Unit III - Mobile Data Networks

4G Networks and Composite Radio Environment – Protocol Boosters – Hybrid 4G

Wireless Networks Protocols – Green Wireless Networks – Physical Layer and Multiple
Access – Channel Modelling for 4G – Concepts of 5G – channel access –air interface -
Cognitive Radio-spectrum management – C-RAN architecture - Vehicular
communications-protocol – Network slicing – MIMO, mmWave, Introduction to 6G.

4G NETWORKS AND COMPOSITE RADIO ENVIRONMENT

4G networks were widely deployed, providing faster and more reliable mobile
communication compared to previous generations. The primary features of 4G networks include
higher data transfer rates, low latency, and improved spectral efficiency. These networks use
technologies such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) to deliver high-speed wireless communication.
A composite radio environment refers to the coexistence of multiple Radio Frequency
(RF) signals and technologies in a given area. In the context of 4G networks, this may involve
the simultaneous operation of various radio technologies, including different frequency bands,
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) configurations, and various modulation schemes.
Here are some key points related to 4G networks and composite radio environments:
1. Frequency Bands:
 4G networks operate in a variety of frequency bands, including both lower frequencies
(sub-1 GHz) for better coverage and higher frequencies (1-6 GHz) for increased data
capacity.
 Different frequency bands may be used for uplink and downlink communications.
2. MIMO Technology:
 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology is an essential part of 4G networks.
It involves using multiple antennas for both transmission and reception to improve data
throughput and signal reliability.
3. Carrier Aggregation:
 4G networks often implement carrier aggregation, which involves combining multiple
frequency bands to increase data rates and network capacity.

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4. Modulation Schemes:
 4G networks use advanced modulation schemes, such as Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation (QAM), to transmit more data per symbol, improving spectral efficiency.
5. LTE Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro:
 LTE Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro are enhancements to the basic LTE technology,
introducing features like carrier aggregation, enhanced MIMO, and higher-order
modulation for increased performance.
6. Interference Management:
 In a composite radio environment, managing interference becomes crucial. Advanced
techniques, such as interference cancellation and mitigation strategies, are employed to
maintain network performance.
7. Network Sharing and Coexistence:
 In some cases, different mobile operators may share network infrastructure to reduce
costs. This requires careful planning to ensure that multiple networks can coexist without
causing interference.
It's important to note that the wireless communication landscape evolves, and new technologies
and standards may have emerged since my last update in January 2022. For the latest
information, it's recommended to check with relevant sources or telecommunication
organizations for the most recent developments in 4G networks and composite radio
environments.

PROTOCOL BOOSTERS
Protocol boosters work by dynamically optimizing the communication protocol to
improve efficiency of retrieval or processing. Each transmitter uses only as much protocol
functionality as necessary to send data on its local network. As data travels through the network,
protocol functionality is added as needed within the network itself.
[ Note: (Meaning)
Dynamically - ideas/active
Optimizing - Make the best/ in computer- rearrange or rewrite the data or software.
Transmitter - A piece of equipment that sends out electronic signals, television or radio
programmes, etc.]

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 A new methodology for protocol design, using incremental construction of the
protocol from elements called “protocol boosters”. Protocol boosters allow: (1) dynamic protocol
customization to heterogeneous environments and (2) rapid protocol evolution. Alternative
adaptation approaches, such as link layer, conversion, and termination protocols, protocol
boosters are both robust(strong) and efficient (do not replicate the functionality of the end-to-end
protocol)

Why Protocol Boosters?

At the heart of the success and power of the worldwide IP Internet are the general
purpose protocols in the TCP/IP protocol suite. Although these protocols, such as TCP and IP,
provide the flexible framework for building diverse applications, two limitations can be seen
precisely because of their success and generality:
• They evolve slower than the changes in networking technology and application requirements.
• They trade some loss in efficiency for their ability to handle increased heterogeneity.

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Slow Evolution of Protocols
Network technology and applications are changing rapidly, and existing protocols may not
operate well in new circumstances. For example, the fast growth of the Internet has raised the
potential problem of address exhaustion in IP version 4, leading to the creation of IP version 6.
Inefficiency of General Purpose Protocols
General purpose protocols are designed to operate in heterogeneous network environments
by minimizing the services required from lower layers. Minimizing lower layer service
requirement allows robust operation over the widest variety of network infrastructures, but
prevents the protocol from taking full advantage of lower layer services.

Protocol Boosters
A protocol booster is a software or hardware module that transparently improves
protocol performance. The booster can reside anywhere in the network or end systems, and
may operate independently (one-element booster), or in cooperation with other protocol
boosters (multi-element booster). Protocol boosters provide an architectural alternative to
existing protocol adaptation technique

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 A protocol booster is a supporting agent that by itself is not a protocol. It may add,
delete or delay protocol messages, but never originates, terminates, or converts that
protocol. A multi-element protocol booster may define new protocol messages to exchange
among themselves, but these protocols are originated and terminated by protocol booster
elements and are not visible or meaningful external to the booster.
A protocol booster is transparent to the protocol being boosted. Thus, the elimination of a
protocol booster will not prevent end-to-end communication
Protocol Booster Family
Multiple protocol boosters can operate simultaneously on the same protocol. Although a
booster itself is not a protocol, a protocol and a booster combine to form a new protocol. The
new protocol consists of the messages of the original protocol combined with any messages
exchanged among multi-element booster elements. We can implement a second booster for the
new protocol by concatenating or nesting it within the booster elements of the first booster .
Booster concatenation or nesting can continue
One Element Protocol Boosters
One Element Error Detection Booster for UDP
One Element ACK Compression Booster for TCP
One Element Congestion Control Booster for TCP
One Element Congestion ARQ Booster for TCP
Two Element Protocol Boosters
Forward Erasure Correction Booster for IP or TCP
Two Element Jitter Control Booster for IP
Two Element Selective ARQ Booster for IP or TCP

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HYBRID 4G WIRELESS NETWORKS PROTOCOLS
Hybrid Access Networks refer to a special architecture for broadband access networks
where two different network technologies are combined to improve bandwidth. A frequent
motivation for such Hybrid Access Networks is to combine one xDSL network with a wireless
network such as LTE.
[Note – Broadband a high-capacity transmission technique using a wide range of frequencies,
which enables a large number of messages to be communicated simultaneously.
xDSL is a technology which enables ordinary voice-grade copper telephone wires, used to
service more than 600 million customers worldwide]
One of the main motivations for such Hybrid Access Networks is to provide faster Internet
services in rural areas where it is not always cost-effective to deploy faster xDSL technologies
such as G.Fast or VDSL2 that cannot cover long distances between the street cabinet and the
home.

Wireless

Wired
Fig: Hybrid Access Networks
Several techniques are defined by the Broadband Forum to create Hybrid Access
Networks. To illustrate them, we assume that the end user has a hybrid CPE (Customer-
premises_equipment) router that is attached to both a wired access network such as xDSL and
a wireless one such as LTE. Other deployments are possible, e.g., the end user might have two
different access routers that are linked together by a cable instead of a single hybrid CPE router.

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The first deployment scenario is where the network operator provides a hybrid CPE router to
each subscriber but no specialized equipment in the operator's network.
There are two possible configurations for IP addresses.
A first deployment scenario is to allocate different IP addresses to the wired and
wireless interfaces. In this case, the hybrid CPE router needs to load-balance intelligently the
packets over the two networks. In particular, it must ensure that all packets belonging to a
given TCP connection are sent over the same interface.
A second deployment scenario is to allocate the same IP address to both the wired
and the wireless networks and configure the routing in these networks to ensure that
packets are correctly routed.
The second deployment scenario is where the network operator provides a hybrid
CPE router to each subscriber and installs a Hybrid Aggregation Gateway (HAG) inside its
access networks. The Hybrid Aggregation Gateway plays an important role in balancing the
packets sent by and destined to the hybrid CPE router over the two access networks.
[Note - Gateway - It is the IP address that is used when traffic from the current network
needs to leave the local network and get into different network]
The main objective of these technologies is to efficiently use the two access links even
if they have different delay and bandwidth.
One technical difficulty that occurs when distributing packets over such
heterogeneous links is to accurately detect congestion, notably on the wireless network
whose bandwidth can vary quickly, and cope with the reordering
One approach uses GRE tunnels (it is a protocol) to hide the two links to the upper
layer protocol.
Both the hybrid CPE and the HAG need to reorder the received packets to ensure that
TCP receives in sequence packets.
The second approach uses Multipath TCP, a recent TCP extension that has been
designed to enable the transmission of the packets that belong to a single session across different
links. This approach leverages the ability of MPTCP to efficiently handle congestion and cope
with reordering on the heterogeneous access links.

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 MPTCP needs support in both the host and the server. Two approaches have been
defined for the interactions between the hybrid CPE router and the Hybrid Aggregation Gateway.
Otherwise, the Hybrid Aggregation Gateway includes a TCP converter

GREEN WIRELESS NETWORKS

Green Wireless Networks techniques enable green communications in future generation

of wireless systems that will rely on cooperation and cognition to meet increasing demand of
high data rate.

Fig: Green Wireless Network

World of wireless networks providing high speed internet usage to end-users as well as the
popularity of iPhone and last type of gadgets has surely increased the traffic demand, resulting in
stimulating fair evolution of net infrastructures and swift hike of power needs. Consequently, it
becomes necessary to preserve viable enlargement and to restrict the power cost.
The amount of power expenditure in wireless net results a major threats for environmental
protection due to increase of greenhouse gas ejection. It should be noted that the ICT
(Information Communication Technologies) Market grant 3% of universal Greenhouse Gases
(CO2) ejection
However, the enormous request of energy is mainly from the Radio Access Network (RAN),
which contributes 56.6% of the power utilization of a cellular network.

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The uneconomical energy deliver transmutation interested in diffusion by Base Station (BS)
systems, in which the RF control loudspeaker segment absorbs up to 69% of the power
complete, dispersing astonishingly amount of energy with subject to heat and small part
correlating with some other aspects. (see Figure ), presenting a blend of dissimilar source that
show the utilization role from dissimilar mechanism.
The Solutions to reduce Energy Consumption:
1. In this the BSs are made to work in sleep mode concepts for wireless base stations
where the transmitter power amplifier is off when there is intake of low level data and
vice –versa. Switching off the power amplifier can have energy reduction estimated
at 10-20%.
2. The another approach is of using diverse radio base stations, femtocells and
multihop relays as compared to networks which consist only of radio base stations.
Mathematical analysis states that the use of diverse network can have energy savings of
60-70%.
3. The most efficient technique is to have energy efficient packet scheduling schemes
for radio base station data transmission due to which bandwidth expansion (low traffic)
and compression (high traffic) techniques can save energy.
According to SMART 2020 information the quantity of CO2 owing to ICT was nearly 149.5
of net emission CO2
Many countries have taken measures in saving energy above the globe and intend to
enclose a greenhouse gas decline by the following actions:

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1. Smart motor systems: China government has guarantee to reduce 10% of China’s emissions
(2% of global emissions) in 2020 coming from China’s motor systems alone and to improve
industrial growth even by 10% .
2. Smart logistics: European Union being a leader of proficiency in transport and storage, smart
logistics in Europe could deliver fuel, electricity and heating savings up to 20% greenhouse gas
reduction by 2020.
3. Smart buildings: Better conniving of buildings having automation and management system
may perhaps hoard 14% of North America’s building emission.
4. Elegant grid: This technology may possibly mainly diminish power utilization by proper
monitor and administration of power grid, through designing stylish meter and after that by
merging extra superior ICTs into the professed power internet can lessen up to 31% of GHG
discharge in India.

PHYSICAL LAYER IN 4G

The LTE air interface physical layer offers data transport services to higher layers. The access to
these services is through the use of a transport channel via the MAC sub-layer. The physical
layer is expected to perform the following functions in order to provide the data transport
service:
 Error detection on the transport channel and indication to higher layers
 FEC encoding/decoding of the transport channel
 Hybrid ARQ soft-combining
 Rate matching of the coded transport channel to physical channels
 Mapping of the coded transport channel onto physical channels
 Power weighting of physical channels
 Modulation and demodulation of physical channels
 Frequency and time synchronization
 Radio characteristics measurements and indication to higher layers
 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing
 Transmit Diversity (TX diversity)
 Beamforming
 RF processing

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MULTIPLE ACCESS
Multiple access protocol:
When a sender and receiver have a dedicated link to transmit data packets, the data link control is
enough to handle the channel. Suppose there is no dedicated path to communicate or transfer the
data between two devices. In that case, multiple stations access the channel and simultaneously
transmits the data over the channel. It may create collision and cross talk. Hence, the multiple
access protocol is required to reduce the collision and avoid crosstalk between the channels.
For example, suppose that there is a classroom full of students. When a teacher asks a question,
all the students (small channels) in the class start answering the question at the same time
(transferring the data simultaneously). All the students respond at the same time due to which
data is overlap or data lost. Therefore it is the responsibility of a teacher (multiple access
protocol) to manage the students and make them one answer.
Types of multiple access protocol:

Random Access Protocol

In this protocol, all the station has the equal priority to send the data over a channel. In random
access protocol, one or more stations cannot depend on another station. Depending on the
channel's state (idle or busy), each station transmits the data frame. However, if more than one
station sends the data over a channel, there may be a collision or data conflict. Due to the
collision, the data frame packets may be lost or changed.

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 (1) ALOHA Random Access Protocol:
 It is designed for wireless LAN (Local Area Network) but can also be used in a shared
medium to transmit data.
 Any station can transmit data to a channel at any time.
 It does not require any carrier sensing.
 Collision and data frames may be lost during the transmission of data through multiple
stations.
 Acknowledgment of the frames exists in Aloha. Hence, there is no collision detection.
 It requires retransmission of data after some random amount of time.
Types of Aloha:
(i) Pure Aloha
(ii) Slotted Aloha

Pure Aloha
In pure Aloha, when each station transmits data to a channel without checking whether
the channel is idle or not, the chances of collision may occur, and the data frame can be lost.
When any station transmits the data frame to a channel, the pure Aloha waits for the receiver's
acknowledgment. If it does not acknowledge the receiver end within the specified time, the
station waits for a random amount of time, called the backoff time (Tb). And the station may
assume the frame has been lost or destroyed. Therefore, it retransmits the frame until all the data
are successfully transmitted to the receiver.

Slotted Aloha
The slotted Aloha is designed to overcome the pure Aloha's efficiency because pure Aloha has a
very high possibility of frame hitting. In slotted Aloha, the shared channel is divided into a fixed
time interval called slots.

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 (2) CSMA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access):
CSMA is based on media access protocol to sense the traffic on a channel (idle or busy) before
transmitting the data. It means that if the channel is idle, the station can send data to the channel.
Otherwise, it must wait until the channel becomes idle. Hence, it reduces the chances of a
collision on a transmission medium.
CSMA Access Modes:
 1-Persistent
 Non-Persistent
 P-Persistent
 O- Persistent
(3) CSMA/ CD (carrier sense multiple access/collision avoidance):
When a data frame is sent to a channel, it receives an acknowledgment to check whether the
channel is clear. If the station receives only a single (own) acknowledgments, that means the data
frame has been successfully transmitted to the receiver. But if it gets two signals (its own and
one more in which the collision of frames), a collision of the frame occurs in the shared channel.
Detect the collision of the frame when the sender receives an acknowledgment signal.
Methods of CSMA/CD:
 Interframe space Method
 Contention window Method
 Acknowledgment Method

Controlled Access Protocol

It is a method of reducing data frame collision on a shared channel. In the controlled access
method, each station interacts and decides to send a data frame by a particular station approved
by all other stations. It means that a single station cannot send the data frames unless all other
stations are not approved. It has three types of controlled access: Reservation, Polling,
and Token Passing.

Channelization Protocols - It is a channelization protocol that allows the total usable bandwidth
in a shared channel to be shared across multiple stations based on their time, distance and codes.
It can access all the stations at the same time to send the data frames to the channel.

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CHANNEL MODELING FOR 4G
A channel model is a mathematical representation of the effects of a communication
channel through which wireless signals are propagated. The channel model can represent the
power loss incurred by the signal as it travels through the wireless medium.
In a more general case, the channel model is the impulse response of the channel medium in the
time domain or its Fourier transform in the frequency domain. The channel impulse response of a
wireless communication system typically varies randomly over time.

Fig: Channel Model

Channel models can be classified in four categories:
 Path loss
 Purely stochastic
 Spatial
 Ray tracing

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Path Loss
Path loss channel models represent the power reduction of a transmitted signal as it traverses the
wireless medium. They do not perform any filtering on the signal. These channel models are
based on the medium through which the signal travels, such as free space, rain, fog, or gas.
Purely Stochastic
Purely stochastic channel models address thermal noise generation and multipath fading
channels. They do not require any knowledge of the geometry of the link being modeled. An
Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel models the electronic noise in a receiver front
end. This noise is spectrally flat, and its amplitude follows a Gaussian pdf
Spatial
Modern wireless systems typically use beamforming to direct energy toward desired receivers
and away from interferers. Beamforming requires a transceiver to use antenna arrays, giving rise
to Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. Spatial channel models were developed to
better represent MIMO links, since previously developed channel models did not account for
array geometries and array responses. As the name suggests, these channel models enable the
prediction of the Angles of Departure (AoD) and Arrival (AoA) of signals in a wireless system.
These models typically define scatterers that reflect transmitted signals to a receiver. The
diagram below depicts these scatterers, also known as clusters, with two circles.

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Ray Tracing
Where spatial channel models do not explicitly specify the locations of scatterers, ray
tracing channel models do. They use precise building location information to generate outdoor
channel models, and precise room information to generate indoor models. One output of a ray
tracing analysis is an impulse response that can be used to filter an input signal.

Fig: Point-to-point analysis between a transmitter and receiver

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CONCEPTS OF 5G
5G wireless technology is meant to deliver higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, ultra low
latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform
user experience to more users. Higher performance and improved efficiency empower new user
experiences and connects new industries.

CHANNEL ACCESS – 5G
There are several candidates 5G multiple access schemes that are in the running. Each has its
own advantages and disadvantages and as a result, no single technique is likely to meet all the
requirements.
5G multiple access schemes
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)
OFDMA used as a 5G multiple access scheme. However it does require the use of OFDM
and requiring orthogonality between carriers and the use of a cyclic prefix has some drawbacks.
As a result other multiple access schemes are being investigated.

Note:

Sparse Code Multiple Access, SCMA:

SCMA is another idea being considered as a 5G multiple access scheme and it is effectively a
combination of OFDMA and CDMA. Normally with OFDMA a carrier or carriers is allocated to
a given user. However if each carrier has a spreading code added to it, then it would be able to
transmit data to or from multiple users. This technique has been developed to use what are
termed sparse code and in this way significant numbers of users can be added while maintaining
the spectral efficiency levels.

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NON-ORTHOGONAL MULTIPLE ACCESS (NOMA)
NOMA is one of the techniques being considered as a 5G multiple access scheme.
NOMA superposes multiple users in the power domain, using cancellation techniques to remove
the more powerful signal. NOMA could use orthogonal frequency division multiple access,
OFDMA or the discrete Fourier transform, DFT-spread OFDM.

AIR INTERFACE
Different application requirements for air interface technology is complex and diverse, a
unified new air interface with flexibility and adaptability is proposed to meet these requirements.
New air interface consists of building blocks and configuration mechanisms such as adaptive
waveform, adaptive protocols, adaptive frame structure, adaptive coding and modulation family
and adaptive multiple access schemes. With these blocks and mechanisms, the air interface is
able to accommodate the future wide variety of user services, spectrum bands and traffic levels.

It includes a new waveform technology Filtered OFDM (Filtered-Orthogonal Frequency

Division Multiplexing), a new multiple access technology SCMA (Sparse Code Multiple
Access), a new channel code Polar Code, the full-duplex mode and massive MIMO technology.
The new air interface design can effectively improve spectral efficiency, increase connectivity,
and reduce latency, thus facilitating the deployment of customized scenarios applied to the IoT
and for high bandwidth-consuming scenarios such as virtual reality.
The new air interface exploits two-level non-orthogonality to maximize the spectrum efficiency,
the number of connected devices and to provide flexibility to support vastly diverse services.
Filtered OFDM allows inter-subband non-orthogonality while SCMA enables intra-subband non-
orthogonality

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COGNITIVE RADIO SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT
[Note: Dynamic Spectrum Access
Dynamic spectrum access is a set of spectrum utilization techniques that adjusts frequency in real
time based on fluctuating circumstances. Examples of circumstances that might affect spectrum
allocation include energy conservation, battery life, interference, changes in environmental or
external regulations and quality of service
Dynamic Spectrum Works
While the specific method of dynamic spectrum access can vary depending on the service
provider, application or hardware vendor, overall, it follows the same process. DSA technology
allows radios to share multiple frequency bands without interfering with other systems by
combining digital signal processing (DSP), networking and detection capabilities with software
algorithms.
Spectrum Network
Spectrum refers to the invisible radio frequencies that wireless signals travel over. Those signals
are what enable us to make calls from our mobile devices, tag our friends on Instagram and do
everything on our mobile devices.

Spectrum wavelengths are classified into different bands within the electromagnetic spectrum
range. When we talk about radio spectrum, we are talking about the range of radio frequencies
that are used for communicating. ]
Cognitive radio networks
Cognitive Radio (CR) networks will provide high bandwidth to mobile users via heterogeneous
wireless architectures and dynamic (full of energy/ active) spectrum access techniques

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Cognitive Radio (CR) technology
CR networks are the cognitive radio techniques that provide the capability to share the
spectrum.CR is defined as a radio that can change its transmitter parameters based on interaction
with its environment. There are two main characteristics of cognitive radio:
• Cognitive capability:
Through real-time interaction with the radio environment, the portions of the spectrum that are
unused at a specific time or location can be identified.CR enables the usage of temporally unused
spectrum, referred to as spectrum hole or white space. Consequently, the best spectrum can be
selected, shared with other users, and exploited with out interference with the licensed user.
• Reconfigurability:
Cognitive radio technology can be programmed to transmit and receive on a variety of
frequencies and use different access technologies supported by its hardware design. Through this
capability, the best spectrum band and the most appropriate operating parameters can be selected
and reconfigured.

Cognitive radio network architecture:

They include two groups:
 The primary network
 The CR network.
The primary network
The primary network (or licensed network) is referred to as an existing network, where the
primary users have a license to operate in a certain spectrum band. Primary user activities are

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controlled through primary base stations. Due to their priority in spectrum access, the operations
of primary users should not be affected by unlicensed users.

The CR network
The CR network (also called the dynamic spectrum access network/secondary network/
unlicensed network) does not have a license to operate in a desired band. Hence, additional
functionality is required for CR users to share the licensed spectrum band. CR networks also
can be equipped with CR base stations that provide single-hop connection to CR users. CR
networks also include spectrum brokers that play a role in distributing the spectrum resources
among different CR networks.
[Note: Single-hop connection - When packet travels from source to destination using single
networking device, it is known as single hop system.
Multi hop system: When packet travels from source to destination using more than one
networking devices, it is known as multi hop system.]

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 Fig: Single Hop Vs Multi hop
Spectrum Management
Spectrum Brokers (SB):
Spectrum Broker is used to control access to spectrum and distributes the spectrum resources
among the wireless devices. SB can take the name such as Bandwidth Broker, Spectrum
Policy Server, Regional Spectrum Broker or simply Broker. They are completely
responsible for Spectrum Decision, Spectrum Sharing and Spectrum Mobility.
Spectrum Broker scheme requires a control channel which must be orthogonal (lying at right
angles) to the data traffic channel.
Spectrum management framework:
Spectrum management function requires the following critical design challenges:
•Interference avoidance: CR networks should avoid interference with primary networks.
•QOS Quality of awareness: To decide on an appropriate spectrum band, CR networks should
support QoS-aware communication.
•Seamless Communication: CR networks should provide seamless communication regardless
of the appearance of primary users. To address these challenges, we provide a directory for
different functionalities required for spectrum management in CR networks.
[Note: Seamless ததததததத]

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The spectrum management process consists of four major steps:
•Spectrum Sensing: A CR user can allocate only an unused portion of the spectrum. Therefore,
a CR user should monitor the available spectrum bands, capture their information, and then
detect spectrum holes.
• Spectrum Decision: Based on the spectrum availability, CR users can allocate a channel. This
allocation not only depends on spectrum availability, but is also determined based on internal
and external policies.
•Spectrum sharing: There will be multiple CR users trying to access the spectrum hence CR
network access should be coordinated to prevent multiple users colliding in overlapping
portions of the spectrum.
•Spectrum Mobility: CR users are the visitors to the spectrum. Hence, if the specific portion of
the spectrum in use is required by a primary user, the. Communication must be continued
in another vacant portion of the spectrum

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Spectrum Sensing challenges
 Interference temperature measurement:
Due to the lack of interactions between primary networks and CR networks, generally a CR user
cannot be aware of the precise locations of the primary receivers. Thus, new techniques are
required to measure and to estimate the interference temperature at nearby primary receivers.
தததததததததத
 Spectrum sensing in multi-user networks:
The multi-user environment, consisting of multiple CR users and primary users, makes it more
difficult to sense spectrum holes and estimate interference. Hence, spectrum sensing functions
should be developed considering the multi-user environment.
(A spectrum hole is a licensed frequency band that is not being used for some time period
usually in a specific area)

 Spectrum-efficient sensing:
Sensing cannot be performed while transmitting packets. Hence, CR users should stop
transmitting while sensing, which decreases spectrum efficiency. So, balancing spectrum
efficiency and sensing accuracy is important. Sensing time directly affects transmission
performance; novel spectrum sensing algorithms must be developed such that the sensing time
is minimized within a given sensing accuracy.

Spectrum Decision
CR networks require the capability to decide which one is the best spectrum band among the
available bands according to the QoS (Quality of System) requirements. This is called spectrum
decision. Spectrum decision is closely related to the channel characteristics. Spectrum decision is
also affected by the activities of other CR users in the network.
Spectrum decision usually consists of two steps:
 Each spectrum band is characterized, based on local observations of CR users and
statistical information of primary networks.
 Then, based on this characterization, the most appropriate spectrum band can be chosen.

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Spectrum Sharing:
The shared nature of the wireless channel requires the coordination of transmission between CR
users. So, Spectrum sharing has the functionality of a MAC protocol. Spectrum sharing are by
four aspects: the architecture, spectrum allocation behavior, spectrum access technique and
scope.
Architecture based Spectrum Sharing:
 Centralized spectrum sharing: The spectrum allocation and access procedures are
controlled by a central entity. Spectrum allocation are forwarded to the central entity then
spectrum allocation map is constructed. Here Central entity can lease spectrum to users in
a limited geographical region for a specific time.
 Distributed spectrum sharing: Spectrum allocation and access are based on local/global
policies that are performed by each node distributively. Distributed solutions are used
between different networks such that a base station competes with its interferer Base
Stations to allocate a portion of the spectrum.
Allocation based Spectrum Sharing:
 Cooperative / collaborative spectrum sharing:
Cooperative solutions exploit/use the interference each node such that the effect of the
communication of one node on other nodes is considered. A common technique used in
these schemes is forming clusters to share interference information locally. This
localized operation provides an effective balance between a fully centralized and a
distributed scheme.

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 [Note:
Collaborative - Produced by two or more parties working together.
Exploit - to use something or to treat somebody unfairly for our own advantage.]

 Non-cooperative / Non-collaborative / Selfish spectrum sharing:

Only a single node is considered in non-cooperative. Because interference in other CR
nodes is not considered, Spectrum utilization is reduced. However, these solutions do not
require frequent message exchanges between neighbors as in cooperative solutions.
Access technology based Spectrum Sharing:
 Overlay spectrum sharing:
Nodes access the CR network using a portion of the spectrum which is not used by
licensed users. This minimizes interference to the primary network.
 Underlay spectrum sharing:
The spread spectrum techniques is the transmission of a CR node regards as noise by
licensed users.
Scope based Spectrum Sharing:
 Intra network spectrum sharing:
If the spectrum sharing occurs inside a CR network it is called as intra network spectrum
sharing. The user of a CR network tries to access the available spectrum without causing
interference to the primary users.
 Inter network spectrum sharing:
If the spectrum sharing occurs in multiple coexisting of CR networks it is called as inter
network spectrum sharing. Here multiple systems are deployed by overlapped locations
and overlapped spectrum. They provides spectrum sharing also by including operator
policies.
 Spectrum mobility:
After a CR captures the best available spectrum, the primary may change its operating
spectrum band which is referred as spectrum mobility.
Spectrum mobility handoff (giving) to CR networks
Each time a CR user changes its frequency of operation, the network protocols is
designed accordingly.

27
 The purpose of spectrum mobility management is to ensure smooth and fast transition
leading to minimum performance degradation during a spectrum handoff.
An important requirement is the information about the duration of a spectrum handoff.
This information can be provided by the sensing algorithm.
Spectrum Mobility challenges:
The following are the open research issues for efficient spectrum mobility in CR networks:
 Spectrum mobility in the time domain:
CR networks adapt to the wireless spectrum based on the available bands. Because
these available channels change over time, enabling QoS in this environment is challenging.
 Spectrum mobility in space:
The available bands also change as a user moves from one place to another. Hence,
continuous allocation of spectrum is a major challenge.
C-RAN ARCHITECTURE
C-RAN (Cloud-RAN/Cloud Radio Access networks/Centralized-RAN):
C-RAN is a centralized, cloud computing-based architecture for radio access networks
that supports 2G, 3G, 4G and future wireless communication standards.
As the amount of data traffic on mobile networks continues to grow, network operators are
meeting the demands by adopting Cloud/Centralized Radio Access Network architectures
(C-RAN). This new approach to network architecture has two clear advantages:
 Reduced CAPEX/OPEX for operators
 Improved user experience through less interference
The C-RAN Solution
Areas with high concentrations of network users, such as transportation stations or large
commercial complexes put high stress on the BTSs that serve them. Simply adding more base
stations increases cost, and can lead to signal interference if the eNBs at the base stations are not
carefully coordinated.
Separating the base station into two parts, the Baseband Unit (BBU) and the Remote
Radio Head (RRH), allows network operators to maintain or increase the number of Network
Access Points (RRHs), while centralizing the baseband processing functions into a “master base
station”. Using a master C-RAN base station simplifies radio resource management in complex

28
operating environments such as HetNet or Carrier Aggregation. These master base stations and
their creation are also referred to as BBU pooling, or base station hotels.
[Note:
Carrier Aggregation:
Carrier aggregation is a technique that is used in wireless communication to increase the data
rate per user, where multiple frequency blocks called component carriers are assigned to the
same user.
CapEx
On premise hardware technology like switches or phones (your company owns these)
OpEx
Software solutions, cloud applications, or rented hardware (your company rents, subscribes, or
finances).
Premises - the building and the land around it that a business owns or uses ]

Fig: C-RAN Architecture

Cost Efficiency
Each BTS requires a large upfront investment, and carries high operating costs as well. The costs
of leasing a site, providing cooling, power supply and a back-up battery, etc. are multiplied by
each individual BTS. Although these costs remain fixed, during non-peak times the eNBs at
these base stations are often dormant or operating at a fraction of their capacity. Additionally,
OPEX goes up with the cost of service and maintenance for each BTS.

29
BBU pooling means that the costs associated with each BTS site can also be “pooled” into a
single site, offering a significant reduction in both CAPEX and OPEX. Co-locating the baseband
processing functions at the master C-RAN base station eliminates the wasted resources of under-
utilized BTSs, providing a “pooling gain” compared to a dispersed BTS architecture.

Fig: Advanced C-RAN Architecture

Reduced Interference and Advanced C-RAN
Centralizing baseband processing and control of radio resources in a single master base station
makes implementing new technologies like small cells and Carrier Aggregation much simpler.
As more frequencies are transmitted in the same geographical space, coordinated management of
overlapping small cells and macro cells becomes essential. The C-RAN architecture flexibly
manages a variety of coverage scenarios like those shown in the C-RAN and Advanced C-RAN
(C-RAN with CA) Architecture diagrams.

Fig: Carrier Aggregation

30
VEHICULAR COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL
The transport sector is commonly subordinate to several issues, such as traffic congestion and
accidents. The fundamental objective of vehicular communication protocol is to increase road
safety.
Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)
technologies strive to give communication models that can be employed by vehicles in
different application contexts.
The resulting infrastructure is an ad-hoc mesh network whose nodes are not only vehicles but
also all mobile devices equipped with wireless modules. The interaction between them are
adopted by communication protocols such as IEEE 802.11p and LTE-V2V standards which are
designed to support vehicle transmissions.
[Note: Ad hoc Mesh Network
An ad hoc network is a temporary type of Local Area Network (LAN). If you set up an ad hoc
network permanently, it becomes a LAN. Multiple devices can use an ad hoc network at the
same time.

31
Hop:

Fig: Hop
In wired computer networking, including the Internet, a hop occurs when a packet is passed from
one network segment to the next. Data packets pass through routers as they travel between
source and destination. The hop count refers to the number of network devices through which
data passes from source to destination. ]
The main aim of all protocol standards is to reduce the connection times and to extend the
transmission range, allowing proper operation in conditions of high mobility and vehicular
density. In the transport research field, the primary purpose of these technologies is the
improvement of road safety, trying to prevent any dangerous situations.
Vehicle-To-Vehicle V2V technology:
V2V technology consists of wireless data transmissions between motor vehicles. The
primary purpose of this communication is to prevent possible accidents, allowing vehicles in
transit to transfer data on their position and their speed within an ad-hoc mesh network.

32
They may provide either fully connected mesh topology where each node is connected directly
to others in the network and in partially connected mesh topology only some nodes are
connected to all the others.
In fully connected mesh topology, the nodes of a mesh network can exchange messages and
information with neighboring nodes to which they are directly connected (One hop)
In partially connected network they choose one of the different paths available to reach the
destination (multi-hop). This topology also increases the robustness of the network structure. In
case of collapse or temporary malfunction of a node, the routes are recalculated within the
forwarding tables to reach all destinations.
Depending on how the technology is developed, the driver of a vehicle can receive a warning in
the event of an accident risk or the vehicle itself can independently take preventive actions, such
as emergency braking, if it is designed to carry out safety interventions
Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM):
It is an assistance system that monitors the blind spots (the part of the road that you cannot see
when driving a car) of the exterior rear-view mirrors, using radar sensors. This system informs
the driver of a vehicle arrival with a visual signal integrated into the two left and right rear-view
mirrors, based on the side where the vehicle in front passes.
[Note: Rear: Back
Rear-view mirrors:
A mirror in which a driver can see the traffic behind
Radar Sensor:

Fig: Radar Sensor

33
Radar sensors are conversion devices that transform microwave echo signals into electrical
signals. They use wireless sensing technology to detect motion by figuring out the object's
position, shape, motion characteristics, and motion trajectory.]
Anti-Schlupf Regierung (ASR) / Traction Control System (TCS) / Automatic Stability
Control (ASC):
It is a system aimed at regulation and control of the sliding of the wheels during acceleration also
for the braking control, allows to better control the traction in the starting phase (and during the
cruise phase), according to the conditions of the road surface.
Electronic Stability Program (ESP):
It is a device that acts when the vehicle shows signs of lateral heeling, i.e., in the event of
oversteer or understeer movements. Therefore, it allows the vehicle to maintain the correct path
and not to go out of the way.
[Note: Lateral heeling: Sideways tilting or leaning motion along its horizontal axis, typically
experienced during sharp turns

Fig: Lateral heeling

Oversteer: used to describe the sensitivity of a vehicle to steering. Oversteer is what occurs
when a car turns (steers) by more than the amount commanded by the driver.
Understeer: used to describe the sensitivity of a vehicle to steering. It is what occurs when a car
steers less than the amount commanded by the driver.
Acoustic sensors:
The acoustic sensors are one of the components of the monitoring system on grinding
machines. They check the noise issued at the point where the part or dresser touch the grinding
wheel.]

34
 Acoustic sensors

Forward Collision Warning (FCW): It is a system based on radar sensors that monitor the
road. This system recognizes the objects and detects the distance between the vehicle and the
likely obstacles on the road: if the speed of travel is a risk of collision, the driver can be alerted
through acoustic sensors or light signals on the onboard display (display board)

35
Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB):
It is an assisted emergency braking system to slow down the vehicle.
If the driver brakes inadequately or does not brake at all (for instance, due to a sleep blow), the
pre-crash system (A collision avoidance system, also known as a pre-crash system) is executed.
In this way, for instance, the belts are stretched to the maximum, air is pumped into the airbags,
the windows and the sunroof are closed, to prevent damage to the occupants.
Brake Assist System (BAS):
It is an active device mounted on the vehicle’s braking system which only comes into operation
in the event of sudden emergency braking, when the brake pedal is pressed very quickly
It is an electronic control unit that avoids the locking of the wheels of the vehicles ensuring the
drivability during the braking. In this case, the BAS activates the automatic raising of the
pressure on the pedal, until the correct functioning of the ABS on all the wheels, thus ensuring a
better braking action.
Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS):
It is a device that warns the distracted driver of exceeding the line that delimits its lane. It is
activated through a switch on the center console and warns the driver with a slight acoustic
signal if the vehicle passes one of the lane lines without an apparent reason, for instance, without
using the direction indicator.
Vehicle-To-Infrastructure (V2I):
Unlike the V2V communication model which allows the exchange of information only
among vehicles, the V2I enables vehicles in transit to interface with the road system. These
components include RFID readers, traffic lights, cameras, lane markers, street lamps, signage,
and parking meters.
V2I communications are wireless, bidirectional, and similarly to V2V. The information
is sent from the elements of the infrastructure to the vehicle, or vice versa, through an ad-hoc
network.
V2I sensors acquire infrastructural data and provide travelers with real-time advice,
sending information on road conditions, traffic congestion, any accidents in the roadway, the
presence of construction sites and the availability of parking spaces.

36
Vehicle-To-Everything:
The data transfer from a vehicle to any entity that can influence it. Other specific types of
communication include Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P), Vehicle-to-Roadside (V2R), Vehicle-to-
Device (V2D), and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G).

37
NETWORK SLICING
5G Network slicing
It is a network architecture that enables the multiplexing of virtualized and independent logical
networks on the same physical network infrastructure. Each network slice is an isolated end-to-
end network
[Note:
Multiplexing is a technique used to combine and send the multiple data streams over a single
medium. The process of combining the data streams is known as multiplexing and hardware used
for multiplexing is known as a multiplexer. ]
Architecture of 5G Network slicing
The network slicing architecture consist of two mains blocks,
(i) Slice implementation
(ii) Slice management and configuration.
(i) Slice implementation:
The first block is designed as a multi-tier architecture composed by three layers
1. Service layer,
2. Network function layer
3. Infrastructure layer
Where, each one contributes to the slice definition and deployment with distinct tasks. The
second block is designed as a centralized network entity, generically denoted as network slice
controller that monitors and manages the functionalities between the three layers in order to
efficiently coordinate the coexistence of multiple slices.
1. Service layer:
The service layer interfaces directly with the network business entities (e.g. MVNOs and 3rd
party service providers) that share the physical network and it provides a unified(to join separate
parts together to make one unit) vision of the service requirements.
Each service is formally represented as service instance, which embeds all the network
characteristics in the form of SLA requirements that are expected to be fully satisfied by a
suitable slice creation

38
 2. Network function layer
The network function layer is in charge of the creation of each network slice according to
service instance requests coming from the upper layer. It is composed by a set of network
functions that embody well-defined behaviors and interfaces. Multiple network functions are
placed over the virtual network infrastructure and chained together to create an end-to-end
network slice instance that reflects the network characteristics requested by the service. The
configuration of the network functions are performed by means of a set of network
operations that allow management of their full life-cycle (from their placement when a slice is
created to their de-allocation when the function provided is no longer needed).
To increase resource usage efficiency, the same network function can be simultaneously
shared by different slices at the cost of an increase in the complexity of operations management.
Conversely, a one-to-one mapping between each network function and each slice eases the
configuration procedures, but can lead to poor and inefficient resource usage.
3. Infrastructure layer:
The infrastructure layer represents the actual physical network topology (radio access network,
transport network and core network) upon which every network slice is multiplexed and it

39
provide the physical network resources to host the several network functions composing each
slice.
The network domain of the available resources includes a heterogeneous set of infrastructure
components like data centers (storage and computation capacity resources), devices enabling
network connectivity such as routers (networking resources) and base stations (radio bandwidth
resources).
(ii) Slice management and configuration:
Network slice controller
The network slice controller is defined as a network orchestrator, which interfaces with the
various functionalities performed by each layer to coherently manage each slice request. The
benefit of such network element is that it enables an efficient and flexible slice creation that can
be reconfigured during its life-cycle. Operationally, the network slice controller is in charge of
several tasks that provide a more effective coordination between the aforementioned layers:
 End-to-end service management: mapping of the various service instances expressed in
terms of SLA requirements with suitable network functions capable of satisfying the
service constraints.
 Virtual resources definition: virtualization of the physical network resources in order to
simplify the resources management operations performed to allocate network functions.
 Slice life-cycle management: slice performance monitoring across all the three layers in
order to dynamically reconfigure each slice to accommodate possible SLA requirements
modifications.
Due to the complexity of the performed tasks which address different purposes, the network slice
controller can be composed by multiple orchestrators that independently manage a subset of
functionalities of each layer. To fulfill the service requirements, the various orchestration entities
need to coordinate with each other by exchanging high-level information about the state of the
operations involved in the slice creation and deployment.

40
MIMO
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) is a wireless technology that uses multiple transmitters
and receivers to transfer more data at the same time.
[Note:
Antenna
An antenna consists of a metal conductor that conveys Radio Frequency (RF) waves between
two points in space. When a voltage is applied to a transmitting antenna, it generates radio
signals which travel to a receiving antenna where the signal is converted back into electrical
energy in the form of information.
Signal Reflection:
A signal travelling along an electrical transmission line will be partly, or wholly, reflected back
in the opposite direction when the travelling signal encounters a discontinuity in
the characteristic impedance of the line, or if the far end of the line is not terminated in its
characteristic impedance.
Impedance
It is a measure of the opposition to electrical flow. It is measured in ohms. Impedance and
resistance are the same
Fading
Fading in wireless communication is defined as the fluctuation in the strength of the signal
received at the receiver]
MIMO: Multiple Input Multiple Output technology uses multiple antennas to make use of
reflected signals to provide gains in channel robustness and throughput.
A channel may be affected by fading and this will impact the signal to noise ratio and so error
rate occurs.
The principle of diversity is to provide the receiver with multiple versions of the same
signal. Here, diversity helps to stabilize a link, improves performance, and reduces error rate.
Several different diversity modes are available which helps to improve MIMO
 Time diversity: Using time diversity, a message may be transmitted at different times,
e.g. using different timeslots and channel coding.
 Frequency diversity: They uses different frequencies. They can use different channels
or technologies such as spread spectrum / OFDM.

41
  Space diversity: Space diversity is the basis for MIMO. It uses antennas located in
different positions to take advantage of the different radio paths that exist in a typical
terrestrial environment.
MIMO is effectively a radio antenna technology as it uses multiple antennas at the transmitter
and receiver to enable a variety of signal paths to carry the data, choosing separate paths for each
antenna
Accordingly MIMO wireless systems can be viewed as a logical extension to the smart antennas
that have been used for many years to improve wireless.
Between a transmitter and a receiver, the signal can take many paths. When moving the
antennas even to a small distance the paths used will be changed. The variety of paths available
occurs as a result of the number of objects that appear to the side or even in the direct path
between the transmitter and receiver.
By using MIMO, these additional paths can be used to advantage. They can be used to provide
additional robustness to the radio link by improving the signal to noise ratio, or by increasing the
link data capacity.

SISO, SIMO, MISO, MIMO terminology

The different forms of antenna technology refer to single or multiple inputs and outputs.
 SISO - Single Input Single Output
 SIMO - Single Input Multiple output
 MISO - Multiple Input Single Output
 MIMO - Multiple Input multiple Output

42
MIMO – SISO - This is effectively a standard radio channel - this transmitter operates with one
antenna as does the receiver. There is no diversity and no additional processing required.

MIMO – SIMO - In this case, the same data is transmitted redundantly from the two transmitter
antennas. The receiver is then able to receive the optimum signal which it can then use to receive
extract the required data.

MIMO – MISO - MISO is also termed transmit diversity. In this case, the same data is
transmitted redundantly from the two transmitter antennas. The receiver is then able to receive
the optimum signal which it can then use to receive extract the required data.

MIMO
There are more than one antenna at either end of the radio link, MIMO can be used to provide
improvements in both channel robustness as well as channel throughput.

43
mmWave
The abundant spectrum available at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands above
24 GHz can deliver extreme capacity, ultra-high throughput and ultra-low latency. At
Qualcomm, we made 5G mmWave possible in commercial 5G systems and continue to drive the
technology evolution in this decade and beyond.
Millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies (30–300 GHz) are being used for many
applications in the modern world. These applications include, but not are limited to, radio
astronomy, remote sensing, automotive radars, military applications, imaging, security screening,
and telecommunications.
There are various telecommunication standards that specify the carrier frequency in the
mmW frequency range. IEEE 802.16 specifies a frequency range of 10–66 GHz for
wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). IEEE 802.15 and ECMA-387 standards specify a
frequency range of 57–66 GHz for high data rate personal area networks. IEEE 802.11ad
specifies the 60-GHz frequency for wireless local area network (LAN) applications.
In these standards, spectral efficient complex modulation schemes are recommended to
reach very high data rates. Spectral efficient modulation schemes like high-order quadrature
amplitude modulations (QAM) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) result
in high Peak-To-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) for the signal to be transmitted. Conventional
power amplifiers with high PAPR input signals have low energy efficiency.
There are several techniques for improving the efficiency of power amplifiers in
transmitter systems with high PAPR signal. Envelope tracking (ET), envelope elimination and
restoration (EER), linear amplification with nonlinear components (LINC), and the Doherty
amplifier are some of the architectures that are used to address the low amplifier efficiency in the
presence of high PAPR signals. Among these solutions, the Doherty amplifier is the most
accepted solution in wireless communications because of its simplicity and promising
performance. In this chapter, the challenges of implementing the Doherty amplifiers in silicon
technologies for mmW frequency applications
Millimeter Wave
The mm waves are one of the most important approaches for the next generation of wireless
networks. For delivering fast multimedia services, high-quality audio, video, and real-time
services, a large amount of bandwidth is required. To solve this problem of spectrum scarcity,

44
mm wavelength will be used in 5G network communication system. The signals are operating
between the range of 30 and 300 GHz and being shifted to a higher spectrum. A large amount of
bandwidth is offered at mm-wave frequencies as compared to the bandwidth used by 4G and
earlier wireless generation networks.
Concept of mmWave Massive MIMO-Based Fronthaul

Compared with conventional mmWave multiantenna systems limited to PtP communications, the
emerging mmWave massive MIMO technique can support multiuser transmission, which
enables the mesh fronthaul network topology. Moreover, the mmWave massive MIMO such as
the lens antennas can provide highly directional transmission to mitigate path loss with low
interference.
The mesh fronthaul topology can provide the flexible fronthaul network architecture, which can
effectively accommodate various deployments of ultradense small cells. Moreover, we suggest
less than half an hour installation time on street furniture with a minimally trained installer, and
the fronthaul device is self-configured to build the fronthaul network supporting plug-and-pull.
Hence, the mmWave mesh fronthaul has high business scalability because new small cells can be
added at the low cost of fronthaul planning.
The mesh fronthaul topology can offer multihop fronthaul links. As a result, the long fronthaul
links are not necessary with the reduced TCO, the reliable LOS fronthaul link can be guaranteed,
and the robust fronthaul links can be guaranteed due to the various route options.
By exploiting the adaptive beamforming algorithms and self-configuration techniques, for the
cases in which existing fronthaul links are congested, or some links are blocked, each node can

45
automatically build the optimal links to its neighbors and further establish the optimal route to
the PoP based on QoS requirements, including fronthaul throughput, latency and packet-error
rate. The mesh fronthaul is intelligent and can self-organize in real time, without human
intervention.
The exploitation of V-band and E-band can provide immunity against interference. Moreover,
automatic interference management is necessary to overcome any overlap in directional beams
and external interference.
Full-duplex is dedicated for mesh fronthaul to simultaneously support transmitting and receiving
for each node.
INTRODUCTION TO 6G
6G (sixth-generation wireless) is the successor to 5G cellular technology. 6G networks will
be able to use higher frequencies than 5G networks and provide substantially higher capacity and
much lower latency. One of the goals of 6G internet will be to support one microsecond-latency
communication.
6G system architecture
Next-generation wireless networks will consist of massive number of connected devices and with
the Base Stations (BSs)/Access Points (APs) leading to mMTC. Multiple BSs/APs may serve
one or more devices simultaneously to form a Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) transmission.
The huge amount of data produced by massive devices will require very high-performance
processing units and robust backhauling links. The central processing units may utilize ML and
AI algorithms and the backhauling links may utilize optical fiber and or photonic
communications. Remote user, in 6G communication systems, can use several relays or
transmitters for a remote user to transmit, and the user’s SINR may be improved by using the
technique of diversity as in virtual MIMO systems.
By intelligent networking, all the end devices would be aware of the location and features of
BSs/APs in their vicinity, and all of the BSs/APs would be aware of the locations, features, and
QoS requirements of devices in their vicinity. Robust interference management/optimization
techniques can be applied to maximize the efficiency of the wireless network. Central processing
units will be fast enough to manage and switch the resources (bandwidth, time, power) among
multiple end-users, and data processing will be conducted at the Base-Band Processing
units (BPUs).

46
Air interface
Since 6G will concentrate on the current terahertz frequency range with extremely wide
bandwidths available, it will bring up new obstacles to interact efficiently at these frequencies.
Getting a secure transmission infrastructure that has an adequate range and isn’t power-hungry
will be the answer here. The availability of incredibly wide bandwidths would change the
emphasis from spectrally optimized solutions to improved coverage solutions. In these new
frequency spectrums, the tradeoff between spectrum performance, power efficiency, and
coverage will play a key role in developing devices. This will lead to the design of a modern air
interface where more consideration can be paid to single-carrier systems. The OFDM scheme
would be revisited for lower frequency ranges where spectral efficiency will be important as it
does not use the energy effectively because of the cyclic prefix, which is just the duplication of
information and does not hold any additional information. Furthermore, a high Peak-To-Average
Power Ratio (PAPR) makes the power amplifiers complex and expensive.
Many researchers have proposed the Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) as a promising
new scheme for the B5G/6G mobile networks. In NOMA, all of the users are allowed to access

47
the complete resource (frequency band) simultaneously. Some researchers have suggested the
Rate-Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA) as a new access technology for 6G communication
systems. Both NOMA and RSMA rely on the Successive Interference Cancellations (SIC) to
decode the information for the user. RSMA uses the SICs to decode the common message firstly
and then decode the private message. Both schemes need to be matured enough before practical
deployment. A new AI-based software-defined air interface is presented in, where the authors
proposed an intelligent air interface switching system for user QoS enhancement.
3GPP release 15, reveals the specifications for the 5G-New Radios (NR), in which multiple
waveform configurations and two sets of frequencies are defined. By adopting the variable
numerologies (symbol duration, sub-carrier spacing, and pilot spacing), we can give the
transmitter leverage to self-organize and self-configure according to the channel conditions and
service required. This is often useful on different measurements. For instance, by reducing the
symbol length, low latency can be achieved, and increasing the spacing of the sub-carrier can be
helpful in reducing the phase noise in mmWave and sub-mmWave. In high mobility situations,
optimizing the sub-carrier width can also be helpful for Doppler shift compensation.
New spectrum
mmWave is already a candidate for 5G, but it is not exploited to its full potential as the
beamforming algorithms are not mature enough. It requires improvements in the networks when
personal BSs and satellite connectivity can get merged into cellular communication. In the
previous generations, the spectrum is divided for multiple services, for instance, television (TV)
services, military communications, and cellular communication.
Therefore, the idea of using an unlicensed spectrum is proposed, i.e., to use the mmWave, THz
band, and visible light spectrum, simultaneously. These bands are never used for any
communication. The problem with the higher frequency band, though, is that the signal is
attenuated very rapidly about the distance traveled. For example, a 3G or 4G BS can have a
coverage of about several miles whereas a 5G or 6G BS coverage may limit to only a few
hundreds of meters. To resolve this issue in mmWave and THz communications, the idea of
using massive multiple inputs and multiple outputs (MIMO) and beamforming emerged, which
is described in the next subsections.

48
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
By offering pervasive, secure, and close proximity-instant wireless networking for humans and
computers, 6G wireless communication networks would be the core of society’s digital
transition. A broad variety of emerging developments, such as self-driving cars and voice
assistants, have been made possible by recent advancements in ML research. B5G/6G wireless
networks have increased complexity, requiring smarter methods for handling any losses and
handling network features, detecting anomalies, and understanding KPI trends. This can be done
by introducing solutions for ML and SDN. In order to preserve a certain level of KPI, ML/AI
will boost the decision-making process. The operation and implementation of RAN for 6G needs
a new strategy. Incorporating AI in wireless algorithms (e.g., for channel estimation, for Channel
State Information (CSI) feedback, and decoding, etc.) may bring a change in the direction of
these algorithms. Application of ML, DL, and AI algorithms to the communication network, we
can instantly manage the resources as per the user requirements. The probability of choosing the
best solution is improved in this way and the network can maintain its optimum state.
Advanced beam forming with Very Large Scale Antenna (VLSA)
The idea of beam forming is to steer the beam to only the desired direction or user. Since energy
is not spread in all directions, the transmission range is thus improved by concentrating the beam
in one direction.
Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs)
Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) can be the potential area for beamforming in 6G. IRSs are
composed of thin electromagnetic materials, which can reflect/configure the incoming
electromagnetic rays in an intelligent way by configuring the phase of reflected rays by a
software. Indeed, IRSs use at a large number of low-power and low-cost passive elements to
reflect the incident signals with configurable phase shifts without the requirements of additional
power, encoding, decoding, modulation, demodulation requirements. IRSs are installed on the
important points and locations such as high-rise buildings, advertising panels, vehicles (cars,
airplanes, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)), and even the clothes of the pedestrians. The
main advantage of the IRS is that it can enhance the Signal-To-Interference-Plus-Noise-
Ratio (SINR) with no change in the infrastructure or the hardware of the communication
network. Also, there is no need for extra power required for the installation.

49
IRS can reduce the hardware complexity at the receiver and the transmitter by reducing the
number of antennae installed at them, thereby, reducing the Radio Frequency (RF) chains at the
transmitter and the receiver. IRS can replace the conventional relays system due to its advantages
in terms of power, spectral efficiency, and reduced hardware complexity. IRS can be used in the
deep-fade and Non-Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) communication environment. The principle by which
SINR is enhanced at the receiver is optimally controlling the phases of the incident ray at
multiple elements of the IRS, to produce useful beamforming at the receiver. Degradation factors
such as noise and interference have no impact on the IRS. All these features of the IRS make it a
promising technique for the B5G/6G communication systems.
Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM)-aided MIMO
A new dimensional property of the Electromagnetic Waves (EW) was discovered in the 1990s
termed as the Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM). This discovery promised the transmission of
multiple data streams over the same spatial channel. The main advantage of OAM over other
beamforming techniques is that OAM can have an unlimited number of orthogonal modes, which
allows the EW to multiplex multiple data streams over the same spatial channel, thereby,
enhancing the spectral efficiency and transmission capacity. OAM support a high number of user
in Mode Division Multiple Access (MDMA) scheme without utilizing extra resources (i.e.,
frequency, time, and power). The flexibility of OAM to be used in narrowband and wideband
frequency hopping scheme makes it an attractive scheme for Low Probability Of
Interception (LPI) applications. OAM-based MIMO systems have advantages over the
conventional MIMO systems in terms of capacity and long-distance line-of-sight (LoS)
coverage. Therefore, OAM has great potential for applications in 6G wireless networks.
Coexistence of variable radio access technologies
6G can lead to a ubiquitous networking infrastructure where users would not only be left with the
option of selecting the best communication network. Each node in this network would, however,
be intelligent enough to sense the conditions of the channel and the specifications of QoS at any
other node. For example, the use case and the availability of network will decide the network as
cellular, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, and Ultra-Wideband (UWB), etc. 6G communication standard
should, therefore, be designed in such a way that it will converge all of the wireless technologies.
Communication with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, UWB, VLC, UAVs, biosensors, and satellite
communications can all integrate into 6G and should fall under one standard such that all of them

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can connect with each other. The Wi-Fi operating at 2.4 GHz has already entered deeply into
IoTs as most of the appliances are now connected through this network.
By merging all these technologies, 6G would be able to utilize the massive infrastructure
deployed by previous technologies, which otherwise can cost 6G a huge revenue. The features in
the previous technologies, such as network densification, high spectral efficiency, high
throughput, low latency, high reliability, and massive connectivity should be converged in 6G.
6G technologies should also keep the trend of offering new services by applying the new
technologies, such as AI/ML, VLC, Quantum Communications (QC), and Quantum Machine
Learning (QML). These services may include but are not limited to smart cars, smart homes,
smart wearable, and 3D mapping.

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