TUTORIALS

Tutorial 6: Topics on Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM) Strategies for QoS provisioning over Heterogeneous (Beyond 3G) Wireless Radio Access Networks

Over the last years we have witnessed an increasing deployment of new radio access technologies, including cellular (e.g. GSM/EDGE/UMTS) and non-cellular (e.g. 802.11) wireless networks. Furthermore, new technologies such as WiMax are expected to become more and more ubiquitous. This plethora of different network topologies will have to co-exist and, furthermore, interact with a certain coupling level. This concept is usually referred in the literature as Beyond 3G systems which encompass network heterogeneity.

A challenging task is to efficiently manage the available resources offered by these coupled networks. This notion is usually referred to as Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM) and has attracted a lot of attention over the past years. Radio resource management strategies are responsible for an utmost efficient utilisation of the air interface resources in the Radio Access Network (RAN). For CRRM, the available radio resources of coupled access networks will have to be managed jointly, up to the degree allowed by the coupling mechanism

Any stand-alone wireless systems or heterogeneous hybrids thereof, rely on Radio Resource Management strategies to guarantee a certain prior agreed QoS, to maintain the planned coverage area, to offer high capacity, etc. Without them, the most efficient physical transmission system coupled into the most sophisticated IP core network would fail.

The tutorial will cover the following topics: Beyond 3G/Heterogeneous Network concept, Radio Resource Management (RRM) basics, An architecture proposal for CRRM, GERAN/UTRAN coupling, 802.11/UTRAN coupling, CRRM algorithms, RAT selection procedures, Vertical Handover procedures, Congestion Control procedures and End-To-End Architecture Issues

This tutorial targets both academia and industry audiences. Students will be able to grasp some useful notions for their up-coming careers in research or industry areas. On the other side, operators and manufacturers can benefit from new concepts in order to manage/manufacture their networks/equipments more efficiently.

The target audience is expected to have some knowledge in the field of Radio Communications, with special emphasis in 3GPP standardised Radio Access Networks such as GERAN and UTRAN. Some notions of Markov modelling will be also useful.

Presenter: Xavier Gelabert, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)

Xavier Gelabert received the Engineer of Telecommunication degree from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain , in 2004. He also holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden , issued in 2003. In 2004, he joined the Radio Communication Research Group at the Dept. of Signal Theory and Communications where he is currently pursuing a PhD degree. His current research interests are focused on the field of mobile radio communication systems, with a special emphasis on Common Radio Resource Management (CRRM) strategies in heterogeneous networks with QoS provisioning. He has participated in the IST project EVEREST and he is currently taking part in IST project AROMA, both funded by the European Commission. He is the recipient of a 4-year scholarship granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education through the COSMOS project.

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