Technological Trends for 5G Networks Influence of E-Health and IoT Applications

The fifth generation of mobile communications networks (5G) is currently in the standardization process, which is expected to be completed in 2020. For this new generation, new applications and scenarios are imposing new performance requirements in addition to higher data rates. Specifically, the Internet of Things (IoT) and e-health applications have very important economic roles in 5G networks and define particular performance requirements that must be considered when defining the technologies for 5G networks. In this paper, the author discusses the influence of e-health and IoT applications on the technological trends for 5G networks.

Deployment of Narrowband Internet of Things

Internet of things (IoT) is an integral part of modern digital ecosystem. It is available in different forms. Narrowband IoT (NBIoT) is one of the special forms of the IoTs available for deployment. It is popular due to its low power wide area (LPWA) characteristics. For new initiatives such as smart grids and smart cities, a large number of sensors will be deployed and the demand for power is expected to be high for such IoT deployments. NBIoT has the potential to reduce the power and bandwidth required for large IoT projects. In this chapter, different practical aspects of NBIoT deployment have been addressed. The LPWA features of NBIoT can be realized effectively if and only if its deployment is done properly. Due to its large demand, it has been standardized in a very short span of time. However, the 5G deployment of NBIoT will have some new provisions.

Resource Management of Mixed Unicast and Multicast Services Over LTE

In recent years, mobile operators are observing a growing demand of multicast services over radio cellular networks. In this scenario, multicasting is the technology exploited to serve a group of users who simultaneously request the same data content. Since multicast applications are expected to be massively exchanged over the forthcoming fifth generation (5G) systems, the third-generation partnership project (3GPP) defined the multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) standard. MBMS supports multicast services over long-term evolution (LTE), and the 4G wireless technology provides high quality services in mobile environments. Nevertheless, several issues related to the management of MBMS services together with more traditional unicast services are still open. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the main challenges in supporting heterogeneous traffic over LTE with particular attention to resource management, considered as the key aspect for an effective provisioning of mobile multimedia services over cellular networks.

Standardization of 5G Mobile Networks

According to Rahim Tafazolli from the University of Surrey, users can expect the “perception of infinite capacity” from the future of mobile networks. The fifth generation of mobile networks, 5G, is expected to be released in 2020 and steps up to fulfill various expectations. This article systematically reviews existing research on standardization of 5G and provides an outlook on how to continue best in the future. The review of existing literature shows areas in standardization research, like standardization from a user's perspective, that are rarely covered. In the second part, the focus shifts towards specific publications of relevant standardization organizations and stakeholders for the 5G standardization. By matching the current status of the 5G standardization with historical success factors derived in the first part, this research shows that the standardization process of 5G is on a good way but acknowledges that there is much work to do in the future.

Managing 5G Converged Core With Access Traffic Steering, Switching, and Splitting

This chapter discusses the ongoing work around hybrid access and network convergence, with particular emphasis on recent works on ATSSS in 3GPP. Three main aspects are analyzed: policy enforcement, integration with 5G QoS framework, interaction with underlying multi-path transport protocol. The chapter also provides some preliminary testbed results showing the benefits of ATSSS in the management of multiple accesses analyzing some primary performance indicators such as achievable data rates, link utilization for aggregated traffic, and session setup latency. The chapter also provides some results by considering two examples of realization of ATSSS policies to avoid inefficiency in link utilization and to allow the fulfillment of data rate requirements.

Challenges in Energy-Efficient Communications as Enablers for Green Solutions on the 5G Heterogeneous Networks

One of the most representative challenges of multi-tier heterogeneous network architectures is the interference management among different Radio Access Technologies. In this sense, in order to achieve the potential increase on network capacity forecasted for 5G, the issue of interference must be addressed. Intelligent energy management, as proposed in the growing area of Green Communications could serve as an appealing solution to the interference issue. However developing an optimal energy management plan requires the understanding of the characteristics of 5G cellular networks that could be exploited to improve energy and resources efficiency. In this work we present a study about challenges in energy-efficient communications and technologies as enablers for green solutions and how this challenges can be extended to meet those of the 5G heterogeneous networks, in order to identify possible solutions to address the energy efficiency and interference mitigation issues.

Importance of Cloud Computing in 5G Radio Access Networks

The fifth generation of wireless networks (5G) will kick off with evolved mobile broadband services as promised by several mobile-related associations, researchers, and operators. Compared to 4G, 5G aims to provide greater data rates with lower latency and higher coverage to numerous users who stream ubiquitous multimedia services. 5G benefits the innovation of internet of things (IoT) as well. To this end, several modifications in the network architecture are required. This chapter is discussing the role of cloud computing centers in 5G networks, and how such integration could be implemented as found in the literature. The benefits of cloud/5G integration will be explained as well. In addition, some challenges related to the integration will be demonstrated.

Machine Learning in 5G Multimedia Communications

Machine learning (ML) has evolved to the point that this technique enhances communications and enables fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks. ML is great to get insights about complex networks that use large amounts of data, and for predictive and proactive adaptation to dynamic wireless environments. ML has become a crucial technology for mobile broadband communication. Special case goes to deep learning (DL) in immersive media. Through this chapter, the goal is to present open research challenges and applications of ML. An exploration of the potential of ML-based solution approaches in the context of 5G primary eMBB, mMTC, and uHSLLC services is presented, evaluating at the same time open issues for future research, including standardization activities of algorithms and data formats.

Critical Success Factors to Create 5G Networks in the Smart Cities of India From the Security and Privacy Perspectives

Development of cities brings in overall economic growth of the country. As a result, cities are taking new shape with modern facilities to ensure development. In this perspective, Government of India (GOI) has announced to create 100 Smart Cities across different locations in India. In these Smart Cities, modern infrastructure would be created with introduction of modern 5G network systems. This network system is expected to bring in considerable improvements in the Smart Cities if the security and privacy issues involved in this system can be addressed. This chapter has taken an attempt to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) instrumental to improve this network system within the acceptable level of security and privacy vulnerabilities in Smart Cities of India. To identify the CSFs, different standard methods including questionnaire-oriented survey, brainstorming have been adopted. Interpretive structural modelling (ISM) methodology has been used to find out inter-relationships among the CSFs along with identification of driving forces.

Clustering and 5G-Enabled Smart Cities

This chapter highlights the importance of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) in the context of the 5G-enabled smarter cities and roads, a topic that attracts significant interest. In order for VANETs and its associated applications to become a reality, a very promising avenue is to bring together multiple wireless technologies in the architectural design. 5G is envisioned to have a heterogeneous network architecture. Clustering is employed in designing optimal VANET architectures that successfully use different technologies. Therefore, clustering has the potential to play an important role in the 5G-VANET-enabled solutions. This chapter presents a survey of clustering approaches in the VANET research area. The survey provides a general classification of the clustering algorithms, presents some of the most advanced and latest algorithms in VANETs, and it is among the fewest works in the literature that reviews the performance assessment of clustering algorithms.