Camillo Carlini

A network architecture solution for efficient IOT WSN backhauling: challenges and opportunities

At present, Sensor Networks and the emerging Internet of Things paradigm are playing a key role in the industry and in academic research. In this article we outline a common scenario, currently arising standards, and other emerging technologies having a direct impact on network architecture. In particular we introduce a novel network architecture based on an M2M Gateway and discuss it in relation to smart building applications. The proposed network architecture will improve services for users and will offer new opportunities for both service providers and network operators.

Multi-hop D2D networking and resource management scheme for M2M communications over LTE-A systems

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications are gaining momentum due to the rapid deployment of smart devices with self-organizing capabilities, able to interact each other without the human operator support. Ultimately, M2M paradigm allows Machine-Type Communication Devices (MTCD) to exchange data in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) mode, avoiding the need of a core network handling end-to-end communication establishment between two machines. To this end, the recent Device-to-Device (D2D) feature, introduced by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 12, fosters new types of service based on the device proximity concept and helps to offload cellular networks by enabling direct-mode communications among cellular users. Furthermore, D2D is also considered a suitable technology to fully support M2M communications thanks to the reduced power consumption and the hop gain. In this paper we first review crucial aspects of M2M communications and examine major issues involving terminals operating in D2D mode in LTE-A networks. Then, a multi-hop D2D communication scheme is proposed in order to enhance end-to-end connectivity among devices in a proximity area within an LTE-A cell. We also describe a promising resource allocation approach aware of the multi-hop D2D network configuration, able to fulfil bandwidth requests of all the cooperating devices, according to the related role in the network set-up.

Short paper: Overcoming IoT fragmentation through standard gateway architecture

Vertical approach still largely dominates smart devices systems. Even in IoT, proprietary protocols and backend systems are still common. The presented solution aims at harmonizing different standards and architectures, improving sustainability and security. It also allows to use a IaaS approach to further enhance the sensor networks business model.

Testing of the Carrier Aggregation Mode for a Live LTE Base Station in Reverberation Chamber

For the first time, the carrier aggregation feature of a live fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (4G-LTE) base station (BS) is checked, adopting a reverberation chamber as a propagating environment. For this purpose, two nonadjacent bands were chosen, i.e., 800 and 1800 MHz, and alternatively set as primary and secondary cells. The multipath conditions were tuned by adding the absorbing material inside the chamber and ranging from an empty condition with a rich multipath to a real environment such as an indoor scenario. The latter is a very interesting and popular situation as it represents one in which people use mobile phones. The multipath variation effect on the BS performance was accurately verified by introducing power compensation to account for the variation of the chamber quality factor

Enabling technologies for smart building, what's missing?

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Optimized Narrow-Band M2M Systems for Massive Cellular IoT Communications

due to the insertion of absorbers. A complete over-the-air test was carried out by checking typical transmission quality parameters, which are of interest to manufacturers and mobile network operators. Results highlight the differences between the performance of the two bands as a function of multipath degree and signal strength.

Performance evaluation of LTE in unlicensed bands for indoor deployment of ultra-broadband mobile networks

Smart environments have many potential benefits, ranging from energetic efficiency to better living for the impaired and seamless interaction with smart devices. The devices empowering smart buildings, and specifically Wireless Sensor Networks, have recently gained a lot of interest among academy, industry and standardization bodies. However, current devices are not yet ready for mass-deployment, mainly due to management and security issues. This paper deals with the analysis of these issues, proposing a suitable methodology to overcome present limitations.

Enhance the QoE for smartphone applications: An API approach for QoS control in LTE-A

Simple connectivity and data requirements together with high lifetime of battery are the main issues for the machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. 3GPP focuses on three main licensed standardizations based on Long Term Evolution (LTE), GSM and clean-slate technologies. The paper considers the last one and proposes a modified slotted-Aloha method to increase the capability of supporting a massive number of low-throughput devices. The proposed method increases the access rate of users belonging to each class considered in the clean-slate standard and consequently the total throughput offered by the system. To derive the mean access rate per class, we use the Markov chain approach and simulation results are provided for scenarios with different data rate and also in terms of cell average delay.

Application driven SON

The continuous growth of worldwide mobile subscriptions and the progress of mobile devices and telecommunications in the last few years has led to a tremendous increase of demand for high data rates. The scarcity of licensed spectrum and the high costs of this resource have encouraged mobile operators to move towards the unlicensed spectrum. LTE Licensed-Assisted Access is the proposed technology, that allows to work on the 5 GHz unlicensed band. To operate on these frequencies already occupied by Wi-Fi and radar systems, LTE must fairly coexist with the above. The aim of this paper is to analyze the downlink performance improvements, offered by the aggregation of unlicensed bands, in terms of user throughput.

The role of small cell technology in future Smart City applications

In this paper, we propose a novel architecture to address the problem of application Quality of Experience (QoE) management for rapidly evolving and heterogeneous network scenarios. The proposed architecture can be used for mixed Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) and Wi-Fi systems, and it can be used to enhance the effectiveness of next-generation Software Defined Network (SDN). Thanks to the elements described in this paper, the Applications can interact in a secure and controlled way with the network QoE management entities. This allows to have a better system flexibility, scalability and enables to use advanced QoE support mechanisms for rapidly evolving user scenarios.