Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 5G STEP FWD (5G System Technological Enhancements Provided by Fiber Wireless Deployments)

Teaser

5G STEP FWD proposes a new network architecture that utilizes Ultra Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (UDWDM) to support a high number of small cells, interconnected by an UDWDM Passive Optical Network (PON). This connectivity of the small cells to the PONs is supported...

Summary

5G STEP FWD proposes a new network architecture that utilizes Ultra Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (UDWDM) to support a high number of small cells, interconnected by an UDWDM Passive Optical Network (PON). This connectivity of the small cells to the PONs is supported by fiber links between two Optical Line Terminals (OLTs), and/or by point-to-point fiber links, and/or small-scale fiber protection rings among locally adjacent Optical Network Units (ONUs). To this end, a set of objectives for the optical, wireless, and optical-wireless domains of the network have been identified:
At the wireless domain, 5G STEP-FWD aims to:
1. assess fundamental trade-offs between spectrum and infrastructure sharing, in multi-network operator environment;
2. develop a disruptive device- or user-centric cellular concept, allowing smart overlaid peer-to-peer communications;
3. introduce novel base station switching off schemes for mmWave-based HetNets with renewable energy capabilities;
4. re-think the concept of antenna design for mmWave hyper dense network, by configuring it in a flexible and adaptive manner.
At the optimal domain, 5G STEP-FWD aims to:
1. develop efficient optical transceivers that are compatible with the UDWDM technology;
2. investigate UDWDM-compatible PON configurations, minimizing the cost, maximizing the ONU population and satisfying QoS;
3. develop innovative wavelength/bandwidth allocation techniques applicable to ring-based architectures for PON interconnection.
At the optical-wireless domain, 5G STEP-FWD aims to:
1. propose a novel converged mmWave-UDWDM PON network design that interconnects multiple PONs;
2. propose novel modulation techniques for the transmission of mmWave signals over UDWDM-PONs;
3. design an SDN-based architecture for the efficient utilization of the multi-PON wireless and optical resources.

The developed solutions will be seamlessly integrated into the already existing and next generation PONs,fully supporting SDN/NVF. 5G STEP FWD will pave a feasible and dynamic path towards 5G wireless communications with a 1000 fold increase in capacity, connectivity for over 1 billion users, ultra low latency (<10ms) and secure flexible network software performance.

Work performed

During the first reporting period, the following main activities have been completed, ensuring the smooth execution of the 5G STEP FWD in terms of management, communication and dissemination.
- Set up of all relevant management structures and committees (supervisory board, etc.)
- Advertisement of ESR positions in Euraxess and other available channels
- Recruitment of ESRs according to the MSCA guidelines and preparation of their Personal Career Development Plans. Some delays in the recruitment have occurred due to visa issues, but without major impact on the project execution.
- Creation and continuous maintenance of the project’s website and social media accounts
- Organization of frequent meetings among beneficiaries and ESRs (kickoff, plenaries, etc.)
- Web-based training platform, video conferencing tools and data cloud repository set up and made available to all ESRs and supervisors
- Execution of the first two scientific schools and two two complementary courses
- Execution of the first open day
- Execution of the first project workshop
- First round of ESR open talks completed
- First project video prepared by the ESRs completed and disseminated
- Participation of consortium members in technical committees and 5G PPP initiatives, to open the road for standardization contributions
- Communication and public engagement strategy implemented by issuing periodic e-newsletters (5 in the first reporting period) and the project’s brochure, and participating in open door activities and international industrial exhibitions.
- Submission of all the relevant deliverables
- Green open access for all scientific publications of the project

At a technical level, the SoA assessment on all relevant scientific and industrial research fields have been conducted by the ESRs, with the main outcomes included in the first technical deliverables (D1.1, D2.1, and D3.1). Considerable beyond SoA designs and outcomes have been produced by the ESRs, included in the deliverables D1.2 and D3.2, and published in peer-reviewed journal and conferences, as detailed in the next section.

Final results

The beyond SoA research contributions of 5G STEP FWD are obtained within the three technical Work Packages (WP1, WP2 and WP3).

WP1 “mmWave Communications”, involving 5 ESRs, aims to deliver innovative contributions for the modelling optimization and evaluation of energy controlled mmWave HetNets. The beyond SoA contributions so far are summarized below.
- Novel design of phased array antennas for operation at 26 GHz, for energy-efficient operation
- An analytical framework based on stochastic geometry for the estimation of the coverage probability in 3D mmWave networks under realistic urban scenarios
- A novel and highly accurate analytical framework for the delay distribution in mmWave cellular networks

WP2 “UDWDM PON modeling”, involving 4 ESRs, aims to deliver innovative contributions to the Ultra Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (UDWDM) PON design and analysis. The beyond SoA work so far is summarized below:
- Novel cost-effective joint optical and electrical signal processing schemes, as well as experimentation for ultra-high rate connectivity
- Extensive experimentation-based evaluation on the transceiver part of optical networks
- Novel UDWDM PON configuration and DSP algorithms overcoming fiver nonlinearities
- Novel PON designs and experimentation for service provisioning in urban areas

The WP2 scientific outcomes have produced 1 journal and 1 conference publications and 2 conference submissions within the first reporting period.

WP3 “Converged network implementation”, involving 6 ESRs, aims to deliver novel modulation techniques, access protocols, resource allocation schemes and testbed experimentation platforms for the analysis and optimization of converged optical-wireless networks. The beyond SoA work so far is summarized below:
- Deployment of a 5G fronthaul experimental platform for the evaluation of resource optimization, load balancing and QoS provisioning.
- Dynamic slicing techniques for the radio access network, tested over the experimental 5G platform
- Novel optimization algorithm for the joint allocation of optical-wireless resources, taking into account SDN/NVF principles
- Cost-efficient strategies for C-RAN deployment in a mesh WDM network
- Experimental setup of an end-to-end analog RoF system, enabling the testing of the compatibility between optical and wireless components
- Qualitative comparison of waveforms through real-time signal generation and transmission over hybrid optical-wireless channels.

The WP3 scientific outcomes have produced 7 conference publications, and 2 journal and 3 conference submissions within the first reporting period.

The 5G STEP FWD innovations and expected results will deliver novel architectures, designs configurations and algorithms for the deployment of the converged optical wireless infrastructure of the future. Specifically, the 5G STEP FWD achievements will provide energy and cost efficient solutions that will enable future access/fronthaul/backhaul networks to support the excessive capacity demands, satisfy stringent service requirements, while fully exploiting the capabilities of new SDN/NVF technologies.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.5gstepfwd.eu/.