Enabling Intelligence in Spectrum Sharing

We argue that the capital expenditures made by an individual mobile network operator is extremely high and risky. Also, radio spectrum sharing still lacks intelligence in the current architecture of mobile networks and needs to be rethought. We propose that the goal for a disruptive innovation, in the future mobile network architecture, that shall be able to free mobile network operators from having to hold spectrum licenses and natively enable intelligent radio spectrum sharing among multiple mobile network operators. On the basis of the design principles, the duty of a single mobile network operator is split into two roles, one focuses on infrastructure development, the other only contains authorizations on the radio spectrum usage. We introduce a new role to the mobile network architecture, named Spectrum Trader, is a primary broker for spectrum trading, and it is used to coordinate with the demand-side requests and the supply-side resources to drive demand in a \emph{real-time bidding} manner. We also introduce a spectrum embedding technique that shall enable efficient and intelligent spectrum allocation by recommending the right spectrum bands based on user scenario. Finally, several significant challenges that need to be addressed in practical deployment are investigated.

Enabling Intelligence in Spectrum Sharing

We argue that the capital expenditures made by an individual mobile network operator is extremely high and risky. Also, radio spectrum sharing still lacks intelligence in the current architecture of mobile networks and needs to be rethought. We propose that the goal for a disruptive innovation, in the future mobile network architecture, that shall be able to free mobile network operators from having to hold spectrum licenses and natively enable intelligent radio spectrum sharing among multiple mobile network operators. On the basis of the design principles, the duty of a single mobile network operator is split into two roles, one focuses on infrastructure development, the other only contains authorizations on the radio spectrum usage. We introduce a new role to the mobile network architecture, named Spectrum Trader, is a primary broker for spectrum trading, and it is used to coordinate with the demand-side requests and the supply-side resources to drive demand in a \emph{real-time bidding} manner. We also introduce a spectrum embedding technique that shall enable efficient and intelligent spectrum allocation by recommending the right spectrum bands based on user scenario. Finally, several significant challenges that need to be addressed in practical deployment are investigated.

Performance Analysis of Mobile Broadband Technologies and 5G Trends and Beyond Networks in Malaysia

<p>This paper analysis and investigate the performance of Mobile Broadband (MBB) cellular networks based on the drive tests for suburban areas (at four states) in Malaysia. The data were collected from three main national Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) by using unbranded Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone handsets, while the period of data collection was between January and February. Two MBB services were considered which are the video streaming and web browsing. For each MNO, the performance data of one MBB service was collected through one a dedicated smartphone. One smartphone was used to browse three different webpages, and One smartphone was employed to stream two YouTube videos with two different resolutions. The study considered four MBB Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), namely: latency, coverage, speed and satisfaction. As per the results, the performance of Fourth Generation (4G) is found superior than that of Third Generation (3G) networks. For instance, a vMOS score of above 3.3 was achieved by 4G networks for MBB video-streaming service, while, score of below 2.6 was attained by 3G networks across all the four studied areas. In addition, it was observed that an enhancement factor of up to 2.86 and 2.83 in download speed was presented by 4G technology in case of video streaming and web page browsing respectively as compared to 3G technology. Examining the performance of current MBB networks is supportive before the deployment of the 5G network. The efficient development of 5G networks in Malaysia can be realized through these study findings, where the existing 4G infrastructures will contribute to supporting the 5G and 6G networks.</p>

Performance Analysis of Mobile Broadband Technologies and 5G Trends and Beyond Networks in Malaysia

<p>This paper analysis and investigate the performance of Mobile Broadband (MBB) cellular networks based on the drive tests for suburban areas (at four states) in Malaysia. The data were collected from three main national Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) by using unbranded Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone handsets, while the period of data collection was between January and February. Two MBB services were considered which are the video streaming and web browsing. For each MNO, the performance data of one MBB service was collected through one a dedicated smartphone. One smartphone was used to browse three different webpages, and One smartphone was employed to stream two YouTube videos with two different resolutions. The study considered four MBB Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), namely: latency, coverage, speed and satisfaction. As per the results, the performance of Fourth Generation (4G) is found superior than that of Third Generation (3G) networks. For instance, a vMOS score of above 3.3 was achieved by 4G networks for MBB video-streaming service, while, score of below 2.6 was attained by 3G networks across all the four studied areas. In addition, it was observed that an enhancement factor of up to 2.86 and 2.83 in download speed was presented by 4G technology in case of video streaming and web page browsing respectively as compared to 3G technology. Examining the performance of current MBB networks is supportive before the deployment of the 5G network. The efficient development of 5G networks in Malaysia can be realized through these study findings, where the existing 4G infrastructures will contribute to supporting the 5G and 6G networks.</p>

Guagingof key performance indicators for 2G mobile networks in Calabar, Nigeria

The increase in the number of mobile subscribers, coupled with the increase in mobile services is enough reason to monitor the QoS of mobile network operators frequently. This work looks into the QoS of network operators in Calabar, Nigeria, taking into consideration some KPIs ((CSSR, DCR, CST, HOSR, and network quality and network coverage). Analysis of data obtained after a benchmarking drive test shows that Globacom network was within NCC performance threshold for all network KPIs monitored. Also, MTN network performed poorly in HOSR but met the minimum benchmark in other network KPIs. Airtel network failed in the required DCR benchmark but was within the minimum benchmark for other KPIs while 9mobile failed in CSSR and DCR performance threshold but met the performance threshold for other KPIs. This result will be useful to the regulatory body, NCC, those in academic, RF engineers, network subscribers and especially, the network operators which we expect, will optimize their networks immediately.

Understanding components of mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic

Travel restrictions have proven to be an effective strategy to control the spread of the COVID-19 epidemics, in part because they help delay disease propagation across territories. The question, however, as to how different types of travel behaviour, from commuting to holiday-related travel, contribute to the spread of infectious diseases remains open. Here, we address this issue by using factorization techniques to decompose the temporal network describing mobility flows throughout 2020 into interpretable components. Our results are based on two mobility datasets: the first is gathered from Danish mobile network operators; the second originates from the Facebook Data-For-Good project. We find that mobility patterns can be described as the aggregation of three mobility network components roughly corresponding to travel during workdays, weekends and holidays, respectively. We show that, across datasets, in periods of strict travel restrictions the component corresponding to workday travel decreases dramatically. Instead, the weekend component, increases. Finally, we study how each type of mobility (workday, weekend and holiday) contributes to epidemics spreading, by measuring how the effective distance, which quantifies how quickly a disease can travel between any two municipalities, changes across network components. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Data science approaches to infectious disease surveillance’.

Availability of an RFID Object-Identification System in IoT Environments

Through the latest technological and conceptual developments, the centralized cloud-computing approach has moved to structures such as edge, fog, and the Internet of Things (IoT), approaching end users. As mobile network operators (MNOs) implement the new 5G standards, enterprise computing function shifts to the edge. In parallel to interconnection topics, there is the issue of global impact over the environment. The idea is to develop IoT devices to eliminate the greenhouse effect of current applications. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the technology that has this potential, and it can be used in applications ranging from identifying a person to granting access in a building. Past studies have focused on how to improve RFID communication or to achieve maximal throughput. However, for many applications, system latency and availability are critical aspects. This paper examines, through stochastic Petri nets (SPNs), the availability, dependability, and latency of an object-identification system that uses RFID tags. Through the performed analysis, the optimal balance between latency and throughput was identified. Analyzing multiple communication scenarios revealed the availability of such a system when deployed at the edge layer.