In this paper a wideband multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antenna system for WiFi-LTE wireless access point (WAP) application is proposed. The MIMO antenna system consists of two common element microstrip-fed monopole antennas with dual polarization. Physically closed integration of MIMO antenna elements requires a special technique to increase the isolation between the antennas. A novel structure of parasitic element is introduced to improve the isolation between the antennas. The proposed MIMO antenna system is simulated and optimized using CST Microwave Studio. The designed antenna system is fabricated and measured to verify the simulation results. Reflection coefficient of less than −10 dB and isolation more than 15 dB are achieved in the operating frequency range of 2.3–2.9 GHz which covers WiFi 2.4 GHz and LTE 2.6 GHz bands. The proposed system also provides dual polarization with 10 dB polarization diversity gain and envelope correlation coefficient less than 0.15. Each individual antenna has a gain of 5.1 dB and 68% efficiency.

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In this paper, an efficient spectrum forecasting model is developed to estimate the required spectrum and calculate the spectrum gap in future. This developed model is essentially based on five main metrics and one constant. The five main metrics are the currently available spectrum, sites number growth, data traffic growth, average network utilization, and spectrum efficiency growth. The constant metric is considered to give a space for our model to be used in another country or when a new technology is coming. This developed model is then used to forecast the required spectrum and spectrum gap for Malaysia in 2020. The estimation is performed based on the input market data of four main mobile telecommunication operators in Malaysia: Maxis, Celcom, Digi, and U-Mobile. The input data for this model are collected from various sources, such as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, OpenSignal, Analysys Mason, GSMA, and HUAWEI. The results indicate that by 2020, Malaysia will require around 307 MHz of additional spectrum to fulfill the enormous increase of mobile data demands. Addressing this increment can be achieved by launching additional spectrum bands, enhancing spectrum efficiency, offloading mobile data to unlicensed bands or deploying more site numbers. INDEX TERMS Mathematical forecasting spectrum model, forecasting required spectrum, spectrum gap, Malaysia's spectrum in future.

This paper presents a multidimensional performance analysis of existing Mobile Broadband (MBB), Third Generation (3G) and Fourth Generation (4G) networks, of rural morphology in Malaysia. The MBB performance analysis is carried out based on measurement data obtained through Drive Tests (DT) conducted in rural areas located in three Malaysian states: Johor, Sarawak, and Sabah. The measurement data pertains to the performance of three national Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in rural areas: Maxis, Celcom, and DiGi. The MBB performance measurement data was collected between January and February using modified Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone handsets. The measurement data of the 3G and 4G MBB networks are associated with four performance metrics (coverage, latency, satisfaction, and speed) for two MBB services: web browsing and video streaming. During the measurements, each smartphone collected the performance data of only one MBB service. Several classifications were identified to comprehensively monitor the performance of the two MBB services. For the data measurement of the MBB video streaming service, the same YouTube video was alternately played by the same smartphone, but with two different resolutions: 720p (low) and 1080p (high). For the data measurement of the MBB video streaming service, three different webpages (i.e., google, Instagram, and mstar) are sequentially browsed in a loop using another smartphone. This research work is designed to mimic real scenarios where the smartphone in use is not exclusively locked to a single technology while streaming a video or browsing a website. This allows the identification of the coverage for 2G, 3G, and/or 4G technologies within the tested areas. Due to the small amounts of 2G data, we omitted the analysis of 2G technology in the present study. The MBB performance analysis shows that, on average, the 4G network performed much better than the 3G network for all three MNOs throughout all measurement areas considered in this research. For instance, the 4G technology achieved a minimum of 42.4 ms on the web ping average RTT latency, while the 3G only achieved a minimum of 69.9 ms. For the average E2E RTT ping server latency, 4G achieved as low as 33.27 ms, while 3G obtained a minimum of 122.98 ms. The vMOS scores for 4G technology for both web browsing and video streaming services are larger than 3, while the 3G technology had a score of less than 3. The 4G technology can provide an improvement up to a factor of 4.2 and 1.6 in the download speed when browsing a web and streaming a video, respectively, in comparison to the 3G technology. These observations were found to be consistent across all mobile operators. This is unsurprising because we would expect consumers to experience a noticeable improvement when using a mobile broadband service over a 4G network as compared to a 3G network. The presented results provide a general direction for efficiently planning the Fifth Generation (5G) network in rural areas.INDEX TERMS Mobile broadband, performance evaluation of MBB, 3G,...

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The performance of Mobile Broadband (MBB) services of Fourth Generation (4G) and Third Generation (3G) mobile networks over urban morphology is studied in Malaysia based on experimental measurements of drive test data. The aim of this study is to provide a roadmap for service providers to establish a realistic plan for future Fifth Generation (5G) networks. This work is a continuation of our previous work for the scope of rural areas in Malaysia. The MBB measurement data have been gathered through drive tests conducted in the urban areas of four states throughout Malaysia (namely, Klang Valley/Selangor, Johor, Sarawak and Sabah) to characterise and analyse MBB performances. The gathered data are from the cities, highways and federal roads of the chosen states, and encompasses three main Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Data has been collected in a time span of 2 months, from January to February, using the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone handsets. Four MBB Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are considered in this study (coverage, latency, satisfaction and speed) for two MBB services (web browsing and video streaming). The measurement data for characterising the performance of each MBB service has been collected using a dedicated smartphone handset. YouTube videos with 720p and 1080p resolutions have been sequentially streamed to assess the performance of MBB video-streaming services. Three distinct websites (Google, Instagram and mStar) have been accessed to evaluate the performance of MBB web-browsing services. The experimental methodology of this study integrates several diversified elements including four different urban states, four distinct KPIs, three main MNOs, two MBB services and two radio networks (4G and 3G), which are both accessible by the smartphones when available to mimic real-world scenarios. The results of this study reveal that the performance of 4G radio networks is generally superior to that of 3G . For instance, 4G networks achieved a vMOS score of more than 3 for both MBB video-streaming and web-browsing services, while 3G networks scored less than 3 across all four study areas. The analysed experimental results confirmed that compared to 3G networks, 4G technology presents an enhancement factor of up to 1.6 and 4.2 in download speed when streaming a video and browsing a web page, respectively. The study outcomes can contribute to the efficient planning of nonstandalone (NSA) 5G networks in Malaysia where 5G networks will be aided by existing 4G infrastructures. Analysing the 4G coverage performance is the first step towards deciding the deployment rate of NSA 5G in Malaysia.INDEX TERMS Mobile Broadband, urban areas, Malaysia, 3G and 4G networks, plans for 5G technology in Malaysia

Pollution is a major threat to sustainability of river in Malaysia and other parts of the world. The pollution of rivers results in high cost of water tariffs, threat to life and the ecosystem, reduction in water quality, and high cost of cleaning up the rivers. It affects the physical, chemical and biological composition of the river. River is a major source of water in Malaysia and the Department of Environment (DoE) of Malaysia classifies rivers into five different classes based on water quality index (DoE-WQI). The sources of river pollution include surface runoff, sullage and effluent discharge from industries and sewage treatment plants (Juahir, H. et al, 2011; Mohamed, I., et al. 2015). To ensure the water quality (WQ) of river in Malaysia, several initiatives have been taken by the Malaysian government. Two methods that are commonly employed to ensure WQ are manual water quality monitoring (MWQM) and continuous water quality monitoring (CWQM). These methods are costly and less efficient in identifying the Abstract: River is a major source of water in Malaysia and one of the major threats to its sustainability is pollution. The existing methods for monitoring of water quality in rivers are manual monitoring and continuous monitoring. These methods are costly and less efficient. Hence, we propose a smart river monitoring system (SRMS) that uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones and low power wide area (LPWA) communication technology. The Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytic are promising techniques which provide real-time monitoring and enhances efficiency. However, due to the span of river that needs to be monitored, conventional communication technology such as Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Bluetooth are not suitable. Hence, there is the need for LPWA communication technology. We discuss the application of LPWA and UAV for sustainability of rivers in Malaysia as a case study. Preliminary results show that the use of UAV will increase the efficiency of measuring the water quality parameters compared to manual monitoring method. Also, real-time monitoring enables us to study the changes in water quality. Finally, we provide future direction in the application of UAV and LPWA for sustainability in river.