Investigation de la gestion de qualité de service dans le réseau UMTS

Bit rate announced for the future standards of telecommunication, as well as the level of integration reached are, as many factors, determining for the establishment of new applications in mobile terminals. Nowadays, mobile video streaming services are possible. Mobile users expect to receive multimedia traffic with some performance guarantees, so we must ensure the necessary quality of service during the video transmission. This paper aims at investigating quality of service issue inUmts network. More specifically, we explore the main challenge of quality of service management to dynamically optimize the distribution of load inUmts networks. Our investigation is organized in the following way. We formalize the optimization problem which is based on the graph theory and modellingUmts network as well as mobile users and applications to be used. The simulation of our optimization model show a clear improvement of the quality of service perceived by anUmts user in terms of bit rate, blocking and connection drop.     

Adaptive power control algorithm with stabilization zone for third generation mobile networks

In this paper, we propose an evolution of adaptive power control algorithms for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (Umts). The proposed mechanism uses an adaptive power step to carry out with high fluctuations in the radio interface. Furthermore, we propose the integration of a stabilization zone where the transmitted power is kept constant to reduce oscillations around the target QoS level. In this algorithm, only the interpretation of power control feedback commands is ameliorated by adding some intelligence to mobiles and base stations. Moreover, the standardized radio interface protocol is used without modification. The algorithm can be used in both link directions of the Frequency Division Duplex (Fdd) mode and in the downlink of the Time Division Duplex (Tdd) mode, where closed-loop power control algorithms are used. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm decreases the outage probability and reduces drastically the transmitted power, which are the main objectives of power control algorithms.     

Software defined radio architecture for cellular networks base stations: TheSunbeam project

With the arrival of 3G radio mobile communications standards namelyUmts, new requirements arose for the wireless cellular networks. They concern the quality of the transmissions, the compatibility with pre-existing 2G networks and between different 3G networks and of course the increasing bandwidth to bring new high data rate demanding services through IP connections. TheSunbeam project was at the convergence of two key enabling technologies for 3G: software radio and smart antennas. Software radio appears to be an unavoidable approach to fulfil these specifications, but it needs to be used with new hardware architectures designed to support it.Acts European projectSunbeam just covered partially this subject as it concerned flexible multi-standard smart CBTS architecture study in the context of the migration of European networks from 2G (Gsm, Dcs 1800) to 3 G (Acts/Fdd, Acts/Tdd), concentrating on the physical layer. Digital smart antennas techniques were central in the scope ofSunbeam, since they are to bring the decisive performance improvements 3G transmissions require. This paper summarises the essential results achieved within the project and makes an attempt to establish global specifications for CBTS architecture design to achieve the flexibility, the reconfigurability and the scalability needed to implement software radio.     

Strong and privacy-friendly management of federated identities for service provision over UMTS

Mobile subscribers who wish to mutually authenticate to service providers on the Internet utilize existing identity management mechanisms, such as Microsoft .net passport, overlooking the existing trust relationship between the subscriber and the 3G mobile operator and increasing network resources consumption, in an environment that requires security mechanisms that are as lightweight as possible. Furthermore, knowledge as well as the possession of an item, does not distinguish a person uniquely, revealing an inherent security weakness of pin authentication mechanisms. This paper proposes a protocol (3GbioId) for implementing strong identity management for Internet applications over 3G mobile networks. 3GBioId introduces biometrics, as well as the principles of the Liberty Alliance, into the 3G mobile security architecture, targeting to a more effective, secure and lightweight identity management alternative to the existing protocols. The results of a security, privacy, performance, usability and complexity evaluation indicate 3GbioId’s benefits and limits.     

Measurement-based admission control in UMTS

In this paper, we develop an efficient Call Admission Control (cac) algorithm forumts systems. We first introduce the expressions that we developed for Signal-to-Interference (sir) for both uplink and downlink, to obtain a novelcac algorithm that takes into account, in addition tosir constraints, the effects of mobility, coverage as well as the wired capacity behind the base station, for the uplink, and the maximal transmission power of the base station, for the downlink. As of its implementation, we investigate the measurement-based approach as a means to predict future, both handoff and new, call arrivals and thus manage different priority levels depending on a tunable coefficient. Compared to classicalcac algorithms, ourcac mechanism achieves better performance in terms of outage probability and QoS management.     

Iterative successive interference cancellation for multi-user DS/CDMA detectors in multipath channels

This paper deals with uplink Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) transmissions over mobile radio channels. A new interference cancellation scheme for multiuser detection, calledSIC/RAKE, is presented. It is based on a modified multistage Successive Interference Cancellation (sic) structure that enables efficient detection in multipath propagation environments, thanks to a single userRAKE receiver incorporated in each unit of thesic structure. Furthermore, a modified version of thesic structure, calledSIC/MMSE, that ensures convergence to theMMSE detector rather than to the decorrelating detector has been suggested. The convergence of theSIC/RAKE andSIC/MMSE methods is proved. Simulation results for the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) have been carried out for flat fading Rayleigh multipath channels, showing that the proposed detector is resistant to the near-far effect and that low performance loss is obtained compared to the single-user bound.     

LDPC-based space-time coded OFDM systems: Turbo-EM receiver design with channel state information guessing algorithms

In this paper we study some turbo receiver architectures employing low-density parity check (Ldpc) codes together with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (Ofdm) for high data rate wireless transmissions. Different demodulation schemes based on expectation-maximization (Em) algorithm are studied along with the channel impulse response (Em) algorithms. We studied differentCir guessing algorithms including the EM-based algorithms such as a space-alternating generalized expectation-maximization algorithm (Sage). It is shown that the proposed turbo-Em receiver employing a soft maximum a posteriori (Map)Em demodulator and a belief propagationLdpc decoder can perform within 1 dB from the ergodic capacity of the studiedMimo ofdm channels. Besides, we find that a suboptimum structure based on a soft interference cancellationMmse filtering demodulator exhibits negligible loss in non-correlated fadingMimo channels but suffer extra performance loss in highly correlatedMimo channels.     

Robust time-frequency distributions based on the robust short time fourier transform

Design of time-frequency distributions (Tfds) that are robust to the impulse noise influence is considered. The robustTfds based on the robust short-time Fourier transform (Stft) are proposed. An efficient procedure to evaluate the robustStft is given. RobustTfds based on the robustStft have better energy concentration around the signal instantaneous frequency (If) than the robustStft itself. Also, theseTfds are more resistant to higher impulse noise than the robustTfds obtained using the local autocorrelation function (Laf) based minimization problem.     

Optimizing IP networks in a hybrid IGP/MPLS environment

In this paper, we consider a traffic engineering (te) approach toip networks in a hybridigp/mpls environment. Thoughigp (Interior Gateway Protocol) routing has proven its scalability and reliability, effective traffic engineering has been difficult to achieve in public IP networks because of the limited functional capabilities of conventionalip technologies.mpls (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) on the one hand enhances the possibility to engineer traffic onip networks by allowing explicit routes. But on the other hand it suffers from the scalability (n-square) problem. Hybridigp/mpls approaches rely onip native routing as much as possible and usempls only if necessary. In this work we propose a novel hybrid traffic engineering method based on genetic algorithms, which can be considered as an offlinete approach to handle long or medium-term traffic variations in the range days, weeks or months. In our approach the maximum number of hops anlsp (Label Switched Path) may take and the number oflsps which are applied solely to improve the routing performance, are treated as constraints due to delay considerations and the complexity of management. We apply our method to the German scientific network (b-win) for which a traffic matrix is available and also to some other networks with a simple demand model. We will show results comparing this hybridigp/mpls routing scenario with the result of pureigp routing and that of a full meshmpls with and without traffic splitting.     

Business opportunities throughUMTS-WLAN networks

This article outlines the economic feasibility of mobile operators that combine nationwide mobility with 3G networks and hot spot coverage withWLANS, WLANS are based onHIPERLAN/2 architecture and theUMTS network exploitswCDMA/FDD technology. The evaluated business scenarios are focused on two different deployment areas, in terms of demographic characteristics and mobile penetration: a large and a small European country. The business case spans 2002 to 2011 withUMTS’ roll-out year in 2002 andWLAN’s in 2004, covering indoor hot-spot areas (stations, airports, stadiums, etc.) where demand is high. The demand for thisUMTS-WLAN roaming case is evaluated based on observations from Europe’s current mobile market and its evolution. Usage scenarios of different service packages corresponding to both residential and business markets have been taken into account. Direct investments and operational costs as well as revenue streams from traffic have been calculated. The methodology and the tool developed inACTS-TERA [1] andIST-TONIC [2] projects have been utilized for this case study. Economic conclusions have been derived, presented and discussed using key profitability factors. Profitability for all scenarios and business profiles has been calculated, presented and discussed. It includes a sensitivity analysis in order to identify the major opportunities and threats, for specific service sets as well as critical parameters and uncertainties. A wide audience from mobile operators and service providers to retail companies interested in entering the 3G market, can exploit this information.     

WLAN standards and evolutions

Wireless Local Area Networks technologies have known an important technological and commercial development. Multiplicity of standards and variety of domains of use make necessary to compose with different technologies that can be seen either as concurrent or complementary. In this article, after positioning the different types of wireless networks (IEEE 802.11, HomeRF,HIPERLAN/2, Bluetooth) for mass market and professional applications destination, some generalities are briefly reminded such as centralised and ad-hoc architectures, regulatory constraints in the 2.45 and 5GHZ frequency bands used forWLAN, typical ranges, mobility and security features and limitations. Then the differentIEEE (802.11, 802.11a et 802.11b) andETSI (HIPERLAN/2) standards are described in details as well as their foreseen evolutions. It appears that 802.11 family of standards would take benefit of the currently existing products to evolve smoothly while integrating new features (broadband 802.11a physical layer, necessary radio features to meet European regulatory requirements, future introduction of Quality of Service schemes…). In the meantime,HIPERLAN/2 which has been specified as a complete system already supports most of those important features and is able to be adapted to various kinds of higher network layers. Lastly, it is shown that interworking schemes between 3G cellular systems andWLAN currently under investigations in 3GPP andETSI BRAN should permit in the future to easily operate wide area and multi-access technology based mobile networks.     

IP-based transport of voice traffic in the UMTS radio access network: analytical study and empirical validation

In this paper, we investigate theIp protocol as a transport option for the user traffic in the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (Utran), where stringent delay bounds are to be met for both real-time and non real-time traffic. We focus on real-time voice traffic and present an analytical model for the multiplexing and transport of voice channels in theUtran usingIp. The novelty of our model is that it analytically includes and quantifies the performance of the timer used in multiplexing arriving Frame Protocol (Fp) frames into largerIp packets. We then validate our work through empirical results on a test-bed emulating theUtran transport functionalities. We show the trade-offs between performance, in terms of delay and link utilization, and quantify optimal values for the timer as well as the number ofFp frames perIp packet for a given output link capacity.     

Iterative low-complexity receiver for the UMTS downlink

In this paper, an iterative low-complexity receiver is proposed for Code Division Multiple Access (cdma) systems with small spreading factors. Theumts (Universal Mobile Télecommunication System) radio interface based oncdma has been designed to offer a wide range of data rates using variable spreading factors. High data rate services are obtained by using small spreading factors. For such services, the spreading sequences have bad autocor-relation properties causing the degradation of the Rake receiver performance because of the InterSymbol Interférence (isi). In order to improve the receiver performance, we propose to add a Decision Feedback Sequence Estimation (dfse) equalizer at the Rake receiver output. Thedfse is a low complexity equalizer which is able to take into accounta priori probability ratios and to deliver a posteriori probability ratios on bits in order to exchange soft information with the channel decoder, so that the proposed receiver benefits from the turbo-processing gains. Channel estimation is also treated in an iterative fashion. The complete receiver is well suited to theumts downlink system as it drastically reduces theisi while keeping a reasonable computational complexity.     

A MC-CDMA system analysis in a software radio context

This paper presents a Multi-Carrier Code Division Multiple Access (Mc-Cdma) system analysis in a software radio context. Based on a combination of multi-carrier modulation and code division multiple access,Mc-Cdma benefits from the main advantages from both schemes: high spectral efficiency, high flexibility, multiple access capabilities, etc. It is firstly shown why, nowadays,Mc-Cdma is undoubtedly a high potential candidate for the air interface of the 4G cellular networks. TheMc-Cdma concept and the block-diagrams of the transmitter and the receiver are presented first. Afterwards, the technical issues concerning the processing devices for the implementation ofMc-Cdma systems in a software radio context are analysed. The advantages and disadvantages of Digital Signal Processors (Dsps) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (Fgpas) components are discussed. The implementation ofMc-Cdma systems and the integration of signal processing algorithms as Fast Hadamard Transform (Fht) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (Ifft) are considered and analysed for the first time. Finally, implementation results with a mixed prototyping board are presented. Then, it is shown that a new combination of the flow graphs ofFht andIfft leads to interesting computation savings and that hardware structures asFgpas are more adapted thanDsps to those intensive computation functions. Finally, for the completeMc-Cdma modem implementation, the necessity of a Co-Design methodology is highlighted in order to obtain the best matching between algorithms and architecture.     

Improving parallel EKF-based nonlinear channel equalization using unscented transformation

The paper presents a new review of parallel Kalman filtering for nonlinear channel equalization. A Network of Extended Kalman Filters (nekf) has already been suggested for this purpose. This equalizer gives recursively a minimum mean squared error (mmse) estimation of a sequence of transmitted symbols according to a state formulation of a digital communication scheme. It is essentially based on two mechanisms: the approximation of the non Gaussiana posteriori probability density function (pdf) of the symbol sequence by a Weighted Gaussian Sum (wgs); and the local linearization of the nonlinear channel function for each branch of the network. Since the linearization, bearing on scattered symbol states, is one of the major limitations of thenekf, a new Kalman filtering approach, the Unscented Kalman Filter (ukf) suggested by Julier and Uhlman is considered in this paper for an interesting adaptation to the equalization context. Theukf algorithm is based on the equations of a Kalman filter, as the optimal linear minimum variance estimator, and on determining conditional expectations based on a kind of deterministic Monte-Carlo simulations. The new equalizer referred to as the Network ofukf (nukf), thus combines density approximation by awgs and the Unscented Transformation (ut) principle to circumvent the linearization brought within eachekf and is shown to perform better than thenekf based equalizer for severe nonlinear channels. Also, an adaptive version of thenukf is developed using the k-means clustering algorithm for noise-free channel output identification, since thenukf-based algorithm does not require the knowledge of the channel nonlinearity model.     

Optimisation de la quantification vectorielle codée par treillis: application au codage des paramètres LSF

Speech coders operating at low bit rates necessitate efficient encoding of the linear predictive coding (Lpc) coefficients. Line spectral Frequencies (Lsf) parameters are currently one of the most efficient choices of transmission parameters for theLpc coefficients. In this paper, an optimized trellis coded vector quantization (Tcvq) scheme for encoding theLsf parameters is presented. When the selection of a proper distortion measure is the most important issue in the design and operation of the encoder, an appropriate weighted distance measure has been used during theTcvq construction process. We further applied the optimizedTcvq system for encoding theLsf parameters of the us Federal Standard (Fs1016) 4.8 kbps speech coder. At lower bit rates, objective and subjective evaluation results show that the incorporatedLsf tcvq encoder performs better than the 34 bits/frameLsf scalar quantizer used originally in the fs1016 coder. The subjective tests reveal also that the 27 bit/frame scheme produces equivalent perceptual quality to that when theLsf parameters are unquantized.     

Space applications of optical communications

Optical communication in Space is now a reality. In this paper we present the recent developments that were undertaken in Europe for this application. We first describe the different missions where optical communications are useful: link between two geostationary satellites (geo-geo), Data Relay Mission (leo-geo) and High Data Rate Satellite Constellation Network. Then we detail the different candidate laser technologies from the most straightforward technologies that have been developed for optical fiber applications (λ=1.55 µm) and 0.8 µm technology based on Silicon detector to the recent developments based on high power fiber amplifiers. In the last chapter we describe thesilex (Semi conductor Intersatellite Link Experiment) program which performs optical communication betweenspot4 Earth observation satellite (cnes) andartemis (esa). The excellent results based on 0.8 µm laser diode technology are considered to be a major milestone in optical intersatellite communication     

A countermeasure againstDDOS attacks using active networks technologies

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoCS) attack consumes the resources of a remote host or network by sending a massive amount ofIP packets from many distributed hosts. It is a pressing problem on the Internet as demonstrated by recent attacks on major e-commerce servers andISPs. Since the attack is distributed and the attack tools evolve at a rapid and alarming rate, an effective solution must be formulated using a distributed and adaptive approach. In this paper, we propose a countermeasure againstDDoCS attacks using a method we call Active Shaping. Our method employs the Active Networks technologies, which incorporates programmability into network nodes. The Active Networks technology enables us to deter congestion and bandwidth consumption of the backbone network caused byDDoCS attacks, and to prevent our system from dropping packets of legitimate users mistakenly. This paper introduces the concept of our method, system design and evaluates the effectiveness of our method using a prototype.     

Bandwidth sharing under the assured forwarding Per-Hop behavior

The DiffServ’s Assured Forwarding (af) Per-Hop Behavior (phb) Group defines a differentiated forwarding of packets in four independent classes, each class having three levels of drop precedence. Specific end-to-end services based on thisphb are still being defined. A particular type of service that could assure a given rate to a traffic aggregate has been outlined elsewhere. In such a service, a fair distribution of bandwidth is one of the main concerns. This paper presents experimental work carried out to evaluate howaf distributes bandwidth among flows under different load conditions and traffic patterns. We focused on the effect that marking mechanisms have on bandwidth sharing among flows within a singleaf class. The traffic types we used includeudp flows, individual and aggregatedtcp flows, mix oftcp andudp, tcp sessions with heterogeneous round-trip times, as well as color-blind and color-aware re-marking at the aggregation point fortcp flows. Tests were performed on real and simulated networks. We have found certain conditions under whichaf distributes bandwidth fairly among nonadaptiveudp flows andtcp aggregates. Finally, we evaluate a basic rule for setting the parameters of the two-rate Three-Color Marker conditioning algorithm (trtcm) in order to achieve a better bandwidth distribution fortcp flows.