Tracking Mobile Users with Uncertain Parameters

A method of reducing the wireless cost of tracking mobile users with uncertain parameters is developed in this paper. Such uncertainty arises naturally in wireless networks, since an efficient user tracking is based on a prediction of its future call and mobility parameters. The conventional approach based on dynamic tracking is not reliable in the sense that inaccurate prediction of the user mobility parameters may significantly reduce the tracking efficiency. Unfortunately, such uncertainty is unavoidable for mobile users, especially for a bursty mobility pattern. The two main contributions of this study are a novel method for topology-independent distance tracking, and a combination of a distance-based tracking with a distance-sensitive timer that guarantees both efficiency and robustness. The expected wireless cost of tracking under the proposed method is significantly reduced, in comparison to the existing methods currently used in cellular networks. Furthermore, as opposed to other tracking methods, the worst case tracking cost is bounded from above and governed by the system, such that it outperforms the existing methods. The proposed strategy can be easily implemented, and it does not require a significant computational power from the user.     

Comparison of signaling loads for PCS systems

We present a comparison of the control signaling load of two vastly different architectures for providing personal communication services (PCSs). One architecture is based on current cellular networks. The other architecture, called the wireless distributed call processing architecture (WDCPA), distributes processing from the mobile switching centers and cell sites and executes new procedures for tracking mobile users and locating mobile users to deliver calls. We determine the signaling load generated within each system to support mobility management and call control based on standard assumptions about the operating parameters of a cellular network. Our results show that, when compared to current cellular systems, for simple single-connection services, WDCPA has marginally reduced cross-network signaling loads. For multiconnection calls, WDCPA incurs 35% less total signaling load for mobility management, has reduced cross-network signaling load for mobility management by up to 65%, and depending on the user model (e.g., data or telecommunication), has reduced total cross-network signaling load, including procedures for call/connection and mobility management, by up to 55% when compared to current cellular systems, while more flexibly supporting services     

Location estimation and trajectory prediction for cellular networks with mobile base stations

This paper provides mobility estimation and prediction for a variant of the GSM network that resembles an ad hoc wireless mobile network in which base stations and users are both mobile. We propose using a Robust Extended Kalman Filter (REKF) to derive an estimate of the mobile user's next mobile base station from the user's location, heading, and altitude, to improve connection reliability and bandwidth efficiency of the underlying system. Our analysis demonstrates that our algorithm can successfully track the mobile users with less system complexity, as it requires measurements from only one or two closest mobile base stations. Further, the technique is robust against system uncertainties caused by the inherent deterministic nature of the mobility model. Through simulation, we show the accuracy of our prediction algorithm and the simplicity of its implementation.     

Proactive key distribution using neighbor graphs

User mobility in wireless data networks is increasing because of technological advances, and the desire for voice and multimedia applications. These applications, however, require that handoffs between base stations (or access points) be fast to maintain the quality of the connections. In this article we introduce a novel data structure, the neighbor graph, that dynamically captures the mobility topology of a wireless network. We show how neighbor graphs can be utilized to obtain a 99 percent reduction in the authentication time of an IEEE 802.11 handoff (full EAP-TLS) by proactively distributing necessary key material one hop ahead of the mobile user. We also present a reactive method for fast authentication that requires only firmware changes to access points and hence can easily be deployed on existing wireless networks.     

Adjacent-Cell Interference in Direct-Sequence CDMA Forward Traffic Channels

Each transmission from a base station in a mobile cellular direct-sequence CDMA network is a source of interference for the receivers in the mobile handsets that are operating in adjacent cells. This interference can limit the capacity of the forward traffic channels. The effect of adjacent-cell interference on the performance of the handset receivers is evaluated for a mobile cellular CDMA network that employs quadriphase-shift-key spreading, convolutional coding, and soft-decision decoding. It is demonstrated that acceptable performance may not be possible for a fully loaded cellular network. Of particular interest in this paper are cellular networks in which the base stations are mobile and must be interconnected by wireless communication links. Such networks are important for military applications and certain civilian emergency communications services.     

Locating strategies for personal communication networks, a noveltracking strategy

The partition of location areas is designed to minimize the total costs of finding users' location and tracking their movement in personal communication networks (PCNs). A new scheme to partition and track mobile users and its implementation based on cellular architecture are proposed. According to the tracking strategy, the mobile station (MS) transmits only update messages at specific reporting cells, while the search for a mobile user is done at the vicinity of the cell to which the user has just reported. We use the cost analysis model to demonstrate the feasibility of updating and searching costs to reduce the amount of resources when using wireless channels. Simulations are performed to compare the performance of three schemes: always update, always search, and our new scheme     

Immune optimization algorithm for solving vertical handoff decision problem in heterogeneous wireless network

In heterogeneous wireless network environment, wireless local area network (WLAN) is usually deployed within the coverage of a cellular network to provide users with the convenience of seamless roaming among heterogeneous wireless access networks. Vertical handoffs between the WLAN and the cellular network maybe occur frequently. As for the vertical handoff performance, there is a critical requirement for developing algorithms for connection management and optimal resource allocation for seamless mobility. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model for vertical handoff decision problem, and propose a multi-objective optimization immune algorithm-based vertical handoff decision scheme. The proposed scheme can enable a wireless access network not only to balance the overall load among all base stations and access points but also maximize the collective battery lifetime of mobile terminals. Results based on a detailed performance evaluation study are also presented here to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme.     

5G双小区协作流动热点补偿研究

在通信用户数密集用户业务总量较多的UMi场景下,无线网络节点较多小区覆盖半径较小,用户在小区间移动导致小区间用户分布不均匀,原有用户数及业务量标准部署的5G异构网络相对稀疏,无法满足用户流动产生热点热时容量需求时,双小区协作流动热点补偿采用异构网络多点协作传输技术对小区进行补热,将处于相同移动状态的多个用户虚拟成一个以中心用户为中心的用户簇,建立3D MIMO流动热点模型,提出在两小区以用户最小传输速率为约束条件,最小化小区基站总功率的优化算法,得出高容量、高速率用户体验的"潮汐效应"解决方案。     

Local Base Station Cooperation Via Finite-Capacity Links for the Uplink of Linear Cellular Networks

Cooperative decoding at the base stations (or access points) of an infrastructure wireless network is currently well recognized as a promising approach for intercell interference mitigation, thus enabling high frequency reuse. Deployment of cooperative multicell decoding depends critically on the tolopology and quality of the available backhaul links connecting the base stations. This work studies a scenario where base stations are connected only if in adjacent cells, and via finite-capacity links. Relying on a linear Wyner-type cellular model with no fading, achievable rates are derived for the two scenarios where base stations are endowed only with the codebooks of local (in-cell) mobile stations, or also with the codebooks used in adjacent cells. Moreover, both uni- and bidirectional backhaul links are considered. The analysis sheds light on the impact of codebook information, decoding delay, and network planning (frequency reuse) on the performance of multicell decoding as enabled by local and finite-capacity backhaul links. Analysis in the high-signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime and numerical results validate the main conclusions.      

Optimization of wireless resources for personal communicationsmobility tracking

In personal communications applications, users communicate via wireless with a wireline network. The wireline network tracks the current location of the user, and can therefore route messages to a user regardless of the user's location. In addition to its impact on signaling within the wireline network, mobility tracking requires the expenditure of wireless resources as well, including the power consumption of the portable units carried by the users and the radio bandwidth used for registration and paging. Ideally, the mobility tracking scheme used for each user should depend on the user's call and mobility pattern, so the standard approach, in which all cells in a registration area are paged when a call arrives, may be wasteful of wireless resources. In order to conserve these resources, the network must have the capability to page selectively within a registration area, and the user must announce his or her location more frequently. We propose and analyze a simple model that captures this additional flexibility. Dynamic programming is used to determine an optimal announcing strategy for each user. Numerical results for a simple one-dimensional mobility model show that the optimal scheme may provide significant savings when compared to the standard approach even when the latter is optimized by suitably choosing the registration area size on a per-user basis. Ongoing research includes computing numerical results for more complicated mobility models and determining how existing system designs might be modified to incorporate our approach     

Cell Identification Codes for Tracking Mobile Users

The minimization of the wireless cost of tracking mobile users is a crucial issue in wireless networks. Some of the previous strategies addressing this issue leave an open gap, by requiring the use of information that is not generally available to the user (for example, the distance traveled by the user). For this reason, both the implementation of some of these strategies and the performance comparison to existing strategies is not clear. In this work we propose to close this gap by the use of Cell Identification Codes (CIC) for tracking mobile users. Each cell periodically broadcasts a short message which identifies the cell and its orientation relatively to other cells in the network. This information is used by the users to efficiently update their location. We propose several cell identification encoding schemes, which are used to implement different tracking strategies, and analyze the amount of information required by each tracking strategy. One of our major results is that there is no need to transmit a code which is unique for each cell. For example, a 3 bits CIC is sufficient to implement a distance-based tracking strategy in a two-dimensional system. In addition, we propose a combination of timer and movement tracking strategy, based on either a one-bit or a two-bit CIC, depending on system topology and user mobility. An important property of our framework is that the overall performance cost, and hence its comparison to existing methods, is evaluated for each tracking strategy. The CIC-based strategies are shown to outperform the geographic-based method currently used in existing networks, and the timer-based method, over a wide range of parameters. Moreover, this superiority increases as the number of users per cell increases.     

User mobility profile prediction: An adaptive fuzzy inference approach

Predicting the probabilities that a mobile user will be active in other cells at future moments poses a significant technical challenge to network resource management in multimedia wireless communications. The probability information can be used to assist base stations to maintain a balance between guaranteeing quality of service (QoS) to mobile users and achieving maximum resource utilization. This paper proposes a novel adaptive fuzzy logic inference system to estimate and predict the probability information for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS/CDMA) wireless communications networks. The estimation is based on measured pilot signal strengths at the mobile user from a number of nearby base stations, and the prediction is obtained using the recursive least square (RLS) algorithm. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed technique under various path loss and channel shadowing conditions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mobile multi-user ATM platforms: architectures, design issues, andchallenges

Rapid growth in use of the Internet at and away from the workplace has spurred tremendous interest in the provision of anytime-anywhere network connectivity to mobile users. Commonly studied mobility scenarios involve users equipped with portable data terminals roaming around at slow to moderate speeds within a coverage area. Mobile IP and wireless ATM are examples of protocols designed for providing network connectivity to such mobiles in IP and ATM networks. A different application involving mobile multi-user platforms (MMUP) equipped with onboard private ATM networks is discussed in this article. Examples of such mobile platforms include airplanes, trains, and ships. The presence of an onboard network, multiple users, and potentially high speed of travel presents unique challenges in provision of internetwork connectivity to these MMUPs. Specific characteristics of MMUPs, architectural issues in design of the underlying cellular network, subnetwork mobility within ATM internetworks, location management of MMUPs, and multi-user connection handoffs on MMUP moves are the main issues addressed in the article. Network architectures and protocols developed for terminal mobility scenarios are evaluated for applicability in the present context, and new solutions are presented for problems unique to the MMUP application scenario     

Cell hopping: a lightweight architecture for wireless communications

We propose a novel lightweight cellular wireless network architecture called cell hopping. Unlike traditional cellular networks, cell hopping has base stations interconnected by wireless inter-base station links, WIBLs. WIBLs support all routing and switching in cell hopping networks, obviating the need for costly core networks (or a costly switching infrastructure). Cell hopping utilizes an unlicensed frequency and presents a low-cost, rapidly deployable solution for mobile communications. We discuss various technical challenges that must be addressed before cell hopping can become a reality. In particular, we concentrate on location management. We propose an on-demand location management technique that completely eliminates the need for location databases and periodic updates by mobile stations. We provide a few variations of the location management scheme, and compare their performance through simulation.     

Efficient Handover with Load Balancing: A Quality Perspective Approach

The heterogeneous wireless networking environment determined by the latest developments in wireless access technologies promises a high level of communication resources for mobile computational devices. Although the communication resources provided, especially referring to bandwidth, enable multimedia streaming to mobile users, maintaining a high user perceived quality is still a challenging task. The main factors which affect quality in multimedia streaming over wireless networks are mainly the error-prone nature of the wireless channels and the user mobility. These factors determine a high level of dynamics of wireless communication resources, namely variations in throughput and packet loss as well as network availability and delays in delivering the data packets. Under these conditions maintaining a high level of quality, as perceived by the user, requires a quality oriented mobility management scheme. Consequently a proposed smooth adaptive soft-handover algorithm, a novel quality oriented handover management scheme which unlike other similar solutions, smoothly transfer the data traffic from one network to another using multiple simultaneous connections.     

Location management strategies for cellular mobile networks

Location management in mobile communication systems is concerned with those network functions necessary to allow the users to be reached wherever they are in the network coverage area. The basic operations for that purpose-paging and location updating-are resource-consuming since both involve signalling over the radio link between the mobile stations and base stations. Future cellular mobile communication networks (wireless personal communication networks (PCN)) will have to support a large number of users, so a significant amount of radio signalling can be expected. This paper describes the conventional location management strategy (the one used in modern cellular systems like the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)) and reviews, describes and comments on some alternative location management proposals for future high-density PCN environments that aim to reduce this expected high (radio) signalling load     

Dynamic resource allocation in mobile heterogeneous cellular networks

User mobility is a challenging issue in macro and femto cellular networks for the fifth-generation and newer mobile communications due to the time-varying interference and topology experienced. In this paper, we consider an OFDMA-based two-tier network with one macro cell and several femto cells, wherein each macro user and/or femto user can leave or enter its serving cell frequently, referred to as user mobility. A resource allocation problem with different rate requirements of mobile users is then formulated. Assuming well knowledge of the user locations and the channel state information, we propose a dynamic algorithm with static and dynamic parts for a better trade-of between computational complexity and system throughput. The static algorithm, named interference weighted cluster algorithm in this paper, is based on the graph theory to cluster the femtocells by minimizing the interference between clusters, while the dynamic algorithm is to deal with the user mobility by sharing the resource blocks under the constraints of rate requirements. Numerical results are demonstrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed dynamic resource allocation algorithm in terms of capacity, computational time, and outage probability.

     

Location uncertainty in mobile networks: a theoretical framework

As users, services, databases, and computers become increasingly mobile, so fades the era of the fixed network. Modern networks are becoming mobile networks which must accommodate a broad range services with differing mobility characteristics. Consequently, there is an impetus to understand mobility and its effect on communications systems. Of particular interest are the unique stresses imposed by mobile computing and especially mobile computer programs (agents). As an aid to greater understanding, we propose a theoretical framework for the study of mobility tracking based on user/service/host location probability distributions. We show how this methodology, using stochastic ordering and information theory, can enable quantitative comparison of various mobility management schemes as well as insight into the mobility tracking problem over a wide range of mobility characteristics. This general approach should aid both applications and future research     

Dynamic and location‐based power allocation mechanism for inter‐cell interference mitigation in 5G heterogeneous cellular network

In this paper, a dynamic and location‐based power allocation mechanism is proposed which could be adopted at both macrocell (MC) and overlaid fixed/mobile small cells (SCs) to mitigate inter‐cell interference (ICI) effects in heterogeneous cellular networks (HetCNs). The proposed Dynamic Power Allocation based on User Location (DPAUL) mechanism allows both MCs and deployed fixed/mobile SCs to dynamically allocate transmit power to its serving base stations (BSs) based on the location of a user in the cell. The paper illustrates the mitigation of dynamic downlink interferences occurring due to the mobility of SCs and users. The mobility of cell and its users is analyzed by introducing the Cell‐User mobility (CUM) model in the network. The proposed DPAUL mechanism is compared with the authors' other ICI mitigation techniques: Dynamic Fixed Region Cooperation (DFRC) and Dynamic Power Allocation Mechanism (DPAM). The network metrics Sumrate, User throughput, Energy‐efficiency, and Outage probability are investigated with allocation of sub 6 GHz and mmWave spectrums at MCs and fSCs/mSCs, respectively.