Active antenna system for cognitive network enhancement

Abstract

Cognitive Infocommunications (CogInfoCom) studies the connections between infocommunications and cognitive experiences. This paper presents a practical performance evaluation of an active antenna system (AAS) based on tests performed in a field trial environment with a cellular high-speed packet access (HSPA) network. Cellular networks face the challenges of constantly growing data traffic and demands to reduce network costs, which call for new approaches for optimizing network performance. The demands in different parts of the cellular network change because of the spatially and temporarily varying usage characteristics. An AAS can offer a solution to these demands with flexible beamforming to respond to the changing situations in the network. This study shows that the AAS can gain improvements in system performance in terms of achievable throughputs. The spatial cell isolation needs to be taken care of in order to maintain optimal system operation by avoiding inter-cell interference. Since the changing radio network requires continuous optimization, an AAS needs intelligent control for full advantage. This can be accomplished with cognitive decision making by exploiting Self-Organizing Networks (SON) features. Later, network performance optimization with an AAS could use "cognitive engines" to intelligently add sectors where capacity is needed and switch them off when the capacity demand decreases. Cognition combined with an AAS could optimize the network and adjust the AAS parameters according to different needs in the changing environment.

Active antenna system (AAS) capabilities for 5G systems: A field study of performance

“…This paper expands the previous work on AAS by conducting field trials in a larger environment with multiple base stations. The research first verified the earlier work of [9] by repeating the VS measurements in the developed environment. There were two sites and two AASs in use in the previous measurements; with VS there could be four sectors in use.…”

“…These results were from system simulations. Our prior practical field trial research with WCDMA also gave promising results of capacity gain that can be achieved with VS [9]. This research showed gains up to 154 percent in the uplink and 69 percent in the downlink direction.…”

“…The SW configurable VS capability of an AAS makes it possible for the network to adapt to changing situations. Active antennas allow operators to control the beam in the vertical direction, so that it is possible to create two or even more cells in the space of one traditional sector, as illustrated in figure 2 [9]. The inner cell is shown in dark gray, and the outer cell in white.…”

Field Measurement for Antenna Configuration Comparison in Challenging NLOS Locations

“…The AAS environment was part of a cognitive radio trial environment (CORE) that was operated to showcase the world's first live licensed shared access (LSA) trials, described in [22]. This environment has also been used in several other public trials, such as [23,24]. The field trial environment network has a restricted connection to the Internet or other public networks.…”

Enhancing Traffic Safety with Mobile Applications

“…Communication protocols SOAP and JSON were tested for transferring the sensor data [27]. Centria has a great opportunity to utilize its own 4G LTE network with an active antenna system (AAS) for research purposes and has carried out successful testing on the connections of the mobile solutions developed in its traffic-related projects [28]. In CoMoSeF project Centria has also tested combining the technologies needed to provide advanced traffic information for the driver with a wireless network within a vehicle.…”