Showing papers on "Base station published in 2013"

Millimeter Wave Mobile Communications for 5G Cellular: It Will Work!

Abstract: The global bandwidth shortage facing wireless carriers has motivated the exploration of the underutilized millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequency spectrum for future broadband cellular communication networks. There is, however, little knowledge about cellular mm-wave propagation in densely populated indoor and outdoor environments. Obtaining this information is vital for the design and operation of future fifth generation cellular networks that use the mm-wave spectrum. In this paper, we present the motivation for new mm-wave cellular systems, methodology, and hardware for measurements and offer a variety of measurement results that show 28 and 38 GHz frequencies can be used when employing steerable directional antennas at base stations and mobile devices.

Scaling Up MIMO: Opportunities and Challenges with Very Large Arrays

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].

Device-to-Device Communications Underlaying Cellular Networks

Abstract: In cellular networks, proximity users may communicate directly without going through the base station, which is called Device-to-device (D2D) communications and it can improve spectral efficiency. However, D2D communications may generate interference to the existing cellular networks if not designed properly. In this paper, we study a resource allocation problem to maximize the overall network throughput while guaranteeing the quality-of-service (QoS) requirements for both D2D users and regular cellular users (CUs). A three-step scheme is proposed. It first performs admission control and then allocates powers for each admissible D2D pair and its potential CU partners. Next, a maximum weight bipartite matching based scheme is developed to select a suitable CU partner for each admissible D2D pair to maximize the overall network throughput. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the performance of the hybrid system in terms of D2D access rate and the overall network throughput. The performance of D2D communications depends on D2D user locations, cell radius, the numbers of active CUs and D2D pairs, and the maximum power constraint for the D2D pairs.

Energy Efficient Heterogeneous Cellular Networks

Abstract: With the exponential increase in mobile internet traffic driven by a new generation of wireless devices, future cellular networks face a great challenge to meet this overwhelming demand of network capacity. At the same time, the demand for higher data rates and the ever-increasing number of wireless users led to rapid increases in power consumption and operating cost of cellular networks. One potential solution to address these issues is to overlay small cell networks with macrocell networks as a means to provide higher network capacity and better coverage. However, the dense and random deployment of small cells and their uncoordinated operation raise important questions about the energy efficiency implications of such multi-tier networks. Another technique to improve energy efficiency in cellular networks is to introduce active/sleep (on/off) modes in macrocell base stations. In this paper, we investigate the design and the associated tradeoffs of energy efficient cellular networks through the deployment of sleeping strategies and small cells. Using a stochastic geometry based model, we derive the success probability and energy efficiency in homogeneous macrocell (single-tier) and heterogeneous K-tier wireless networks under different sleeping policies. In addition, we formulate the power consumption minimization and energy efficiency maximization problems, and determine the optimal operating regimes for macrocell base stations. Numerical results confirm the effectiveness of switching off base stations in homogeneous macrocell networks. Nevertheless, the gains in terms of energy efficiency depend on the type of sleeping strategy used. In addition, the deployment of small cells generally leads to higher energy efficiency but this gain saturates as the density of small cells increases. In a nutshell, our proposed framework provides an essential understanding on the deployment of future green heterogeneous networks.

SoftRAN: software defined radio access network

Abstract: An important piece of the cellular network infrastructure is the radio access network (RAN) that provides wide-area wireless connectivity to mobile devices. The fundamental problem the RAN solves is figuring out how best to use and manage limited spectrum to achieve this connectivity. In a dense wireless deployment with mobile nodes and limited spectrum, it becomes a difficult task to allocate radio resources, implement handovers, manage interference, balance load between cells, etc.We argue that LTE's current distributed control plane is suboptimal in achieving the above objective. We propose SoftRAN, a fundamental rethink of the radio access layer. SoftRAN is a software defined centralized control plane for radio access networks that abstracts all base stations in a local geographical area as a virtual big-base station comprised of a central controller and radio elements (individual physical base stations). In defining such an architecture, we create a framework through which a local geographical network can effectively perform load balancing and interference management, as well as maximize throughput, global utility, or any other objective.

Analytical Modeling of Uplink Cellular Networks

Abstract: Cellular uplink analysis has typically been undertaken by either a simple approach that lumps all interference into a single deterministic or random parameter in a Wyner-type model, or via complex system level simulations that often do not provide insight into why various trends are observed. This paper proposes a novel middle way using point processes that is both accurate and also results in easy-to-evaluate integral expressions based on the Laplace transform of the interference. We assume mobiles and base stations are randomly placed in the network with each mobile pairing up to its closest base station. Compared to related recent work on downlink analysis, the proposed uplink model differs in two key features. First, dependence is considered between user and base station point processes to make sure each base station serves a single mobile in the given resource block. Second, per-mobile power control is included, which further couples the transmission of mobiles due to location-dependent channel inversion. Nevertheless, we succeed in deriving the coverage (equivalently outage) probability of a typical link in the network. This model can be used to address a wide variety of system design questions in the future. In this paper we focus on the implications for power control and show that partial channel inversion should be used at low signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), while full power transmission is optimal at higher SINR.

Locating a mobile station and applications therefor

Abstract: A location system is disclosed for wireless telecommunication infrastructures. The system is an end-to-end solution having one or more location systems for outputting requested locations of hand sets or mobile stations (MS) based on, e.g., AMPS, NAMPS, CDMA or TDMA communication standards, for processing both local mobile station location requests and more global mobile station location requests via, e.g., Internet communication between a distributed network of location systems. The system uses a plurality of mobile station locating technologies including those based on: (1) two-way TOA and TDOA; (2) home base stations and (3) distributed antenna provisioning. Further, the system can be modularly configured for use in location signaling environments ranging from urban, dense urban, suburban, rural, mountain to low traffic or isolated roadways. The system is useful for 911 emergency calls, tracking, routing, people and animal location including applications for confinement to and exclusion from certain areas.

Fundamentals of wireless communications

Abstract: Radio Frequency (RF) communications are an important smart grid enabler for functions such as volt/VAR control, recloser control, and feeder restorations and isolation. This paper will give a basic tutorial on the types of radio frequency communications and the benefits and liabilities of each. Specific topics to be explored will be licensed verses unlicensed frequencies, distance between remote radios and base stations, and communications architectures. Radio technology is often referred in numerical ranges or frequencies. The decision on which frequency to employ in a network depends on a few key variables. Prior to deciding which frequency for a network, the application for the radio use will assist with dictation of which frequency range to utilize. Applications such as recloser control and volt/Var control may require a radio device that can provide a high bandwidth/fast speed solution. Other SCADA applications such as sensor monitoring may only require small bandwidth and for data delivery to be at a much slower speed. Another variable when deciding on a radio network is the distance from the main SCADA hosts to end remote devices such as RTUs or PLCs. Lower end frequencies (100 MHz-900 MHz) provide further coverage and greater distance from base stations/Access Points to remote end devices, whereas higher frequencies (2.4 GHz-5.8 GHz) provide shorter distance coverage, but higher bandwidth and relay data back to SCADA hosts much faster. Determining a network's architecture should focus on either the desire of a private, licensed network or the notion of an unlicensed, less expensive network. The lower licensed frequency ranges (100 MHz, 200 MHz, 400 MHz and upper 900 MHz bands) are often referred to as MAS (Multiple Address Systems) networks and require license acquisition from the FCC once geographical coverage is determined. These licenses are granted for the lower frequencies as mentioned previously but are considered the proprietary use of the owner. Anyone operating in these frequencies will be fined/cited by the FCC. The less expensive, unlicensed network is allowable for frequencies ranging from 902 MHz-928 MHz, which is defined as the ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) bands. Within the unlicensed frequency band, there exist registered bands (3.65 GHz) that employ WiMax (Wireless Microwave Access for Broadband) technology that provide shorter coverage for remote devices, however, the bandwidth and speed provided by these frequencies make them just as popular for networks. Further analysis and discussion of licensed versus unlicensed radio wireless communications is proposed in this paper.

Simultaneous Information and Power Transfer for Broadband Wireless Systems

Abstract: Far-field microwave power transfer (MPT) will free wireless sensors and other mobile devices from the constraints imposed by finite battery capacities. Integrating MPT with wireless communications to support simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) allows the same spectrum to be used for dual purposes without compromising the quality of service. A novel approach is presented in this paper for realizing SWIPT in a broadband system where orthogonal frequency division multiplexing and transmit beamforming are deployed to create a set of parallel sub-channels for SWIPT, which simplifies resource allocation. Based on a proposed reconfigurable mobile architecture, different system configurations are considered by combining single-user/multi-user systems, downlink/uplink information transfer, and variable/fixed coding rates. Optimizing the power control for these configurations results in a new class of multi-user power-control problems featuring the circuit-power constraints, specifying that the transferred power must be sufficiently large to support the operation of the receiver circuitry. Solving these problems gives a set of power-control algorithms that exploit channel diversity in frequency for simultaneously enhancing the throughput and the MPT efficiency. For the system configurations with variable coding rates, the algorithms are variants of water-filling that account for the circuit-power constraints. The optimal algorithms for those configurations with fixed coding rates are shown to sequentially allocate mobiles their required power for decoding in ascending order until the entire budgeted power is spent. The required power for a mobile is derived as simple functions of the minimum signal-to-noise ratio for correct decoding, the circuit power and sub-channel gains.

SoftCell: scalable and flexible cellular core network architecture

Abstract: Cellular core networks suffer from inflexible and expensive equipment, as well as from complex control-plane protocols. To address these challenges, we present SoftCell, a scalable architecture that supports fine-grained policies for mobile devices in cellular core networks, using commodity switches and servers. SoftCell enables operators to realize high-level service policies that direct traffic through sequences of middleboxes based on subscriber attributes and applications. To minimize the size of the forwarding tables, SoftCell aggregates traffic along multiple dimensions---the service policy, the base station, and the mobile device---at different switches in the network. Since most traffic originates from mobile devices, SoftCell performs fine-grained packet classification at the access switches, next to the base stations, where software switches can easily handle the state and bandwidth requirements. SoftCell guarantees that packets belonging to the same connection traverse the same sequence of middleboxes in both directions, even in the presence of mobility. We demonstrate that SoftCell improves the scalability and flexibility of cellular core networks by analyzing real LTE workloads, performing micro-benchmarks on our prototype controller as well as large-scale simulations.

Dynamic Base Station Switching-On/Off Strategies for Green Cellular Networks

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate dynamic base station (BS) switching to reduce energy consumption in wireless cellular networks. Specifically, we formulate a general energy minimization problem pertaining to BS switching that is known to be a difficult combinatorial problem and requires high computational complexity as well as large signaling overhead. We propose a practically implementable switching-on/off based energy saving (SWES) algorithm that can be operated in a distributed manner with low computational complexity. A key design principle of the proposed algorithm is to turn off a BS one by one that will minimally affect the network by using a newly introduced notion of network-impact, which takes into account the additional load increments brought to its neighboring BSs. In order to further reduce the signaling and implementation overhead over the air and backhaul, we propose three other heuristic versions of SWES that use the approximate values of network-impact as their decision metrics. We describe how the proposed algorithms can be implemented in practice at the protocol-level and also estimate the amount of energy savings through a first-order analysis in a simple setting. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the SWES algorithms can significantly reduce the total energy consumption, e.g., we estimate up to 50-80% potential savings based on a real traffic profile from a metropolitan urban area.

Power Control for D2D Underlaid Cellular Networks: Modeling, Algorithms and Analysis

Abstract: This paper considers a device-to-device (D2D) underlaid cellular network where an uplink cellular user communicates with the base station while multiple direct D2D links share the uplink spectrum. This paper proposes a random network model based on stochastic geometry and develops centralized and distributed power control algorithms. The goal of the proposed power control algorithms is two-fold: ensure the cellular users have sufficient coverage probability by limiting the interference created by underlaid D2D users, while also attempting to support as many D2D links as possible. For the distributed power control method, expressions for the coverage probabilities of cellular and D2D links are derived and a lower bound on the sum rate of the D2D links is provided. The analysis reveals the impact of key system parameters on the network performance. For example, the bottleneck of D2D underlaid cellular networks is the cross-tier interference between D2D links and the cellular user, not the D2D intra-tier interference. Numerical results show the gains of the proposed power control algorithms and accuracy of the analysis.

Group Sparse Beamforming for Green Cloud-RAN

Abstract: A cloud radio access network (Cloud-RAN) is a network architecture that holds the promise of meeting the explosive growth of mobile data traffic. In this architecture, all the baseband signal processing is shifted to a single baseband unit (BBU) pool, which enables efficient resource allocation and interference management. Meanwhile, conventional powerful base stations can be replaced by low-cost low-power remote radio heads (RRHs), producing a green and low-cost infrastructure. However, as all the RRHs need to be connected to the BBU pool through optical transport links, the transport network power consumption becomes significant. In this paper, we propose a new framework to design a green Cloud-RAN, which is formulated as a joint RRH selection and power minimization beamforming problem. To efficiently solve this problem, we first propose a greedy selection algorithm, which is shown to provide near- optimal performance. To further reduce the complexity, a novel group sparse beamforming method is proposed by inducing the group-sparsity of beamformers using the weighted $\ell_1/\ell_2$-norm minimization, where the group sparsity pattern indicates those RRHs that can be switched off. Simulation results will show that the proposed algorithms significantly reduce the network power consumption and demonstrate the importance of considering the transport link power consumption.

Mobileflow: Toward software-defined mobile networks

Abstract: Mobile carrier networks follow an architecture where network elements and their interfaces are defined in detail through standardization, but provide limited ways to develop new network features once deployed. In recent years we have witnessed rapid growth in over-the-top mobile applications and a 10-fold increase in subscriber traffic while ground-breaking network innovation took a back seat. We argue that carrier networks can benefit from advances in computer science and pertinent technology trends by incorporating a new way of thinking in their current toolbox. This article introduces a blueprint for implementing current as well as future network architectures based on a software-defined networking approach. Our architecture enables operators to capitalize on a flow-based forwarding model and fosters a rich environment for innovation inside the mobile network. In this article, we validate this concept in our wireless network research laboratory, demonstrate the programmability and flexibility of the architecture, and provide implementation and experimentation details.

Radio access network virtualization for future mobile carrier networks

Abstract: This article presents a survey of cellular network sharing, which is a key building block for virtualizing future mobile carrier networks in order to address the explosive capacity demand of mobile traffic, and reduce the CAPEX and OPEX burden faced by operators to handle this demand. We start by reviewing the 3GPP network sharing standardized functionality followed by a discussion on emerging business models calling for additional features. Then an overview of the RAN sharing enhancements currently being considered by the 3GPP RSE Study Item is presented. Based on the developing network sharing needs, a summary of the state of the art of mobile carrier network virtualization is provided, encompassing RAN sharing as well as a higher level of base station programmability and customization for the sharing entities. As an example of RAN virtualization techniques feasibility, a solution based on spectrum sharing is presented: the network virtualization substrate (NVS), which can be natively implemented in base stations. NVS performance is evaluated in an LTE network by means of simulation, showing that it can meet the needs of future virtualized mobile carrier networks in terms of isolation, utilization, and customization.

Base-Station Assisted Device-to-Device Communications for High-Throughput Wireless Video Networks

Abstract: We propose a new scheme for increasing the throughput of video files in cellular communications systems. This scheme exploits (i) the redundancy of user requests as well as (ii) the considerable storage capacity of smartphones and tablets. Users cache popular video files and - after receiving requests from other users - serve these requests via device-to-device localized transmissions. The file placement is optimal when a central control knows a priori the locations of wireless devices when file requests occur. However, even a purely random caching scheme shows only a minor performance loss compared to such a genie-aided scheme. We then analyze the optimal collaboration distance, trading off frequency reuse with the probability of finding a requested file within the collaboration distance. We show that an improvement of spectral efficiency of one to two orders of magnitude is possible, even if there is not very high redundancy in video requests.

Quantitative analysis of split base station processing and determination of advantageous architectures for LTE

Abstract: Centralization of the baseband processing in radio access networks may reduce radio site operations costs, reduce capital costs, and ease implementation of multi-site coordination mechanisms such as coordinated multipoint transmission and reception (CoMP). However, the initial architecture proposals for a centralized Long Term Evolution (LTE) deployment using transport of radio samples require a high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnection network. This may be uneconomical, or it may only be cost effective for a limited number of sites. To mitigate that deficiency without sacrificing the benefits of centralized processing, we identified alternative interfacing options between central and remote units. To do so we analyzed possible splits of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) baseband processing chain for their bandwidth and latency requirements. Next, we analyzed the operational impacts of potential splits based on a number of criteria including ease of CoMP introduction, the possibility of realizing pooling gains, and the ability to update the system and introduce new features. Based on our results, we propose architectures that can leverage the benefits of centralization at a much-reduced cost.

Resource Allocation for Device-to-Device Communications Overlaying Two-Way Cellular Networks

Abstract: Device-to-device (D2D) communications has been proposed in the literature as an underlay approach to cellular networks to allow direct transmission between two cellular devices with local communication needs. In this paper, we consider a scenario of D2D communications overlaying a cellular network and propose a new spectrum sharing protocol, which allows the D2D users to communicate bi-directionally with each other while assisting the two-way communications between the cellular base station (BS) and the cellular user (CU). We derive the achievable rate region of the sum rate of the D2D transmissions versus that of the cellular transmissions. The Pareto boundary of the region is found by optimizing the transmit power at BS and CU as well as the power splitting factor at the relay D2D node. Since either of the two D2D users can be the relay and there can exist multiple pairs of D2D users, we also consider the relay selection from the potential D2D users. We find through numerical results that the proposed two-way protocol with power control at the BS and CU is effective to improve the sum rate for both the D2D and cellular users. In addition, relay selection can achieve further improvement in the sum rate of the cellular links.

Downlink capacity and base station density in cellular networks

Abstract: There have been a bulk of analytic results about the performance of cellular networks where base stations are regularly located on a hexagonal or square lattice. This regular model cannot reflect the reality, and tends to overestimate the network performance. Moreover, tractable analysis can be performed only for a fixed location user (e.g., cell center or edge user). In this paper, we use the stochastic geometry approach, where base stations can be modeled as a homogeneous Poisson point process. We also consider the user density, and derive the user outage probability that an arbitrary user is under outage owing to low signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio or high congestion by multiple users. Using the result, we calculate the density of success transmissions in the downlink cellular network. An interesting observation is that the success transmission density increases with the base station density, but the increasing rate diminishes. This means that the number of base stations installed should be more than n-times to increase the network capacity by a factor of n. Our results will provide a framework for performance analysis of the wireless infrastructure with a high density of access points, which will significantly reduce the burden of network-level simulations.

Coordinated Multipoint Transmission with Limited Backhaul Data Transfer

Abstract: When the joint processing technique is applied in the coordinated multipoint (CoMP) downlink transmission, the user data for each mobile station needs to be shared among multiple base stations (BSs) via backhaul. If the number of users is large, this data exchange can lead to a huge backhaul signaling overhead. In this paper, we consider a multi-cell CoMP network with multi-antenna BSs and single antenna users. The problem that involves the joint design of transmit beamformers and user data allocation at BSs to minimize the backhaul user data transfer is addressed, which is subject to given quality-of-service and per-BS power constraints. We show that this problem can be cast into an l0-norm minimization problem, which is NP-hard. Inspired by recent results in compressive sensing, we propose two algorithms to tackle it. The first algorithm is based on reweighted l1-norm minimization, which solves a series of convex l0-norm minimization problems. In the second algorithm, we first solve the l2-norm relaxation of the joint clustering and beamforming problem and then iteratively remove the links that correspond to the smallest transmit power. The second algorithm enjoys a faster solution speed and can also be implemented in a semi-distributed manner under certain assumptions. Simulations show that both algorithms can significantly reduce the user data transfer in the backhaul.

Optimized broadband wireless network performance through base station application server

Abstract: In embodiments of the present disclosure improved capabilities are described for increasing the bandwidth in a large area broadband LTE wireless network, where regional optimization servers are incorporated near the wireless network in association with the public data network gateway, thus reducing the time-latency for applications being run from a mobile cellular device. Further, by associating additional optimization servers at base stations, application functionality may be optionally transferred from the regional optimization server to the local base station optimization server in instances where a number of mobile cellular devices are requesting the same data via their access through the same cell, and in other instances, to the effect that back haul network bandwidth utilization is reduced or eliminated.

Tour Planning for Mobile Data-Gathering Mechanisms in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new data-gathering mechanism for large-scale wireless sensor networks by introducing mobility into the network. A mobile data collector, for convenience called an M-collector in this paper, could be a mobile robot or a vehicle equipped with a powerful transceiver and battery, working like a mobile base station and gathering data while moving through the field. An M-collector starts the data-gathering tour periodically from the static data sink, polls each sensor while traversing its transmission range, then directly collects data from the sensor in single-hop communications, and finally transports the data to the static sink. Since data packets are directly gathered without relays and collisions, the lifetime of sensors is expected to be prolonged. In this paper, we mainly focus on the problem of minimizing the length of each data-gathering tour and refer to this as the single-hop data-gathering problem (SHDGP). We first formalize the SHDGP into a mixed-integer program and then present a heuristic tour-planning algorithm for the case where a single M-collector is employed. For the applications with strict distance/time constraints, we consider utilizing multiple M-collectors and propose a data-gathering algorithm where multiple M-collectors traverse through several shorter subtours concurrently to satisfy the distance/time constraints. Our single-hop mobile data-gathering scheme can improve the scalability and balance the energy consumption among sensors. It can be used in both connected and disconnected networks. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed data-gathering algorithm can greatly shorten the moving distance of the collectors compared with the covering line approximation algorithm and is close to the optimal algorithm for small networks. In addition, the proposed data-gathering scheme can significantly prolong the network lifetime compared with a network with static data sink or a network in which the mobile collector can only move along straight lines.

Interference-aware graph based resource sharing for device-to-device communications underlaying cellular networks

Abstract: Device-to-device (D2D) communications underlaying cellular networks have recently been considered as a promising means to improve the resource utilization of the cellular network and the user throughput between devices in proximity to each other In this paper, we investigate the resource sharing problem to optimize the system performance in such a scenario Specifically, we formulate the interference relationships among different D2D communication links and cellular communication links as a novel interference-aware graph, and propose an interference-aware graph based resource sharing algorithm that can effectively obtain the near optimal resource assignment solutions at the base station (BS) but with low computational complexity Simulation results confirm that, with markedly reduced complexity, our proposed scheme achieves a network sum rate that approaches the one corresponding to the optimal resource sharing scheme obtained via exhaustive search

Total energy efficiency of cellular large scale antenna system multiple access mobile networks

Abstract: Energy efficiency and spectral efficiency of a Large Scale Antenna System in both dense urban and suburban multi-macro-cellular scenarios are quantified using a new total energy efficiency model, which consists of a rigorous capacity lower bound and a power model accounting for RF generation, LSAS critical computing and a per antenna internal power consumption for other analog electronics and A/D and D/A converters that are associated with each LSAS service antenna. Based on our model, in dense urban, an LSAS with sixty-four OdB gain service antennas per cell, each service antenna consuming an internal power of 128 mW above the power required for RF generation and for LSAS critical computing, can simultaneously serve 15 users with a total energy efficiency almost 1000 times greater than that of a typical LTE base station and at the same time more than quadruple the aggregate spectral efficiency.

Wireless power transmission network and wireless power transmission method

Abstract: The present invention relates to a wireless power transmission network and to a wireless power transmission method. In the wireless power transmission method according to one aspect of the present invention, a base station, which wirelessly transmits power using a magnetic field, performs in-band communication through the magnetic field used for wireless power transmission in order to determine whether an electronic device receiving power is in a charging area or in a communication area, and transmits wireless power accordingly.

Millimeter-Wave Frequency Radio over Fiber Systems: A Survey

Abstract: In recent years considerable attention has been devoted to the merging of radio frequency and optical fiber technologies aiming to the distribution of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals. This effort has given birth to the field of Radio over Fiber (RoF) technologies and systems. This sort of systems have a great potential to support secure, cost-effective, and high-capacity vehicular/mobile/wireless access for the future provisioning of broadband, interactive, and multimedia wireless services. In this paper we present a comprehensive review of mm-wave frequency RoF systems. In our integral approach, we identified the most important figures of merit of an RoF system, which is divided into three main subsystems: Central Station (CS), Optical Distribution Network (ODN) and Base Station (BS). In each subsystem, the most promising technologies are classified: downlink transmission techniques at the CS, ODN architectures, and optical configurations of the BS. The impact of technology choice on the overall system performance is discussed, and the figures of merit are studied and used to assess the subsystem's performance. Finally, we suggest technological opportunities and future developments that should be attracting the attention of researchers and developers.

Wireless communication using multi-dimensional antenna configuration

Abstract: Communications may be performed in a communications system using multi-dimensional antenna configurations. A WTRU may receive communications from a base station via one or more channels. The communications may be performed using multiple component codebooks. The WTRU may send channel state information (CSI) feedback for each component codebook to the base station for consideration when performing communications with the WTRU. The WTRU may determine the CSI feedback for each component codebook based on channel measurements. The component codebooks may include a horizontal component codebook and/or a vertical component codebook. The WTRU may send the CSI feedback for each component codebook to the base station independently or in the form of a composite codebook. The WTRU may determine a composite codebook a function of the component codebooks.

PAR-Aware Large-Scale Multi-User MIMO-OFDM Downlink

Abstract: We investigate an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based downlink transmission scheme for large-scale multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems. The use of OFDM causes a high peak-to-average (power) ratio (PAR), which necessitates expensive and power-inefficient radio-frequency (RF) components at the base station. In this paper, we present a novel downlink transmission scheme, which exploits the massive degrees-of-freedom available in large-scale MU-MIMO-OFDM systems to achieve low PAR. Specifically, we propose to jointly perform MU precoding, OFDM modulation, and PAR reduction by solving a convex optimization problem. We develop a corresponding fast iterative truncation algorithm (FITRA) and show numerical results to demonstrate tremendous PAR-reduction capabilities. The significantly reduced linearity requirements eventually enable the use of low-cost RF components for the large-scale MU-MIMO-OFDM downlink.

Low Power Wireless Sensor Network for Building Monitoring

Abstract: A wireless sensor network is proposed for monitoring buildings to assess earthquake damage. The sensor nodes use custom-developed capacitive microelectromechanical systems strain and 3-D acceleration sensors and a low power readout application-specified integrated circuit for a battery life of up to 12 years. The strain sensors are mounted at the base of the building to measure the settlement and plastic hinge activation of the building after an earthquake. They measure periodically or on-demand from the base station. The accelerometers are mounted at every floor of the building to measure the seismic response of the building during an earthquake. They record during an earthquake event using a combination of the local acceleration data and remote triggering from the base station based on the acceleration data from multiple sensors across the building. A low power network architecture was implemented over an 802.15.4 MAC in the 900-MHz band. A custom patch antenna was designed in this frequency band to obtain robust links in real-world conditions. The modules have been validated in a full-scale laboratory setup with simulated earthquakes.

Joint Multicast Beamforming and Antenna Selection

Abstract: Multicast beamforming exploits subscriber channel state information at the base station to steer the transmission power towards the subscribers, while minimizing interference to other users and systems. Such functionality has been provisioned in the long-term evolution (LTE) enhanced multimedia broadcast multicast service (EMBMS). As antennas become smaller and cheaper relative to up-conversion chains, transmit antenna selection at the base station becomes increasingly appealing in this context. This paper addresses the problem of joint multicast beamforming and antenna selection for multiple co-channel multicast groups. Whereas this problem (and even plain multicast beamforming) is NP-hard, it is shown that the mixed l1,∞-norm squared is a prudent group-sparsity inducing convex regularization, in that it naturally yields a suitable semidefinite relaxation, which is further shown to be the Lagrange bi-dual of the original NP-hard problem. Careful simulations indicate that the proposed algorithm significantly reduces the number of antennas required to meet prescribed service levels, at relatively small excess transmission power. Furthermore, its performance is close to that attained by exhaustive search, at far lower complexity. Extensions to max-min-fair, robust, and capacity-achieving designs are also considered.