Optimizing the energy efficiency (EE) of wireless networks is one of the key priorities in the design of beyond 5G mobile technologies. In this pursuit, the use of new frequency bands, in combination with advanced multiple access protocols and cooperative communications strategies, has recently shown promising results. To this end, this paper investigates an indoor wireless network that aggregates communication resources in visible light and radio-frequency (RF) bands, taking advantage of the complementary aspects of the two technologies. More specifically, a non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme is introduced for the visible light communication (VLC) downlink, such that cell-edge users experiencing a weak VLC signal enhance their aggregated data rate with the aid of cooperative communications over RF sidelinks (i.e., device-to-device links). The optimal resource allocation strategy over both VLC and RF bands is derived aiming at EE maximization based on the Dinkelbach’s algorithm and successive convex approximation. Additionally, for the sake of flexibility, a weighted EE metric is proposed for the characterization of the aggregated VLC/RF network performance. Simulation results are provided to validate the proposed analysis, revealing the impact of various design and system parameters, such as the weighting factors, quality of service requirements, and channel conditions.

We consider spectrum sharing between a limited set of operators having similar rights for accessing spectrum. A coordination protocol acting on the level of the RAN is designed. The protocol is non-cooperative, but assumes an agreement to a set of negotiation rules. The signaling overhead is low, and knowledge of a competitor's channel state information is not assumed. No monetary transactions are involved; instead, spectrum sharing is based on a RAN-internal virtual currency. The protocol is applicable both in a scenario of mutual renting and when the operators form a spectrum pool. The protocol reacts to variations in interference and load of operators, and shows gains in a simulated small cell scenario.

Joint transmission (JT)-based Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) systems achieve high performance gains by allowing full coordination among multiple cells, transforming unwanted intercell interference into useful signal power. In this paper, we present an analytical model to perform adaptive modulation for a typical JT CoMP system, consisting of three transmission points, under a target bit error rate (BER) constraint. Probability density functions of the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) are derived for different JT CoMP schemes, and based on them, closed-form expressions for the average spectral efficiency (ASE) are obtained when adopting continuous-rate adaptive modulation. The study of ASE is also extended for the case of discrete-rate modulations, where the performance comparison of different practical quantized modulation schemes is carried out.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication represents a new paradigm for mobile cellular networks, where a massive number of low-cost devices request the transfer of small amounts of data without human intervention. One option to tackle this problem is obtained by combining random beamforming (RBF) with opportunistic scheduling. RBF can be used to induce larger channel fluctuations, and opportunistic scheduling can be used to select M2M devices when their overall channel quality is good. Traditional RBF does not fulfill M2M requirements, because overall channel quality needs to be tracked continuously. In order to tackle this limitation, a novel codebook-based RBF architecture that identifies in advance the time instants in which overall channel quality should be reported, within a coherence time window, is proposed. This opportunistic feedback mechanism reduces signaling overhead and enables energy saving at M2M devices. A simplified methodology is presented to evaluate the system mean data rate, using for this purpose closed form formulas derived from SNR distribution approximations. Results reveal that the performance loss that is experienced for introducing the proposed modifications to traditional RBF scheme is negligible. The concepts analyzed in this paper provide useful insights, and show that codebook-based RBF with simplified opportunistic scheduling algorithms is an excellent combination to provide wide-area M2M services with low-cost devices and limited signaling overhead.

The interworking of the LTE system and WLAN technologies has drawn much attention lately, due to the growing demands for various multimedia services and large data traffic in hotspot areas. Existing research studies have mostly investigated the coupling architectures for these two wireless communication standards at the network layer. However, in the current architectures, many important coordination functions and joint optimizations cannot be accomplished efficiently. To tackle this problem, a new CBS solution is proposed, which integrates different RATs at layer 2 in the true sense of convergence. We design a unified protocol stack that includes all the original functions of both LTE and WLAN systems. Then we propose a convergence architecture, the RMC sublayer, for joint management of these two RATs. The proposed CBS solution can support seamless offloading through soft handover, guaranteed QoS, forwarding management by a single IP address, and customized bandwidth aggregation service. Finally, our simulation and initial experiment results demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the CBS solution in future mobile converged networks.

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication underlying 5G cellular networks enable using direct communication between devices as a relay strategy for coverage extension. We consider such a D2D-relaying approach in a scenario where there are multiple candidate devices to be selected as relays. Both backhaul and D2D transmissions are performed in uplink cellular resources, and are subject to cellular uplink power control. We investigate the relay selection and resource allocation problem for D2D-relaying in a multi-user, multi-carrier and multi-cellular network. For this purpose, we formulate a joint optimization problem and propose a simplified relay selection and resource allocation scheme. Using this scheme in a system simulation, we demonstrate that D2D-relaying under uplink power control increases the throughput of cell-edge users significantly.