PLANOPTI

Planning and Optimisation for the Coexistence of Mobile and Wireless Networks Towards Long Term Evolution

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'This European Reintegration Grant proposal aims to consolidate the career of Fernando J. Velez through a research programme and a series of initiatives on next generation mobile networks in a context of coexistence to be developed in the Instituto de Telecomunicações/Universidade da Beira Interior. It will help him having conditions to a fruitful reintegration in his original team and Institution in Portugal. Networks of the future are tending towards a diverse wireless networking world, where scenarios define that the end-user will be able to attain any service, at any time on effectively any network that is optimised for the application at hand resulting in “flexibility and choice” to enhance the quality of life of the individual, in a context of seamless interoperability between network operators and access technologies, complemented by a business exploitation strategy that adapts to future economic infrastructures. The economic vision targets a converged network and service infrastructure for communication, computing and media applications that will create new market opportunities for 3rd party service providers. The drive for ubiquitous, cost-effective communication in unison with new service provisioning opportunities provided the impetus for the OPTIMOBLE proposal. It intends to design, implement and demonstrate “cooperative networking and optimisation strategies” for next generation networks that will provide a significant step towards network convergence in a truly heterogeneous environment. Cooperative-common radio resource management strategies are considered, assisted by context-aware information (e.g., positioning) for maximising network utility and QoS delivery, and by incorporating ad-hoc relaying and mesh networking mechanisms to ensure virtually collocated heterogeneous systems and coverage. These visions will be complemented by a business feasibility study, and will include innovative graphical cellular planning tools.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Consumers increasingly demand accessibility to a range of services over a number of networks at any time or place and at a reasonable cost. A new EU-funded project has laid the groundwork to make it happen in the near future.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The future of mobile and wireless networks will require seamless integration of network operators and access technologies together with a business plan able to adapt to future economic infrastructures. The EU-funded project http://www.e-projects.ubi.pt/planopti/ (PLANOPTI) was initiated to develop and demonstrate cooperative radio resource management and optimisation strategies for fourth-generation (4G) mobile communications systems. Economic analyses and optimising the impact of pricing help lay the groundwork for future network convergence in a very heterogeneous environment while maximising profit.

Importantly, PLANOPTI considered the use of measurement issues related to cellular coverage, interference and resource reuse in cellular planning and optimisation. Scientists also addressed quality of experience and quality of service issues, cost and revenues, and a number of network protocols and architectures.

One of the most innovative aspects of PLANOPTI is validation of spectrum aggregation algorithms for actual operator networks. Spectrum aggregation that makes efficient use of spectral fragments has received a great deal of attention recently. It makes it possible for multiple spectral bands to be utilised by the same user, increasing bandwidth and achieving better performance. Scientists analysed a long-term evolution advanced scenario 4G system for spectrum aggregation, and developed specifications for a wireless planning tool and simulator.

Researchers also proposed a multi-channel protocol to enable higher throughputs with shorter delays. A cross-layer simulator and wireless planning tool were developed, making it possible to obtain signal coverage and throughput maps from the plan for a given zone. Finally, the scientists delivered radio and network simulation tools including optimisation of profit that accounts for both costs and revenue. Costs included licensing, spectrum fees and installation costs.

PLANOPTI engaged in a rigorous dissemination campaign with numerous invited talks and distinguished lectures, a book, several book chapters, journal papers, and delivery of demonstrators and prototypes. The socioeconomic impact of the work cannot be underestimated. The world is turning toward dynamic spectrum access and technologies for seamless integration of heterogeneous mobile and wireless communication systems. PLANOPTI has successfully delivered the foundations.