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The advent of 5th generation of mobile networks (5G) will introduce some new challenges for the transport network. Different strategies can be employed by the network providers to address these challenges with the aim to achieve an efficient utilization of network resources. The most feasible option to achieve this goal is to introduce intelligence in the transport infrastructure by designing a flexible and programmable transport network. Network function virtualization (NFV) and dynamic resource sharing (DRS) are two possible techniques for realizing a flexible transport network. NFV allows to dynamically push network functions to different locations in the network, while DRS allows for sharing transport resources in a flexible manner. Both of these strategies can be realized by employing a programmable control framework based on software defined networking (SDN), which has implications on both the network data and control planes. However, this thesis specifically focuses on the data plane aspects of NFV and the control plane aspects of DRS. Considering the network caching as a specific example of network function, the data plane aspects of NFV are studied in terms of different architectural options for cache placement in order to see which options are the most efficient in terms of network power consumption and cost. The results presented in this thesis show that placing large-sized caches farther in the network for a large group of users is the most efficient approach. The control plane aspects of DRS are analyzed in terms of which provisioning strategy should be used for sharing a limited amount of transport resources. The analysis is presented for both a single-tenant case (i.e., where the role of service and network provider is played by the same entity), and a multi-tenant case (i.e., where a network provider manages the resources assigned to different service providers in an intelligent way). The results show that DRS performs much better than the conventional static approach (i.e., without sharing of resources), which translates into significant cost savings for the network providers. / <p>QC 20161115</p>

Modern society places an increasingly high demand on data transmission. Much of that data transmission takes place through communication over the frequency spectrum. The channels on the spectrum are limited resources. Researchers realize that at certain times of day some channels are overloaded, while others are not being fully utilized. A spectrum management system may be beneficial to remedy this efficiency issue. One of the proposed systems, Cognitive Radio Network (CRN), has progressed over the years thanks to studies on a wide range of subjects, including geolocation, data throughput rate, and channel handoff selection algorithm, which provide fundamental support for the spectrum management system. To move CRN technology forward, in this thesis we propose a physical, scalable testbed for some of the extant CRN methodologies. This testbed integrates IEEE standards, FCC guidelines, and other TV band regulations to emulate CRN in real time. With careful component selections, we include sufficient operational functionalities in the system, while at the same time making sure it remains affordable. We evaluate the technical feasibility of the testbed by studying several simple CRN logics. When comparing a system with a selection table implemented to those with naive selection methods, there is more than a 60 percent improvement in the overall performance.

The Virginia Tech Center for Wireless Telecommunications' (CWT) Public Safety Cognitive Radio (PSCR) addresses the radio interoperability issues that plague many of the existing public safety radios — disparate frequency bands, incompatible modulation schemes and lack of active channel detection features. The PSCR allows the operator to scan for active channels, classify the detected channels, connect to any of the recognized waveforms and begin analog audio communication as well as bridge two incompatible waveforms together. The PSCR, although very useful, unfortunately is not portable enough to be used by public safety officials. The power requirement, processing requirement and equipment is respectively large, hungry and bulky. In this thesis, a possible solution to the portability problem is addressed by installing the PSCR in a public safety vehicle and using a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) for remote access. The PDA allows the user to remotely scan, classify, talk, and bridge waveforms similar in operation to the PSCR. An ergonomically designed interface masks the channel and modulation selection procedure. This architecture can be extended to offer service to any remotely connected device. In the second part of this thesis, the concept of remote access is extended to a wide-area wireless public safety network. A public safety network consisting of heterogeneous devices is proposed utilizing a small number of backbone nodes. The major research focus of this section is the algorithm for distributing services across the network. Service discovery is optimized to reduce the overhead of service messages and multiple service distribution techniques are utilized depending on the location of the services. Simulation is performed to evaluate the performance of the service discovery protocol in terms of overhead, dissemination time and scalability. The proposed protocol is determined to be superior to the competition in the overhead and scalability tests. / Master of Science

In this thesis, two FPGA testbeds to demonstrate low-latency deterministic Guaranteed- Rate (GR) connections in packet switched networks such as the Internet of Things are developed. Each FPGA testbed consists of multiple simple Input Queued (IQ) switches or routers, interconnected in a given topology to form a forwarding-plane. Each switch has an associated switch controller with several programmable Lookup- Tables (LUTs). A Software Defined Networking (SDN) control plane can configure the switch controllers to establish the GR connections in the forwarding-plane of IP routers or layer- 2 packet switches. According to a recent paper in the IEEE Transactions on Networking; (1) The use of very low jitter GR connections can reduce queuing delays to negligible values, so that the end-to-end delays can be reduced to the buffer latency. (2) The routers, switches and links can operate at 100% loads, while simultaneously guaranteeing very low end- to-end latencies. The goal of the thesis is to evaluate these properties in real hardware clocked at MegaHertz clock rates. In the first testbed, a network of 8 simple IQ switches organized in a linear array is synthesized on an Altera Cyclone IV FPGA. 128 GR traffic flows were routed through the testbed to effectively saturate the switches and links. In the second testbed, a USA backbone topology with 26 simple IQ switches and 88 links is synthesized on the FPGA. Over 300 GR traffic flows were routed through the USA network to achieve utilizations exceeding 90%. In both testbeds, packets move through the forwarding plane at a clock rate of 65 MHz, transferring millions of packets per second, and statistics are recorded. Both testbeds con rm that traffic flows achieve deterministic GR service with minimum buffering, where end-to-end delays are effectively reduced to the fiber latency. These hardware testbeds demonstrate the technical feasibility of achieving deterministic GR services in a packet-switched network such as Internet of Things using simple FPGA switch controllers working with an SDN control plane. The technology also applies to networks of simple optical packet switches with minimal buffering. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Software-defined radio is a continuously developing technology applied in fields of mobile communications and among others. It is a radio communication system where software is used to implement parts of its functionality in an embedded system or computer. Devices which can transmit and receive different radio protocols based on software has major advantages. The ability to be able to reconfigure and change functionality on the fly to adapt to different environments is suited for multiple different applications, one of such is the environment in space. Distortions such as phase, frequency and timing offset all occur in such environment. The effects of these distortions can be reduced using different synchronization techniques in the receiver. A polyphase symbol timing synchronizer with two different timing error detectors, is designed in Simulink consisting of an 8-tap polyphase filter bank, a zero-crossing or Gardner timing error detector, a second order Phase-locked loop and a numerically controlled oscillator. The initial design uses floating-point precision. A fixed-point model is implemented using Xilinx System Generator and is used to generate a custom IP. Simulation is done by implementing a transceiver model with Simulink for the transmitter and parts of the receiver. The polyphase symbol timing synchronizer locks after about 4000 symbols for lower signal-to-noise and the Gardner timing error detector performs better than the zero-crossing error detector at higher signal-to-noise ratios.

Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA), also known as Dynamic Spectrum Management, is the method of utilizing a set of spectrum techniques in real time to provide the ability to share wireless channels between Primary (or licensed) users (PUs) and Secondary (or unlicensed) users (SUs). The system is so designed that under normal circumstances, the PUs always get priority, but DSA enables the SUs to use the licensed bands as long as they do not create any interference on the PUs. Hence, the goal of utilizing the spectrum more efficiently can be achieved. Though DSA has been researched extensively as a new concept, it is still under development and several challenges remain unsolved. DSA is recognized as a vital component in 5G-and-beyond network deployment scenarios. Although 5G networks can work in sub-6GHz bands, higher frequency bands (like 28 GHz and 60 GHz) are particularly of interest as they offer much larger bandwidth and regulatory agencies have been announcing licensing plans for these emerging bands. These higher frequency bands could enable extremely high-speed wireless communication by leveraging the gains of highly directional antennas. Smart devices used worldwide has already surpassed 22 billion and is only going to increase in the coming years. Channel allocation and high-speed communication will be the backbone to drive this enormous network of devices, and DSA and directional antenna communication mechanisms will be the key factors governing the future communication infrastructure. In this dissertation, we show how omnidirectional DSA techniques can be applied towards directional cases, i.e., replacing the omnidirectional antennas with directional antennas working in the millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. MmWave enables ultra-high speed transmission and reception, but with some caveats; these antennas should be deployed in line-of-sight (LOS) and a lot of transmission and reception properties depend on how the antennas are aligned, their steering angle, beamwidth and field-of-view (FOV). It is a challenge to take into consideration all of these factors and come up with a solution of ideal signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) combination between a set of transmitters and receivers. This dissertation sets a guideline on how small cell mmWave transmitters and receivers can be deployed in a densely populated area by working in a coalition (such as by smartly allocating channels to coalitions with more users). Mobility and varying orientations of mmWave as part of dynamic coalitions present new challenges we undertake. Hence, an area where this research can be very apt is vehicular networks, leveraging the high-speed communication provided by mmWave networks. Since the nodes in this case, the vehicles, will be primarily in motion, our research can be applied especially, because we are investigating the antenna designs by considering their beamwidths, steering angles power budgeting.

Root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) is an important variable when forecasting plant growth, determining water availability during drought, and understanding evapotranspiration as a flux. However, current methods indirectly estimate RZSM using data assimilation, which requires time-series data to make model-based predictions. This is because direct measurement requires a lower frequency signal, typically P-band and below (<500MHz), to reach root zone depths and, in turn, necessitates a larger antenna to be deployed in space, which is often unfeasible. A new remote sensing technique known as Signals of Opportunity (SoOp) reutilizes transmitted communication signals to perform microwave remote sensing. This means that SoOp platforms need not include a transmitter, but rather rely on passive radar technology to make measurements. This thesis details the development of a UAS-based P-band SoOp receiver instrument. This platform will be used to progress the state-of-art in techniques for direct measurement of RZSM.