The dawning of the 5G era:

Current status and selected important technical challenges

Prof. Panagiotis DemestichasUniversity of Piraeus, Greece

IEEE 5G Toronto Summit14th November 2015

Outline

5G activities

– Overview, selected readings

– Selected readings: NGMN and use cases

Activity in EU: 5GPPP – high level overview

– Provides framework and resources for

Addressing selected challenges

Interacting/integrating with community

Selected challenges

– Flexible, multi-service, air interface below 6 GHz (FANTASTIC-5G)

– Flexible/efficient Hardware/Software (HW/SW) platform (Flex5Gware)

– QoS and capacity expansions (SPEED-5G)

Entities (new, or continuing their tradition in transforming ICT)

– New air interfaces (new features and system level simulation), HW/SW partitioning and component chaining, intelligence for MAC and management layers: WINGS ICT Solutions

– Advanced management functionality: Incelligent

– 5G development and experimentation: 5G Innovation Centre, University of Surrey

– Dissemination and networking events: University of Piraeus

Events: EUCNC’16 (European Union Conference on Networking and Communications

Conclusions2

5G activities: overview per geographical area

3

4G Americas

NGMN

ARIB-5GMF

5GForum

IMT2020

IEEE WWRF3GPPITU

5GPPP

GSMA

• ITU: International Telecommunication union

• GSMA: GSM Association• 3GPP: 3rd Generation

Partnership Project• IEEE: Institute of Electrical

and Electronics Engineers• NGMN: Next Generation

Mobile Networks• WWRF: Wireless World

Research Forum

• 4G Americas: 4th

Generation Americas• 5GPPP: 5th Generation

Public Private Partnership• 5GMF: 5th Generation

Mobile Communications Promotion Forum

• 5GForum: 5th Generation Forum

NetWorld2020

5G activities: selected readings

4

4G Americas

NGMN

ARIB-5GMF

5GForum

IMT2020

IEEE WWRF3GPPITU

5GPPP

NetWorld2020

GSMA

5GPPP, “eHealth”, Oct. 2015 5GPPP, “Energy”, Oct. 2015 5GPPP, “Automotive”, Oct. 2015 5GPPP, “Factories-of-the-Future”, Oct. 2015 NetWorld2020, “Research Beyond 5G”, Oct. 2015 NGMN “5G White Paper”, Feb. 2015 GSMA, “Understanding 5G: Perspectives on

future technological advancements in mobile”, Dec. 2014

WWRF, “5G Vision, Enablers and Challenges for the Wireless Future”, Apr. 2015

4G Americas, “5G Technology Evolution Recommendations”, Oct. 2015

4G Americas, “Inside 3GPP Release 13: Understanding the Standards for HSPA+ and LTE-Advanced Enhancements”, Sep. 2015

ARIB, “Mobile Communications Systems for 2020 and beyond”, Oct. 2014

NetWorld2020 ETP, “5G: Challenges, Research Priorities, and Recommendations”, Aug. 2014List not exhaustive … there are many more…

5G activities: selected readings: NGMN “5G White Paper”

Comprehensive set of use cases has been introduced

There are related categorization(s), e.g., into 3 (underlined) or 5 sets

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Broadband Access in Dense Areas

Broadband Access Everywhere

Higher User Mobility

Massive Internet of Things (IoT)

Extreme Real-Time

Communications

Lifeline Communication

Ultra-reliable Communications

Broadcast-like Services

1. Mobile Broadband

2. Mission Critical Communications

3. Massive Machine Communications

4. Broadcast and Multicast Services

5. Vehicle 2 X Communications

Activity from EU: 5G-PPP (Public Private Partnership)

6 Source: W. Mohr, “The 5G Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership”, ITU GSC-19 Meeting, Geneva, July 15 and 16, 2015

Activity from EU: 5G-PPP – Selected challenges

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Challenge 1New, flexible, multi-service air

interface below 6GHz –My group’s contribution:

New air interfaces features and system level simulation

Challenge 2Flexible/ efficient HW/SW

platforms –My group’s contribution:

HW/SW partitioning and chaining

Challenge 3QoS provision and capacity

expansion -My group’s contribution:

Advanced intelligence for MAC and management levels in 5G context

Flexible, multi-service, air interface below 6 GHz (Fantastic-5G)

To find a response to the strong growth of requested data rates (evolutionary effect)

To enhance the business model of operators by widening the pool of services (revolutionary target)

To develop a flexible and scalable multi-service air interface with ubiquitous coverage and high capacity where and when needed. The new air interface is targeted to be highly efficient in terms of energy and resource consumption as well as to be future proof.

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Main motivations

Main objectives

Figure source: FANTASTIC-5G presentation in ICT2015, Lisbon, Oct. 2015

Web: http://fantastic5g.eu/http://wings-ict-solutions.eu/multi/FANTASTIC5G-PressRelease-FINAL.pdf

Flexible, multi-service, air interface below 6 GHz (Fantastic-5G)

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From Services to KPIs

Mobile Broadband (MBB)

Mission Critical Communications (MCC)

Massive Machine Communications (MMC)

Broad- and Multicast Services (MBS)

Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Services (V2X)

Core services and related KPIs with different requirement levels

Flexible, multi-service, air interface below 6 GHz (Fantastic-5G)

Cell densification

Support of D2D

Support of V2X

Enhanced MIMO with/without cooperation

New frame design

New waveform design

Advanced multi-cell RRM

Advanced retransmissions

Low PAPR design etc.

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Data throughput per area

Latency

Coverage

Mobility

Reliability/ Availability

Low cost

Low energy

From KPIs to improved PHY proceduresP

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MBB

Seco

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KP

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Flexible, multi-service, air interface below 6 GHz: Our group’s contribution: system level simulation (1)

From improved procedures to system level simulations

Modeling

– Modeling of targeted 5G environments based on service characteristics and system features

Definition of simulation scenarios

– Definition and configuration of a set of simulation scenarios based on 5G use cases

Selection of simulation scenarios

Execution of simulations & analysis

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Flexible, multi-service, air interface below 6 GHz: Our group’s contribution: system level simulation (2)

Simulation capabilities

Implement the most important features of both LTE and LTE-A technologies

– Customizable network topologies, channel and propagation models (radio conditions), traffic models, mobility models

Is being extended for modelling 5G core services

Preliminary versions of the simulation environment are under development

Compliant with 3GPP LTE Rel.10+

Politechnico di Bari LTE simulator: http://telematics.poliba.it/lte-sim

Main innovations

Multi-service support and flexible network deployments with a user-friendly GUI

12 WINGS tool: Visualization of user’s density WINGS tool: Visualization of QoS

Red points denote higher user density around small cells

Green points denote good QoS, while yellow

denote medium QoS

Flexible and Efficient HW/SW Platforms (Flex5Gware)

Main motivations

Need for 5G HW/SW platforms with increased flexibility and meeting the requirements imposed by the anticipated exponential growth in mobile data traffic

– Also scalability, resilience

Need for serving a large diversity of applications

Need for identifying and prototyping key building blocks

Main objectives

Increasing the HW versatility and reconfigurability

Providing HW-agnostic, flexible and cost-effective SW platforms

Increasing the overall capacity of 5G communication platforms (as well as achieve further KPIs)

Decreasing the energyconsumed by 5G communication platforms

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Web: http://www.flex5gware.eu/http://wings-ict-solutions.eu/multi/Flex5Gware_PressRelease.pdf

Flexible and Efficient HW/SW Platforms: High level overview of the concept (Flex5GWare)

Building blocks in 4 domains

Analogue HW components/architectures for multi-RAT and advanced semiconductor technologies

– E.g., mmWave

Mixed-signal technologies and conversion stages

– E.g., FDD, optical RF, converters

Digital front-end architectures and HW/SW function split

– E.g., FBMC, LDPC

SW modules, functions and interfaces enabled by virtualization technologies

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Colored blocks denote technical heterogeneity, while grey ones stand for HW-agnostic functions and interface

abstractions.

Flexible and Efficient HW/SW Platforms: Our group’s contribution

Cognitive, dynamic HW/SW partitioning On top of functions virtualization incl.

network centralization (Cloud-RAN) Context aware decision making to

whether a function will be executed: – In SW or HW; – Either inside a network stack layer and/or

between multiple network stack layers.

Cooperation with management programs and monitoring agents

5G SW modules and functions Hardware abstraction of sensors in 5G

context for retrieving useful info and facilitating the dynamic selection of communication technologies and protocols

Flexible, reprogrammable and reconfigurable functional composition of SW and HW components at runtime

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QoS provision and capacity expansion (Speed-5G)

Main motivations

Need for more capacity

Need for more spectrum

Need for better exploitation of resources across technologies

Need for better quality for application provisioning

Main objectives

SPEED-5G targets providing solutions at Layer 2, Layer 3 and above to enable enhanced Dynamic Spectrum Access with multiple RATs, and especially with FBMC

SPEED-5G can use in a coordinated way licensed, lightly-licensed and unlicensed spectrum mostly in dense and ultra-dense small cell networks

A new MAC and RRM for the 5G will be developed and evaluated throughout different Use Cases and Scenarios

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Web: https://speed-5g.eu/http://wings-ict-solutions.eu/multi/Speed-5G_Project_Factsheet_Final.pdf

QoS provision and capacity expansion (Speed-5G)

SPEED-5G intends to break spectrum and technology silos for optimal service provisioning and quality of experience

Challenge on how to break the technological silos in a more flexible way in the longer term by exploiting and improving advanced flexible wireless technologies

Improving autonomous management of small cells in dense scenarios

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QoS provision and capacity expansions: Our group’s contribution: extended DSA/RRM

Extensions to Dynamic Spectrum Access and (RRM)

Machine learning and prediction based solution to a complex problem

Involving 5G services and KPIs

Leveraging on various licensing schemes, allocation possibilities, wide range of spectrum

Handling a wide range of mobility cases

Leading to automated and robust solutions

Functionality partitioned between MAC and management layers

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Sample of entities contributing to 5G development: WINGS ICT Solutions

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Smart Wireless Access

5GProduct:Spin-out company

Incelligent

Cloud/ IoT Big data and Analytics

Commercial contracts

MigraineNet

Web: www.wings-ict-solutions.eu

• Smart Wireless Access• Device Management• Cloud Platforms; IoT; Wearables;

Nano-systems• Software networks; NFV; SDN;

Management and Orchestration• Big Data Platforms; Knowledge

Development; Predictive Analytics• Applications and Services

Sample of entities contributing to 5G development: Incelligent (having an eye on 5G)

Pain Predict as early as possible

areas that may have problems

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Solution provided Knowledge management and

predictive algorithms Highly heterogeneous big data Multi-vendor Prescriptions or automatic

enforcement Offering knowledge to

application providers

Achievements Pilots with incumbent operator,

large vendor, Wi-Fi operators

Next step:

Enhancing set of

pilots

Web: www.incelligent.net

Entities: Development of 5G and 5G experimentation:5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) at the University of Surrey (1)

The 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) at the University of Surrey is now the largest UKacademic research centre dedicated to the development of the next generation ofmobile and wireless communications.

Bringing together leading academic expertise and key industry partners in a sharedvision, the 5GIC will help to define and develop the 5G infrastructure.

At the heart of the 5GIC is a state-of-the-art testbed – the world’s leading independenttestbed for trialling emerging 5G ideas, proving concepts, validating standards andvendor inter-operability testing.

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Entities: Development of 5G and 5G experimentation: 5GIC

Major achievements so far:

12 patents filed so far; highlights of some of them are:

Speed and spectrum efficiency– Highest-ever speed wirelessly

– >800x highest speed in 4G

– Interference is good

Uniform user experience, all over cell coverage– 15x capacity increase at cell edge compared with state-of-the-art technologies

Targets:– 2016: 5Gbit/s/Cell (in the Lab)

– 2017: 10Gbit/s/Cell (in the lab)22

Source: R. Tafazolli, “5G Innovation Centre”

Events (co-organized by University of Piraeus): European Conference on Networks and Communications (EUCNC 2016)

If you want to: “live the dawn of 5G” come to EUCNC’16 in Athens

Welcoming papers in the areas:

Air interfaces (PHY, MAC, RRM, respective developments towards 5G).

Optical communications/networks(access/core technologies, signal processing, components, etc.).

Software defined infrastructures (SDN, NFV, orchestration, etc.).

Management technologies (physical/virtualized resource management, predictive technologies, resilience and security, learning and self-optimization, cognition, architectures and standards).

Converging concepts (IoT/M2M, CPS, embedded and nanoscale systems, cloud/edge/fog computing, OTT, etc.).

Business aspects, vertical sectors, applications/services.

Testbeds and experiments.

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Date: 27-30 June 2016

Place: Athens, Greece

Over 700 participants

Numerous companies and academic institutions

Papers, exhibition, business discussionsWeb: www.eucnc.eu

Conclusions

Many 5G initiatives are taking place around the globe

A lot of research is carried out in order to have first 5G deployments by 2020 (demonstration of features happen earlier)

Europe has established the 5G Public-Private Partnership (5GPPP) in order to accelerate 5G R&D by investing more than EUR 700 mn, within phases, under Horizon 2020 programme

Synergies between various parts of the world are important

Synergies between key industries, SMEs and academia are important

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Further references

P. Demestichas, A. Georgakopoulos, K. Tsagkaris, S. Kotrotsos, "Intelligent 5G Networks: Managing 5G Wireless/Mobile Broadband," IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol.10, no.3, pp.41-50, Sept. 2015

Y. Wang, J. Li, L. Huang, J. Yao, A. Georgakopoulos, P. Demestichas, "5G Mobile: Spectrum Broadening to Higher-Frequency Bands to Support High Data Rates", IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol.9, no.3, pp.39-46, 2014

P. Demestichas, A. Georgakopoulos, D. Karvounas, K. Tsagkaris, V. Stavroulaki, J. Lu, C. Xiong, J. Yao, "5G on the Horizon: Key Challenges for the Radio Access Network", IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, vol.8, no.3, pp.47-53, 2013

P. Demestichas, “Future Communications Networks towards 2020: Wireless/mobile broadband communications towards 2020 and 5G: driving forces and research challenges”, Panel presentation in Personal Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC), London, UK, 8-11 Sep. 2013

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Thank You!

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