Physical layer enhancements in 5G-NR for direct access via satellite systems

Among the several features and capabilities introduced by every new 3GPP release on 5G cellular systems, the latest Release 17 will be remembered as the first that specifies a set of enhancements and adaptations to support mobile broadband services via satellite direct access. Specifically focused on the necessary physical layer mechanism and procedure modifications, this paper will present in detail the 3GPP work about the inclusion of satellite systems in 5G networks.     

Requirements on Satellite Access Node and User Equipment for Non-Terrestrial Networks in 5G New Radio of 3GPP Release-17

For the first time, 3GPP considered in Release-17 the introduction of mobile satellite service (MSS) frequency bands for 3GPP user equipment (UE) direct connectivity with satellites and had to consider the coexistence in adjacent bands with terrestrial networks (TNs). This paper will further explain the most challenging and the main surprising outcomes of this work, which opened new market opportunities for both terrestrial and nonterrestrial stakeholders. 5G New Radio nonterrestrial networks (NTNs) for satellite communications are representing a major breakthrough in the history of telecommunication for the capability of reuniting two different types of services, that is, terrestrial and nonterrestrial, by reusing the same waveform and potentially the same type of terminal. One of the major conclusions of the 5G NR NTN 3GPP work in Release-17 was that NTN UE could reuse the current requirements of the TN UE. For this reason, the same terminal can connect to both TNs and to nonterrestrial satellite constellations. Consequently, the market is not fragmented and therefore there will be a real opportunity for both terrestrial and satellite operators to increase the coverage and the quality of the service all over the world. This is one of the most important breakthroughs that 3GPP Release-17 work was able to justify because it clearly shows that satellite connectivity using 5G NR technology is not only for dedicated satellite 5G NR UE with a higher power class. On the other hand, the 3GPP work also shows that the satellite connectivity does not require a dedicated satellite waveform, because 5G NR waveform based on CP-OFDM (for downlink) and DFT-s-OFDM (for uplink) is sufficient. Another important finding is that TN can coexist with NTN on adjacent channels with relaxed ACIR requirements for the tested simulation scenarios. In fact, the satellite 5G NR requirements are lower when compared with terrestrial base station (BS) requirements from previous 3GPP releases. The satellite ecosystem tremendously changed after these findings, and both satellite and terrestrial stakeholders now see a potential market opportunity.     

5G随机接入增强技术

结合最新5G标准研究进展,对5G随机接入技术相比4G的增强方案展开研究分析,包括R16结合配置授权的上行资源分配方式实现了两步随机接入技术,R17针对非地面通信场景下的同步增强以及支持非激活状态下的上行小数据传输。通过研究表明,随机接入基础方案已完成,后续将向满足特定场景需求以及提升随机接入性能方面增强。     

基于NR的5G多播/广播关键技术

交互式网络电视（internet protocol television，IPTV）、群组通信等应用具有明显的多播/广播业务特征，5G蜂窝移动通信系统需要高效支持这类应用数据的传输。首先，按照多播/广播业务数据从5G核心网经由基站到终端的不同传输方式分析了 5G 多播/广播系统的基本架构；然后，从无线空口协议栈、物理层与高层协议增强、业务过程与业务连续性等方面对5G多播/广播无线传输技术进行了详细分析；最后，对5G多播/广播技术的后续演进方向进行了展望。     

Protocol design for mobile radio group communications oversatellite

A protocol design for a mobile radio service supporting half-duplex push-to-talk voice communications over mobile satellite systems is presented. The service enables a closed group of mobile radio users to communicate among themselves, so that a transmission from any user is received by all. A key issue is the efficient utilization of satellite channels. Demand-assignment multiple access (DAMA) is employed to allocate channels only to those user groups in active sessions of conversations. Owing to the unique characteristics of the half-duplex point-to-multipoint group communications, a new DAMA protocol is proposed for this service. Within a channel assigned to a user group, access contentions exacerbated by very long round-trip delay can occur. A signaling protocol is devised to arbitrate access contentions so as to improve the utilization of the assigned channel. The proposed access control protocol offers 65% or 18% improvement in throughput capacity compared to manual carrier-sensed access without and with collision detection, respectively     

Third generation WCDMA radio evolution

Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) produced the first full version of the WCDMA standard at the end of 1999. This release, called Release'99, contains all the necessary elements to meet the requirements for IMT‐2000 technologies, including 2 Mbps data rate with variable bit‐rate capability, support of multi‐service, QoS differentiation and efficient packet data. The Release 5 specifications were created in March 2002 and they contain downlink packet data operation enhancement, under the title high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA). HSDPA utilizes Hybrid ARQ and higher order modulation for improving data‐spectral efficiency and for pushing bit rates beyond 10 Mbps. The further 3GPP releases will study the enhancements of packet‐data performance in uplink. Other important features in future 3GPP releases include advanced antenna technologies and WCDMA standard for new spectrum allocations. The paper describes the main solutions of 3GPP WCDMA standard in more detail. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

5G NSA和SA组网边界优化方案的研究及应用

5G网络未完全演进成SA only模式之前,在NSA/SA和SA only组网边界区域,仅支持NSA的终端会给网络带来干扰,严重影响用户感知.存量NSA终端用户换机需要一定周期,该类问题预计将持续较长时间.为了保证用户感知,本文在传统规避方案的基础上,提出了在双模站点与SA only站点边界区域设置隔离带的新方案,在双...     

Mobile radio group communications by satellite

Mobile radio group communications enable a closed group of users to communicate among themselves using push-to-talk (PTT), half duplex transmissions, such that one's transmission is received by all. New protocol designs are presented which support group communications over mobile satellite systems. A new demand assignment multiple access (DAMA) protocol is necessitated by the inappropriateness of call-based channel assignments. Channels are assigned to individual user-groups engaged in active conversations. As members of a user-group contend for access to the assigned channel, access control by the usual manual methods is ineffective due to the very long round trip delay. A novel signaling protocol which automates access control is proposed. Carrier sensing, signal capture, and collision detection are employed to minimize access contentions. The throughput and holding time of the assigned channel are analyzed. Numerical results show that the access control protocol improves the capacity of the assigned channel by up to 65%     

Network aspects of integrating 5G and satellite communication

Since 2017, 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) is working on integration of satellite communication in 3GPP. This paper discusses the results of the work on service and network architecture aspects in 3GPP Technical Specification Group (TSG) Service and System Aspects (SA) and 3GPP TSG Core Networks and Terminals (CT). This paper does not discuss radio aspects as are specified in 3GPP TSG radio access network (RAN). 3GPP first specified requirements and use cases for satellite access. Subsequently, architecture and protocol specifications were created for integration scenarios, direct access, network selection, mobility management, and satellite backhaul with quality of service (QoS). Also, impacts of regulatory aspects on satellite integration have been discussed in 3GPP. With the completion of Release 17, 3GPP specifications are now ready for implementation of integrated 5G satellite networks. 3GPP will continue with further development of satellite integration in Release 18 and Release 19.     

Seamless spectrum handover considering differential path-loss in cognitive radio systems

In cognitive radio systems, spectrum handover occurs when a secondary user changes frequency due to the appearance of a primary user. Spectrum handover may result in degraded system performance because of the different propagation loss of the different frequency. In this case, data transmission is disrupted and it is more difficult to provide seamless service. Here, we propose a seamless handover scheme based on the prediction of cell coverage. The proposed handover scheme can avoid service disruption and can reduce redundant handovers. The efficiency of the scheme is validated by simulation results.     

Network architecture and medium access control for deploying third generation (3G) wireless systems over CATV networks

We propose a novel and cost‐effective approach for the deployment of third generation (3G) wireless systems over hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) CATV networks. The main goal is to facilitate 3G deployment over the existing CATV plant and reduce the large cost required for building a dedicated last mile infrastructure for 3G access networks. Our proposal reduces the last mile cost by sharing the existing CATV network and using the standard equipment and protocols of data‐over‐cable systems interface specifications (DOCSIS). This allows rapid deployment of 3G wireless systems, facilitates convergence of wireless and wireline networks and paves the way towards all IP wireless networks. Enhancements to the DOCSIS medium access control (MAC) protocol must be implemented in order to support Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees for 3G data and signaling traffic. This paper presents the proposed 3G over CATV network architecture and DOCSIS medium access control (MAC) enhancements for enabling the support of QoS guarantees for 3G data and signaling traffic. The proposed MAC enhancements can reduce the access delay for delay‐sensitive traffic by 30 to 40% over existing DOCSIS MAC without compromising QoS guarantees for other traffic classes, or the DOCSIS channel utilization. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal cooperative strategy based on quantum bat for cognitive radio of energy harvesting

In order to reduce energy consumption and improve spectral efficiency of the cognitive relay wireless communication system in 5G network,an optimal cooperative transmission strategy of information and energy was designed for cognitive relay radio with wireless energy harvesting.For the proposed optimal cooperative strategy,the maximal throughput formula and outage probability of secondary user were deduced.In order to resolve the derived maximum throughput equation,a quantum bat algorithm which was based on the optimization mechanism of quantum computing and bat algorithm was designed to solve the deduced equation,and the optimal cooperative transmission scheme for information and energy could be obtained.Simulation results show that the proposed optimal cooperative strategy not only can meet the information transfer demand of primary user,but also can realize the energy self-supply of the secondary user system and improve the communication quality of the secondary user.The proposed optimal cooperative strategy has a better performance than the cooperative strategy of existing cognitive relay radio for different simulation scenarios.     

An enhanced MAC protocol based on the IEEE 802.11 for data relay satellite systems

Data relay satellite (DRS) systems play an important role in space information networks. Characterized by highly dynamic topology and discontinuous communication links, it is suggested that the IEEE 802.11 protocol employed in such a network could be more flexible. However, such a terrestrial network protocol could not be applied to DRS systems directly, nor supports a fast response due to the long propagation delay and severe packet collision. To address this challenge, we proposed an enhanced media access control (MAC) protocol based on the IEEE 802.11 protocol providing multiaccess for low earth orbit (LEO) distributed constellations. In this paper, we investigated the access delay performance of the proposed protocol in our model. Then, we derived a contention window adaption by using an iteration algorithm that can dynamically adjust the values of the contention window depending on the number of user satellites in the communication coverage. Simulation results show that the average access delay does not exceed 20 seconds, which is significantly lower than the standard protocol. Moreover, the traffic threshold is increased to 0.6, and the maximum throughput has doubled compared with the standard protocol. It is proved that the enhanced MAC protocol shows a better performance in DRS systems.     

Applicability of an augmented GPS for navigation in the NationalAirspace System

The future applicability of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to the National Airspace System (NAS) for user navigation and landing support is discussed. Functional characteristics and performance estimates are presented for several GPS enhancements, including the use of a geostationary satellite L-band repeater, a CONUS calibration network, and pseudolites. Analysis results indicate that an enhanced GPS system can meet US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) enroute/terminal area navigation and nonprecision approach requirements under conditions which include accuracy degradation due to worst-case satellite failure, selective availability, and signal integrity. Similarly, it is shown that a Category I precision approach and landing requirement is essentially met using two pseudolites per airport. Additional analysis and extensive testing are required to validate the Category I findings     

EHM: a novel efficient protocol based handshaking mechanism for underwater acoustic sensor networks

Underwater Media Access Control (MAC) protocol design faces more challenges due to the unique characteristics of acoustic communication such as the long propagation delay and limited bandwidth. The long propagation delay in underwater causes the hidden terminal and spatially unfair problem. In this paper, we propose an efficient MAC protocol for multi-hop underwater acoustic sensor networks, which we shall call the EHM—Efficient Handshaking Mechanism. It is a handshaking-based protocol that addresses the hidden terminal and spatially unfair problem, and the EHM protocol can improve the channel utilization by allowing a node to receive data packets from multiple potential senders simultaneously. This method can reduce the relative proportion of time spent on control packets. The performance of the proposed protocol is evaluated via simulations. Experiment results show that the EHM protocol outperforms in channel utilization, fairness of transmission and end-to-end packets delay.     

BRAIN—an architecture for a broadband radio access network of the next generation

The tremendous growth rates of the Internet as well as the area of mobile communications give rise to the chance that the mobile Internet is most promising by combining both the Internet and mobile communications. These prospects are the motivation for the European research project BRAIN (Broadband Radio Access for IP‐based Networks), which is developing an open architecture for a broadband wireless mobile access network offering an integrated communication platform across heterogeneous networks and, thus, goes beyond current third generation systems and towards the mobile Internet. The project covers three major technical areas: support of seamless service provision in a mobile environment; the design of an IP‐based access network that will support non‐cellular technologies such as wireless LANs; and requirements of a broadband air interface suitable for hot spots. BRAIN is going to integrate HIPERLAN/2 with UMTS by means of an IP access network. The work is guided by a user‐centric top‐down approach ensuring that user functionality is the key driver of the project. This article will focus on that part of the BRAIN work which specifies the main interfaces of the BRAIN architecture and deals with aspects related to the support of Quality of Service and mobility. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A protocol for adaptive transmission in direct-sequence spread-spectrum packet radio networks

Wireless communication channels may change greatly from one transmission to the next, due to variations in propagation loss and interference. The use of fixed transmission parameters for such channels results in wasted energy when channel conditions are good. Adaptation of the power, code rate, and symbol rate reduces energy consumption and interference caused to other systems. Such adaptation requires information about the characteristics of the channel, which is more difficult to obtain in a packet radio network (PRN) or other mobile ad hoc network than in a typical cellular communication system. We develop methods for providing partial information about the channel state from three statistics that are derived by different subsystems in the receiving terminals of a direct-sequence spread-spectrum PRN. We present and evaluate a protocol that uses this information to adapt the transmission parameters in response to changes in interference and propagation conditions in the network. The performance of the new adaptive-transmission protocol is compared with a system with fixed transmission parameters and with an adaptive protocol that is furnished with perfect knowledge of the channel state at the completion of each transmission.     

On the need for dynamic downlink intercell interference coordination for realistic Long Term Evolution deployments

Intercell interference is the main issue limiting the capacity of modern orthogonal frequency‐division multiple access based cellular networks. Recently, extensive research work has been carried out in this field, and intercell interference coordination techniques have been recognized as key enablers of current (and future) cellular technologies. In this article, (i) a comprehensive survey of the most representative contributions is provided together with (ii) a generic methodology to measure their actual merit. The performance of several interference avoidance strategies has been evaluated both from system and user point of view in the context of a Long Term Evolution (LTE)‐based network considering not only synthetic cellular scenarios but also realistic deployments. Our literature review indicates that there is a need for adaptive/operator‐customizable low‐complex intercell interference coordination (ICIC) schemes suitable for realistic LTE deployments. Results obtained by means of a comprehensive set of simulations corroborate and support this premise. In this article, it is shown that simultaneous gains in terms of spectral/energy efficiency and fairness can be achieved through dynamic mechanisms with respect to both classic hard reuse schemes and static ICIC techniques. Besides numerical results, a novel merit assessment methodology based on several weighted performance metrics is proposed. Our findings show that dynamic schemes outperform static techniques by around 20–35% in realistic deployments. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimization of spectrum utilization in cognitive radio system

In Cognitive Radio (CR) networks, CR user has to detect the spectrum channel periodically to make sure that the channel is idle during data transmission frame in order to avoid the collisions to the primary users. Hence recent research has been focused on the interference avoidance problem. Quality of Service (QoS) requirement of CR user will affect the time of data transmission in each frame. In this paper, in order to solve the interference avoidance and spectrum utilization problems without cooperation among CR users, a new scheme to obtain the optimal duration of data transmission frame is proposed to maximize the spectrum utilization and guarantee the protection to the primary users. The main advantages of our proposed scheme include the followings: (1) QoS requirement of CR user is concerned; (2) p-persistent Media Access Control (MAC) random access is used to avoid the collisions among CR users; (3) CR network system capacity is considered. We develop a Markov chain of the primary spectrum channel states and an exponential distribution of the CR user??s traffic model to analyze the performance of our proposed scheme. Computer simulation shows that there is an optimal data transmission time to maximize the spectrum utilization. However, the regulatory constraint of the collision rate to the primary users has to be satisfied at the expense of spectrum utilization. And also the tradeoff between the spectrum utilization and the capacity of the CR system is taken into account.     

Energy consumption of the IEEE Std 802.15.3 MAC protocol in communication link set-up over UWB radio technology

This paper examines the overhead associated with the IEEE Std 802.15.3 medium access control (MAC) protocol when used in conjunction with Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) radio technology. Particular features of the protocol examined include establishing, modifying and terminating data streams. The main focus of the paper is to investigate the overhead introduced in terms of energy consumption to manage the communication links. One of the main UWB technology candidates, Impulse-Radio (IR-UWB), utilizes very short time domain pulses which are low power and difficult to detect. This raises the question of how to design an efficient MAC protocol to harness the potential of the physical layer (PHY). For high data rate WPAN applications, the IEEE Std 802.15.3 protocol has been proposed as a suitable MAC. In the simulations the data source rate and the number of devices in the network are varied and the considerable overhead produced by command frames is observed.