO, full-dimension MIMO, and ARGOS) makes a clean break with current practice through the use of a large excess of service antennas over active terminals and time-division duplex operation. Extra antennas help by focusing energy into ever smaller regions of space to bring huge improvements in throughput and radiated energy efficiency. Other benefits of massive MIMO include extensive use of inexpensive low-power components, reduced latency, simplification of the MAC layer, and robustness against intentional jamming. The anticipated throughput depends on the propagation environment providing asymptotically orthogonal channels to the terminals, but so far experiments have not disclosed any limitations in this regard. While massive MIMO renders many traditional research problems irrelevant, it uncovers entirely new problems that urgently need attention: the challenge of making many low-cost low-precision components that work effectively together, acquisition and synchronization for newly joined terminals, the exploitation of extra degrees of freedom provided by the excess of service antennas, reducing internal power consumption to achieve total energy efficiency reductions, and finding new deployment scenarios. This article presents an overview of the massive MIMO concept and contemporary research on the topic.
6,184 citations
Additional excerpts
...NEW AIR INTERFACE CHARACTERISTICS...
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TL;DR: The gains in multiuser systems are even more impressive, because such systems offer the possibility to transmit simultaneously to several users and the flexibility to select what users to schedule for reception at any given point in time.
Abstract: Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is maturing and is being incorporated into emerging wireless broadband standards like long-term evolution (LTE) [1]. For example, the LTE standard allows for up to eight antenna ports at the base station. Basically, the more antennas the transmitter/receiver is equipped with, and the more degrees of freedom that the propagation channel can provide, the better the performance in terms of data rate or link reliability. More precisely, on a quasi static channel where a code word spans across only one time and frequency coherence interval, the reliability of a point-to-point MIMO link scales according to Prob(link outage) ` SNR-ntnr where nt and nr are the numbers of transmit and receive antennas, respectively, and signal-to-noise ratio is denoted by SNR. On a channel that varies rapidly as a function of time and frequency, and where circumstances permit coding across many channel coherence intervals, the achievable rate scales as min(nt, nr) log(1 + SNR). The gains in multiuser systems are even more impressive, because such systems offer the possibility to transmit simultaneously to several users and the flexibility to select what users to schedule for reception at any given point in time [2].
5,158 citations
"Challenges of System-Level Simulati..." refers background or methods in this paper
...NEW AIR INTERFACE CHARACTERISTICS...
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...Compared to 4G evaluation system, there are more challenges in 5G evaluation system listed as follows:...
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...Firstly, from the perspective of internal storage demand and simulation speed, more complex parameter configuration, larger temporal data storage demand, enormous interacting information of users, more diverse performance evaluation metrics appear with the application of large scale antennas [2]....
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TL;DR: The technical and business arguments for femtocells are overview and the state of the art on each front is described and the technical challenges facing femtocell networks are described and some preliminary ideas for how to overcome them are given.
Abstract: The surest way to increase the system capacity of a wireless link is by getting the transmitter and receiver closer to each other, which creates the dual benefits of higher-quality links and more spatial reuse. In a network with nomadic users, this inevitably involves deploying more infrastructure, typically in the form of microcells, hot spots, distributed antennas, or relays. A less expensive alternative is the recent concept of femtocells - also called home base stations - which are data access points installed by home users to get better indoor voice and data coverage. In this article we overview the technical and business arguments for femtocells and describe the state of the art on each front. We also describe the technical challenges facing femtocell networks and give some preliminary ideas for how to overcome them.
3,298 citations
"Challenges of System-Level Simulati..." refers background in this paper
...• Complex Interference Situation:With the introducing of full duplex, serious interferencemay happen result from: the high DL self-interference to UL signal, the inter-user UL-DL interference, inter-BSDL toUL interference and inter-cell inter-user UL-to-DL interference in multi-cell network; •…...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the tradeoff between the energy efficiency and spectral efficiency of a single-antenna system is quantified for a channel model that includes small-scale fading but not large scale fading, and it is shown that the use of moderately large antenna arrays can improve the spectral and energy efficiency with orders of magnitude compared to a single antenna system.
Abstract: A multiplicity of autonomous terminals simultaneously transmits data streams to a compact array of antennas. The array uses imperfect channel-state information derived from transmitted pilots to extract the individual data streams. The power radiated by the terminals can be made inversely proportional to the square-root of the number of base station antennas with no reduction in performance. In contrast if perfect channel-state information were available the power could be made inversely proportional to the number of antennas. Lower capacity bounds for maximum-ratio combining (MRC), zero-forcing (ZF) and minimum mean-square error (MMSE) detection are derived. An MRC receiver normally performs worse than ZF and MMSE. However as power levels are reduced, the cross-talk introduced by the inferior maximum-ratio receiver eventually falls below the noise level and this simple receiver becomes a viable option. The tradeoff between the energy efficiency (as measured in bits/J) and spectral efficiency (as measured in bits/channel use/terminal) is quantified for a channel model that includes small-scale fading but not large-scale fading. It is shown that the use of moderately large antenna arrays can improve the spectral and energy efficiency with orders of magnitude compared to a single-antenna system.
2,770 citations
TL;DR: Very large MIMO as mentioned in this paper is a new research field both in communication theory, propagation, and electronics and represents a paradigm shift in the way of thinking both with regards to theory, systems and implementation.
Abstract: This paper surveys recent advances in the area of very large MIMO systems.
With very large MIMO, we think of systems that use antenna arrays with an order of magnitude more elements than in systems being built today, say a hundred antennas or more. Very large MIMO entails an unprecedented number of antennas simultaneously serving a much smaller number of terminals. The disparity in number emerges as a desirable operating condition and a practical one as well. The number of terminals that can be simultaneously served is limited, not by the number of antennas, but rather by our inability to acquire channel-state information for an unlimited number of terminals. Larger numbers of terminals can always be accommodated by combining very large MIMO technology with conventional time- and frequency-division multiplexing via OFDM. Very large MIMO arrays is a new research field both in communication theory, propagation, and electronics and represents a paradigm shift in the way of thinking both with regards to theory, systems and implementation. The ultimate vision of very large MIMO systems is that the antenna array would consist of small active antenna units, plugged into an (optical) fieldbus.
2,717 citations