Doriana Guiducci

Analysis of Multipath Propagation in Urban Environment Through Multidimensional Measurements and Advanced Ray Tracing Simulation

A multidimensional analysis of multipath propagation in urban micro- and macro-cellular environment has been carried out. Multidimensional measurement data, including path-loss, delay spread and direction-of-arrival are compared with simulations performed with a 3D ray tracing model which takes diffuse scattering into account. The results are analyzed highlighting the dominant propagation mechanisms in the different cases and model performance/shortcomings. In particular, the results show that diffuse scattering plays a key role in urban propagation, with an impact on both narrowband and wideband parameters in most cases. Also, the accuracy and the characteristics of environment representation can have a significant impact on prediction even in simple topologies.

Assessment of Population and Occupational Exposure to Wi-Fi Systems: Measurements and Simulations

In this study, the impact of Wi-Fi access points is investigated in terms of electromagnetic field exposure evaluations. Installations, typically present in common living contexts, have been analyzed by means of both wideband and narrow-band measurements and simulation-prediction tools. The obtained results show that exposure due to these systems is compliant with the limits provided by regulation.

White Spaces potentially available in Italian scenarios based on the geo-location database approach

In this work spectral resources potentially available for White Space Devices (WSDs) in the TV band is investigated in different Italian scenarios. The adopted methodology is based on the geo-location database approach used either in autonomous operation or in combination with sensing techniques. From simulation and measurement results, it is evident that in Italy the 470-790 MHz band is densely utilized and most of the potentially available WS are located in low populated zones such as mountain or hilly areas. The amount of WS strongly depends on many different parameters such as the criteria adopted to protect the incumbent service or the topology of the considered area. Preliminary results on the possible benefits derived from the combination of geo-location database and sensing techniques are discussed.

Sharing under licensed shared access in a LTE real test network at 2.3–2.4 GHz

This paper presents the worlds first regulatory pilot on Licensed Shared Access (LSA) in the 2.3–2.4 GHz band, enacted in Italy to delve deeper on the role that spectrum sharing has for efficient use of spectrum. This contribution gives a high-level description of the pilot testbed architecture, the sharing framework and the sharing rules currently defined within the LSA pilot to protect the incumbent users in Italy. Sharing conditions are investigated through measurements and simulations in femtocells and microcells environments which are expected to represent the optimal use case for spectrum sharing towards high capacity mobile broadband.

Sharing under licensed shared access in a live LTE network in the 2.3–2.4 GHz band end-to-end architecture and compliance results

This paper presents the worlds first technical and regulatory pilot on Licensed Shared Access (LSA) in the 3GPP Band 40, i.e. 2.3–2.4 GHz band, enacted in Italy to delve deeper on the role that spectrum sharing has for efficient use of spectrum. The Italian Administration, in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and the support of a consortium of industrial partners, has been the first in the world to promote and organize a LSA pilot on a large scale to verify both the technical feasibility and regulatory compliance of this technique applied to a real, live LTE network. The paper firstly introduces the pilot architecture and configuration and describes the sharing framework in the Italian scenario, then key measurements results are presented. The pilot implements a distributed control architecture in compliance with CEPT and ETSI provisions. Measurement results show the sharing based on LSA is feasible to provide mobile broadband services in the 2300–2400 MHz band without detriment to incumbent services.

Planning criteria to improve energy efficiency of mobile radio systems

The cellular layout of a mobile radio system has an impact on its performance (in terms of both coverage and capacity) as well as on its economical and environmental sustainability in terms of power consumption and of exposure of population to electromagnetic field. In this paper we study different cellular coverage strategies to identify which solutions better meet the constraints on the above mentioned parameters. Both an idealized, 2D case and a more detailed urban layout case are considered in the work: in the latter case a 3D ray tracing tool is used as propagation model. Generally, a trade-off is required to reach the best performance in terms of radio coverage, system throughput and energy efficiency.

Analysis of macrocellular and microcellular coverage with attention to exposure levels

In the present work we study different coverage strategies for the deployment of mobile radio system in urban areas, with a particular attention to environmental aspects. The case study is a real urban deployment, in the city centre of Bologna. Both macrocellular and microcelluar coverage strategies have been analysed in order to obtain optimised coverage that guarantees a good service quality with the minimum exposure levels. The results show that the optimum solution is obtained with a mixed architecture with cells of both kinds.

Regulatory Pilot on Licensed Shared Access in a Live LTE-TDD Network in IMT Band 40

This paper presents the Italian pilot on licensed shared access (LSA) in the IMT Band 40 to explore the potential and logistics of spectrum sharing from a regulatory perspective. Organized on a small cell/micro cell scale, it verified both the technical feasibility and regulatory compliance of LSA in a real, LTE-TDD network, constrained by the national spectrum use in Band 40. The LSA system was implemented in compliance with the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, ETSI, and 3GPP specifications. We present an innovative distributed architecture implemented across three countries, enabling certain features of 5G networks. We describe the sharing framework and sharing conditions in the Italian scenario for the use cases representing actual incumbents. These were verified through in-field measurements, key results of which are presented. Measurement results show that sharing based on LSA is feasible to provide additional capacity for mobile broadband services in the 2300–2400 MHz band without detriment to incumbent services. Use of commercial off-the-shelf equipment to create new mobile broadband service in an urban indoor/outdoor environment pilot enabled us to assess the spectrum sharing opportunities through LSA technology for general deployment today and toward future policy for 5G spectrum in Italy.

Advantages and disadvantages of the introduction of IMT systems at 800 MHz band

Spectrum demands are dramatically increasing in most developed markets, due to the soaring demand for mobile broadband access. Furthermore, the ability to cover larger areas with the same power levels and the need for providing broadband access to digital divide areas is currently one of the major issues in the field of wireless communications. To cope with market needs, and for exploiting the newly available bands after the Digital Switchover process, the last World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) allocated on a co-primary basis the upper part of the UHF band to mobile services as from 2015. Moreover, the Directive 2009/114/EC opened the 900 MHz band to IMT systems. The aim of this paper is to provide an analysis on the consequences of the possible allocation of the 800 MHz band to IMT system, currently occupied by broadcasting services. The theoretical results provided in this work are compared to simulations outcomes performed both on real and ideal scenarios.

Experimental analysis on possible coexistence issues related to the introduction of LTE in the 2300–2400 MHz band

Nowadays the mobile radio technology is largely used to deliver Internet contents. Many studies to investigate techniques to use more efficiently the already assigned spectrum are currently on going at international level.