5G Beyond 3GPP Release 15 for Connected Automated Mobility in Cross-Border Contexts

Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks aim to be qualified as the core connectivity infrastructures to address connected automated mobility (CAM), both from a technological and from a business perspective, for the higher automation levels defined by the automotive industry. Specifically, in some territories such as the European Union the cross-border corridors have relevance, as they are the cohesive paths for terrestrial transport. Therefore, 5G for CAM applications is planned to be deployed there first. However, cross-border contexts imply paramount communication challenges, such as seamless roaming, not addressed by current technology. This paper identifies relevant future 5G enhancements, specifically those specified by Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) releases beyond Release 15, and outlines how they will support the ambitions of highly automated driving in cross-border corridors. In order to conduct this study, a set of representative use cases and the related communication requirements were identified. Then, for each use case, the most relevant 5G features were proposed. Some open issues are described at the end.

On the Use of Home Node Bs for Emergency Telemedicine Applications in Various Indoor Environments

The use of emergency telemedicine applications at the site of a medical emergency event provides a multitude of benefits, both from the perspective of the patient and the emergency care providers. Innovations in rich multimedia telemedicine solutions further enhances the aforementioned benefits, but places more stringent quality-of-service demands on the underlying mobile networks. In this paper, the authors present a proposal for a complementary solution for rapid provisioning of mobile broadband data connectivity for emergency telemedicine applications in indoor environments. The proposed solution relies on the exploitation of existing femtocellular network resources available at emergency sites in various residential building types. Simulations carried out for a UMTS network environment demonstrate significant improvements in terms of achievable throughput for the emergency mobile terminal device when access to UMTS Home Node Bs available in the building is allowed for emergencies compared to macro Node B access only.

Enhancing performance of next generation FSO communication systems using soft computing-based predictions

The deterioration and deformation of a free-space optical beam wave-front as it propagates through the atmosphere can reduce the link availability and may introduce burst errors thus degrading the performance of the system. We investigate the suitability of utilizing soft-computing (SC) based tools for improving performance of free-space optical (FSO) communications systems. The SC based tools are used for the prediction of key parameters of a FSO communications system. Measured data collected from an experimental FSO communication system is used as training and testing data for a proposed multi-layer neural network predictor (MNNP) used to predict future parameter values. The predicted parameters are essential for reducing transmission errors by improving the antenna's accuracy of tracking data beams. This is particularly essential for periods considered to be of strong atmospheric turbulence. The parameter values predicted using the proposed tool show acceptable conformity with original measurements.

Optical hop number limits imposed by various 2 x 2 cross-connect node designs

The success of transparent optical transport networks depends on the availability of optical cross-connect nodes (OXNs) that induce minimal impairments on the signals they cross-connect. This should extend the possible coverage and flexibility of path restoration within a meshed network topology by raising the upper bound on the achievable optical hop (traversable OXNs) number. We provide a brief survey and categorization of the currently proposed OXNs. Furthermore, the possible limits they impose on the number of hops are established by a series of transmission performance simulations. Microoptic and all-fiber OXNs are identified to be suitable for networks with a low connectivity and channel count. In case larger OXNs are needed, then microoptic and integrated OXNs provide a better option. The results obtained are applicable as guidelines for the deployment of future optical ring topologies.