Modelling and Planning Robust and Efficient Wireless Networks for Outdoor Dense Urban Coverage

这项拟议的研究使用创新的数学和计算技术来研究和设计系统，为密集的城市地区提供强大而高效的无线覆盖。我们使用免费提供的真实建筑和蜂窝塔位置，以更现实的方式测试我们的概念，这将使我们能够更准确地评估不同技术和系统设计的成本，然后找到在复杂密集的城市环境中工作得很好的好系统设计。*-小蜂窝和在毫米波频率(28-300 GHz)下运行是未来(2020年后)蜂窝网络考虑的两项基本技术，以低成本和功耗为密集城市地区提供千兆无线接入。在过去的五年中，人们对如何在系统级别部署这些技术进行了大量的概念研究。通过使用城市地图研究无线在城市中的传播，并设计算法在这些地图上规划大量的小小区，我们将能够评估这些系统的成本和容量，并找到最优的系统设计。小型蜂窝也是可取的，因为它们减少了手持设备传输回蜂窝塔所需的电能：这导致传输到体内的无线电能减少(极大地缓解了蜂窝健康问题，特别是在语音通话期间)，并延长了设备的电池充电时间。*-小区关闭(CSO)概念一直是绿色通信研究的主题，包括在低使用率时段(例如，深夜、郊区的工作时间、工业园区的晚间等)关闭一些蜂窝发射塔和部分网络。寻找好的策略来决定何时关闭哪些细胞是一个正在进行的研究课题。预计CSO将减少运营商的能源消耗和设备损耗，节省的成本将传递给用户，并降低对环境的影响。我们的研究旨在设计简单实用的CSO策略，既适用于当前的蜂窝网络，也适用于未来的蜂窝网络。这个项目的好处在接下来的几年里已经可以看到了。*-用飞行的无人机细胞来增强蜂窝网络。这一想法是对CSO的补充：虽然目前的系统被过度设计，以便在高峰使用情况下提供无线覆盖(因此大多数时间都非常未得到充分利用)，但我们希望调查是否有可能使用无线容量较低的较小地面网络，并在高峰时间(每日高峰时间；在游行、节日、体育赛事期间；在紧急情况下等)使用一些飞行无人机作为短时间(几个小时)的蜂窝塔来增强地面网络。这是一个影响更深远的概念；我们的研究将重点研究在哪里部署无人机以及部署多少无人机，以便与地面网络的覆盖一起最大限度地扩大其无线覆盖。

The proposed research uses innovative mathematical and computational techniques to study and design systems for providing robust and efficient wireless coverage to dense urban areas. We use freely available real building and cellular tower locations in order to test our concepts with more realism, which will allow us to make more accurate assessments of the cost of different technologies and system designs, and then find good system designs that work well in the complex dense urban setting.******- Small cells, and operation at millimeter-wave frequencies (28-300 GHz), are two essential technologies considered for future (post-2020) cellular networks to provide gigabit wireless access at low cost and power consumption to dense urban areas. The last five years have seen a lot of research concepts in how to deploy these technologies at the system level. By studying the wireless propagation in cities using urban maps, and designing algorithms for planning a large number of small cells on these maps, we will be able to assess the cost and capacity of these systems, and find the most optimal system designs . Small cells are also desirable because they reduce the power that a handheld device needs to transmit back to its cellular tower: this results in less wireless power transmitted into the body (greatly alleviating cellular health concerns, particularly during voice calls) and also prolonging the battery charge of the device. ***- The cell switch-off (CSO) concept has been a topic of research in green communications, and consists of switching off some cellular towers and part of the network during times of low usage (e.g., late at night, during working hours in suburban areas, in the evening in industrial parks, etc.). Finding good strategies to decide which cells to switch off when is an ongoing research topic. CSO is expected to reduce the energy consumption and equipment wear for the operator, with savings passed to the subscribers, and a lower environmental impact. Our research aims at designing simple and practical CSO strategies that apply to both current and future cellular networks. The benefits of this project could already be seen in the next few years.***- Augmenting cellular networks with flying drone cells. This idea is complementary to CSO: While current systems are over-engineered to provide wireless coverage in peak usage scenarios (and thus are very under-utilized most of the time), we wish to investigate whether it is possible to use a smaller ground network with lower wireless capacity, and augment the ground network with some flying drones used as cellular towers for short durations (a few hours) during peak times (daily peak hours; during parades, festivals, sports events; in emergency situations; etc.). This is a more far-reaching concept; our research will focus on studying where and how many drones to deploy in order to maximize their wireless coverage together jointly with the coverage of the ground network.