Spectrum OverLay through aggregation
of heterogeneous DispERsed Bands
Standardisation Plans;
Ofcom TV White Spaces Pilot Activities and
Associated Standardisation Aspects
Oliver Holland, King’s College London
Fotis Foukalas, Industrial Sciences Institute
Florian Kaltenberger, Eurecom
Guillaume Vivier, Sequans Communications
Various other SOLDER contributors
Introduction to SOLDER
2
SOLDER:
Bringing together cellular and cognitive radio
technologies
2G
ETSI-RRS
3G
DSA
TVWS
IEEE DySPAN-SC
IEEE 1900.1
4G
IEEE 1900.6
IEEE 1900.7
IEEE 802.22
SOLDER:
Cognitive radio
application in
mobile cellular
networks
IEEE 802.11af
3
Key Aspects of SOLDER
• Aggregation of heterogeneous bands has not been sufficiently
considered in past research, particularly under or involving LTE/LTEA type technologies
• SOLDER supports a pervasive radio technology that is able to
combine the fragmented spectral and deployed RAT resources akin
to a convergence layer
• Carrier aggregation in heterogeneous networks (HetNets) and radio
access technologies (h-RATs)
• There are many spectrum types considered, including licensed,
unlicensed, light-licensed, white spaces and other spectrum:
– Fragments of such heterogeneous spectrum must be taken advantage
of to efficiently realize future capacity demands
– There may be particular requirements and characteristics of deployed
systems in those spectrum bands
– Aggregation of diverse heterogeneous spectrum opportunities and/or
systems therefore necessary
4
ETSI-RRS Standardisation Plans
5
Standardization Plans – ETSI RRS
• ETSI RRS WG1:
– There is no Work Item that deals with the Carrier Aggregation and to
start a new one will not be practical due to the lifetime of the project
– The LSA System Requirements document TS 103 154 published in May
2014. Based on this, good to start a discussion on Carrier Aggregation
between TDD/FDD systems involving LSA (i.e., LSA TDD and licensed
band FDD systems) and provide corresponding requirements
– KCL interest in the early draft document EN 303 387 (Signaling
Protocols and information exchange, etc.). It would be a worthwhile
contribution to ensure that the systems that are going to use TVWS in
a coordinated way, and the associated coordination protocol and
mechanisms, consider the potential for aggregation of resources by
each of those systems
– KCL interest in the exchange of information among GLDBs (EN 303
144) that will support better resource coordination decisions in view
of aggregation of resources by different systems using different GLDBs
6
Standardization Plans – ETSI RRS
• ETSI RRS WG2:
– Contribution related to Software Defined Radio equipment
using for example OpenAirInterface of Eurecom. Potential
contribution to early draft document EN 103 146-1: Mobile
Device Information Models and Protocols: Multiradio Interface
– The partner AthenaRC could also contribute to this document
from equipment point of view based on their own platform,
mainly build by SOLDER. They could also provide contribution to
any multi-RAT aspect of the proposal
• General comment:
– In order to provide something efficiently, we have to have very
good knowledge of the ETSI documents, e.g., TS, TR, etc., to
know where and how could we should contribute
– SOLDER is working with CRS-i and others to assist collaboration
in these areas and continuous monitoring of ETSI-RRS
7
IEEE DySPAN-SC and IEEE 1900
Standardisation Plans
8
Standardization Plans – IEEE DySPAN-SC and
IEEE 1900 WGs
• Many opportunities for standardisation in IEEE DySPAN-SC
and IEEE 1900 WGs
• For example, SOLDER members hold and execute
responsibilities in a number of leadership positions therein—
very strong active participation already in these groups
–
–
–
–
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IEEE DySPAN-SC Treasurer and Leadership Member
IEEE 1900.1 Chair
IEEE 1900.6 Acting Chair
IEEE 1900.7 Vice-Chair
Memberships held of IEEE DySPAN-SC, IEEE 1900.1, IEEE 1900.6,
IEEE 1900.7
• Of very strong relevance to SOLDER interests
9
Standardization Plans – IEEE 1900.1
• Scope/purpose of IEEE 1900.1
– Instantiated under the realisation that many of the terms used
in the fields of dynamic spectrum access, spectrum
management, policy-defined radio, adaptive radio, softwaredefined radio, reconfigurable radio and networks, and related
technologies, do not have precise definitions or have
multiple/unclear definitions
– Aims to facilitate development of such technologies by clarifying
the terminology and aspects of how these technologies relate to
each other
– Aims to ensure that technologists really understand what each
other is talking about when they are collaboratively developing
dynamic spectrum access and related technologies
10
Standardization Plans – IEEE 1900.1
• Envisaged contributions
– To ensure that the possible use of spectrum/channel/link, etc.,
aggregation, in or linked to DySPAN and related technologies,
are captured in the terms and definitions of 1900.1
• Already one contribution has been brought forward to 1900.1
towards such ends
– To ensure that the structures and inter-relationships between
concepts in DySPAN and related technologies also reflect the
potential and benefits of aggregation of dynamic spectrum
access spectrum opportunities, as well as aggregation of those
opportunities with licensed, unlicensed and other spectrum
usages
– Timescale of contribution opportunities overlaps with the entire
duration of SOLDER
11
Standardization Plans – IEEE 1900.6
• Scope/purpose of IEEE 1900.6
– Defines the information exchange between spectrum sensors
and their clients in radiocommunication systems
– This might be applicable in cooperative/collaborative sensing
scenarios, and in other scenarios where the intelligence that
makes spectrum access and other decisions and spectrum
sensors are at different locations in the network
– The logical interface and supporting data structures are defined
abstractly without constraining the sensing technology, client
design, or data link between sensor and client
– Of course, the facilitation of sensing technologies through
standards such as IEEE 1900.6 assists many spectral coexistence
techniques that utilise locally-obtained spectrum information,
such as CR
12
Standardization Plans – IEEE 1900.6
• Envisaged contributions
– Work anticipated to be starting imminently in 1900.6 on the use of 1900.6
to facilitate spectrum databases being augmented by spectrum sensing
information
– “Spectrum databases” can refer to not only to TV white spaces databases,
but also other forms of databases of localised spectrum information
– A key issue is knowledge of link/spectrum/channel quality in aggregating
link/spectrum/channel opportunities—such knowledge can be supported
by spectrum databases
– SOLDER can contribute to IEEE 1900.6 through ensuring that the
developing work on supporting spectrum databases and associated
information exchange between sensors and spectrum databases also
covers such possibilities
– SOLDER participants have already brought forward past successful
contributions on connectivity awareness to IEEE 1900.6, which can be
augmented to serve the link/spectrum quality awareness purpose
– Timescale of contribution opportunities likely will overlap with the entire
remaining duration of SOLDER
13
Standardization Plans – IEEE 1900.7
• Scope/purpose of IEEE 1900.7
– IEEE 1900.7 is defining a new Radio interface (PHY/MAC)
for white space access
– The aim is for this radio interface to be generic, applicable
to a range of use cases and spectrum bands
– However, in practice, it is currently limited to application in
TV white space, as TV bands are the only bands currently
authorised from a regulatory perspective for white space
access
14
Standardization Plans – IEEE 1900.7
• Envisaged contributions
– Contributions anticipated on ensuring that the radio interface
developed in 1900.7 facilitates and supports aggregation of
spectrum opportunities, both within TV white space, and
aggregation of spectrum opportunities in TV white space with
other opportunities outside of TV white space
– Anticipated contributions on enhancing the FBMC radio
interface to assist aggregation of spectrum opportunities
– Anticipated contributions to the cognitive plane, assisting
aggregation – e.g., smart mechanisms to choose which
spectrum opportunities should be used and aggregated
– Timescale of contribution opportunities likely to only be
throughout 2014, although this may be extended
15
3GPP Standardisation Plans
16
Standardization Plans – 3GPP
• The 3GPP is the body in charge of standardization of LTE, LTEAdvanced and its evolution. As such, it is important for the
SOLDER project to stay informed of the evolution of the
standardization to steer the technical work aligned with the
main stream
• Consequently, the project monitors on a continuous manner
the progress of the 3GPP work, especially with respect to
carrier aggregation as, e.g., represented by technical report
36.850 or 36.851. SOLDER is monitoring on a quarterly basis
the progress in the RAN (RAN plenary, RAN1, RAN2, RAN4)
with sometimes direct attendance to the meeting
• Similarly, the project attended two specific workshops in
January and June 2014 on the topic of the use of LTE in
unlicensed spectrum
17
Standardization Plans – 3GPP
•
Solder position is to monitor mostly CA and LTE-U; contribute if possible
(consortium not dimensioned to impact 3GPP). Some topics that the project will
strive to contribute to, if the opportunity arises are as follows
– Carrier aggregation
• Carrier aggregation is a feature introduced in Rel.10
• Most of mechanisms are well defined
• However, Rel12 and further introduces enhancement e.g.
– Much more frequency band combinations
– FDD + TDD
– LTE-U or LAA
• LTE-Unlicensed or License Assisted Access
• A new study item for Rel. 13, (not yet approved, but with good traction)
• To operate LTE in unlicensed spectrum (typically 5GHz) and ensure fair access of all
technology
• Most likely based on carrier aggregation with Primary Carrier on licensed spectrum and
secondary carrier in the unlicensed band
– Dual connectivity
• A way to handle two connections
– LTE + LTE
– LTE + other technology
18
Ofcom TV White Spaces Pilot
Activities and Associated
Standardisation Aspects
Our Trial within the Ofcom TV White Spaces Pilot
• Almost unique as an academic-led participation in the
Ofcom Pilot
• One of the most extensive and varied (perhaps the most
extensive and varied) trials in the entire Ofcom Pilot
• Leading the involvement of numerous high-profile
projects and organisations with interests in spectrum
sharing, TV white spaces, opportunistic spectrum usage,
cognitive radio, etc.
Our Trial within the Ofcom TV White Spaces Pilot Objectives
• To test communications systems and scenarios that may be
implemented in TV White Space
– LTE multicast/broadcast (eMBMS)
– Broadband for public protection and disaster relief
– TD-LTE and other TDD systems for more general applications in
TV White Space (e.g., general broadband provisioning, and small
cells in TV White Space)
– WiFi in TV White Space (802.11af draft)
– Wireless backhaul links in TV White Space
– M2M implementations (possible future work)
• To support the development/assessment of the ETSI 301598
standard
Our Trial within the Ofcom TV White Spaces Pilot Objectives
• To test the correct performance of the UK’s TV White Spaces
framework in general
• To carry out research studies using TV White Space
implementations
– Aggregation of resources/links (e.g., TV White Space with licensed and
other unlicensed such as ISM, and links within TV White Space)
• Qualitative and quantitative performance assessments
• Development also of protocols supporting aggregation
– Secondary coexistence (e.g., LTE coexisting and 802.11af in TV White
Space, and multiple instances of different standards/devices
coexisting)
– To undertake studies and surveys on the performances that are
achieved, e.g., in terms of interference to primary (!), secondary user
performance through objective user opinion polling
– Spectrum monitoring and assessment (e.g., spatial and temporal
effects on the spectrum—correlation)
ETSI 301 598 Harmonised European Standard
• Defines the technical requirements to avoid harmful interference
– RF parameters, e.g.,
•
•
•
•
Transmission bandwidth and spectrum mask class
Maximum RF power (and compliance thereof)
Unwanted emissions (out of TV band)
Transmitter reverse intermodulation
– Logical specifications, e.g.,
•
•
•
•
•
Control and monitoring
Geolocation capability
Software, firmware and user access restrictions
Geolocation database discovery
Data exchange with geolocation databases
• Defines the testing procedures for ensuring that those technical
parameters are conformed with
• Device to geolocation database communications protocol not defined
ETSI 301 598 Support
• Our trial is undertaking extensive
work related to ETSI 301598
• Assisting conformance assessment
of devices for certain entities
• Supporting assessment of its
effectiveness; providing feedback
on ETSI 301 598—links with ETSI
Bottom Line
• Facilitating the realisation of TV white spaces and
aggregation of spectrum opportunities thereof, and also
undertaking an extensive series of research experiments
in the pilot on opportunities for spectrum/link
aggregation in or involving TV white spaces
• Extensively supports the development and testing of the
ETSI 301 598 standard, which specifies the conformance
requirements for white space devices and certification
testing procedures for those devices
• Also aimed to use the work to provide feedback and
further refinements/inputs to ETSI 301 598
Conclusion
26
Conclusion
• Several standardisation involvements and opportunities,
within ETSI-RRS, IEEE DySPAN-SC and IEEE 1900, and possibly
3GPP (monitoring opportunities for the latter)
• Some activities in this regard have already started
• Leading of an extensive trial within the Ofcom TV White
Spaces Pilot, with many aggregation aspects therein
• Very strong testing and feedback/inputs to harmonised
European standard on conformance and certification for
white space devices (ETSI 301 598)
• Open to discussion with those that want to participate in our
Trials within the Ofcom TV White Space Pilot, and
standardisation assessment/feedback/input elements thereof
(ETSI 301 598)
27
Thank you!
oliver.holland@kcl.ac.uk
28
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by the ICT-SOLDER project, FP7
project number 619687, www.ict-solder.eu, and the ICTACROPOLIS Network of Excellence, FP7 project number
257626, www.ict-acropolis.eu
29
Back-up Slides
30
•
•
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•
•
Deployment and Testing Scenarios:
LTE MBMS and Spectrum/Link Aggregation
LTE MBMS and opportunistic spectrum/link aggregation with other
services (WiFi in ISM, and 3G/4G in licensed bands)
Augmented broadcast (e.g., extra layers of video
subscribed to when receiving higher rate,
locally customised broadcast)
Data carousel-like functionalities
achieved by raptor-coding
the data set
Augmented CPC
Software
upgrades
•
Deployment and Testing Scenarios:
Public Protection and Disaster Relief
LTE femtocells + intercellular links in TV White Space
•
•
Quickly-deployable field solutions for emergency situations (e.g.,
enhanced provisioning or coverage extension to emergency workers)
Ad-hoc repair of communications links (e.g., backhaul) in disaster
scenarios (e.g., earthquakes)
Deployment and Testing Scenarios:
Public Protection and Disaster Relief
•
Video surveillance system in TV White Space
Carlson Basestation
2 Sony SNC-CH220
+ 1 Carlson Terminal
1 Sony SNC-ER550
+ 1 Carlson Terminal
Sony Real Shot manager software
Deployment and Testing Scenarios:
Others
•
•
•
•
•
Point-to-point links for backhaul
provisioning, between different
university campuses of participants in
our trials (one challenging example
we will attempt to achieve is to the
right)
General broadband provisioning
using a range of devices and systems
LTE small cell implementations
Wireless local area networking in TV
White Space
Machine-to-Machine
communications in TV White Space
(possible at later stage)
Mile End
Denmark Hill
Devices:
Eurecom ExpressMIMO2
•
•
•
ExpressMIMO2 is the basis for the LTE MBMS case initially, and likely other
LTE cases later—perhaps also 802.11af at a very late stage
No DSP on board, FPGA primarily used just for routing data; host PC must
be powerful and running in a real-time operating system!!! 4 RF chains
achievable on the card (all Tx+Rx)
Have set up 3
devices based on
RF TX
this so far (1 base
station and two
terminals), each
hosted in a PC with RF RX
(in the case of base
station) a separate
box handling RF
PCIexpress (1-way or 4-way)
Spartan 6 LX150T
4xLMS6002D RF ASICs
12V from ATX power supply
250 MHz – 3.8 GHz
GPIO for external RF control
Devices:
Eurecom ExpressMIMO2
•
•
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•
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•
•
Perhaps the first Class 1 white space device implementation?
Has been a significant challenge in achieving this—Class 1 constraints are very
tough
ExpressMIMO2 has excellent RF performance, but on some channels it fails
Class 1 marginally for the adjacent channels only, reducing to Class 3
To still achieve Class 1, signal has been created at a high fixed frequency and
very precisely filtered there
Down-converted with a variable frequency LO, to allow switching to the
different TV channels
A complex filtering solution is employed to get rid of all images and other
issues (e.g., imperfection of the mixer leading to some output remaining at the
high signal frequency). The high signal frequency has been carefully chosen to
ensure that such issues are only outside of the TV bands so can be very
precisely filtered with fixed filters
Amplifier with extremely large back-off (hence linearity) used to ensure that
Class 1 performance is maintained at amplification
Devices:
Carlson Wireless Ruralconnect
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•
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•
http://www.carlsonwireless.com/ruralconn
ect
Built for US market, but adapted to operate
under Ofcom/ETSI rules in terms of
database (and database of databases)
communication, power levels, etc.
Our trial will use at least 2 base stations
and 5 terminals
Deployment scenarios include the public
protection and disaster relief cases
Also broadband provisioning cases, and
perhaps to try to use for longer-distance
point-to-point links at a later stage
Sinecom/KTS Agility White Space Radio
• http://sinecom.net/product.ht
ml
• In the shorter term, to be used
for low-rate broadband
provisioning
• In the longer term, likely to also
be used for M2M cases
• Likely to be used for the pointto-point long-distance links at a
later stage
• Our trials will have at least 6 of
these devices
Devices:
NICT Devices (collaboration with NICT)
• TD-LTE in TV White Space
– Base stations and terminals
– 3 of each will be used in our trials
– Used for general testing of LTE scenarios (small/femto cells,
and larger cellular provisioning cases)
• Low-power IEEE 802.11af (WiFi in TV White Space)
– Wireless local area networking is prime use case
– We will have at least 3 of these devices
• High-power IEEE 802.11af
– Long-distance backhaul link provisioning
– We will have at least 2 of these devices
Devices:
NICT Devices (collaboration with NICT)
• Wireless mesh network deployment example at NICT,
Yokohama, Japan (very low Tx power in this case), also with
graphical representation of the NICT database
implementation
Databases
• Noted that the interfaces between TV White Space devices and
geolocation databases are not standardised. It is therefore typically the
case that given TV White Space device manufacturers are working with
particular databases
• We are using a range of databases in our trials
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Fairspectrum  Carlson Wireless and Eurecom devices
NICT  NICT and Eurecom devices
Spectrum Bridge  KTS/Sinecom devices
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission  for comparison
using a range of devices, not deployed in UK
• Haven’t pursued the implementation details yet simply due to time
constraints, but also have been in discussion and have verbal
agreement with the following – hope to test devices with these
databases too as trials progress
– BT
– Sony
– Nominet
Locations
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
Extensive range of locations, covering almost all imaginable
environments, tested (mostly) sequentially
-
Cluttered vs. non-cluttered
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A range of propagation characteristics
High incumbent systems TV bands usage vs. relatively low
usage
Almost exclusively
campuses/buildings
among the range of
universities that are
collaborating in our
trials
Locations
•
London
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King’s College London Denmark Hill
King’s College London Guys (London Bridge)
King’s College London St. Thomas’ (opposite Westminster)
King’s College London Hampstead
Queen Mary University of London
King’s College London Strand – long-term objective, dependent on whether
coexistence challenges can be managed
– King’s College London Waterloo – long-term objective, dependent on whether
coexistence challenges can be managed
•
Outside London
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University of Surrey (Guildford)
University of York
Strathclyde University (Glasgow—under discussion)
Cambridge University
University of Bath
Leeds University (back-up)
Research Examples - Aggregation
• Solutions for Aggregation of resources/links (TVWS resources aggregated
with licensed and unlicensed ISM, and channels aggregated in TVWS)
– As well as assessing performances, to look at technical means of achieving
aggregation compatible with ETSI/Ofcom rules (e.g., link bonding at higher
layers, cross-band scheduling decisions, etc.)
– LTE in unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) one among many interesting cases
– Why not such a LTE-U supplemental downlink in TV White Space licenseexempt spectrum opportunities?
Qualcomm White Paper,
“Extending LTE Advanced to
Unlicensed Spectrum,” December
2013
Research Examples – Primary Service Coexistence
Assessment
• Dedicated equipment to look at effect on DTT, e.g., Wavecom devices
– Signal Power, Modulation Error Rate, SINR, CINR, BER before Viterbi, BER after
Viterbi, BER after Reed-Solomon, etc.
• Will devise challenging scenarios to interfere with DTT, within the scope of
ETSI/Ofcom rules (e.g., indoor TV antennas in same room as white space
device, saturating TV antenna amplifiers, etc.)
• Also plan to test interference with PMSE through our own PMSE
equipment, again within Ofcom/ETSI rules. E.g., blind online surveys
Research Examples – Spectrum Monitoring and
Statistical Inferences
• Long-term fixed measurements or spatially distributed
measurements, to assess the effects on the spectrum of TV White
Space devices
– Assessment of correlation aspects of spectrum usage both with and without
white space devices present (useful for, e.g., assessing the spatial uncertainty
in the effects on the spectrum) that white space devices may have
– One monitoring location on roof of King’s College London Strand Campus
The Trials Team
• ACROPOLIS Project
– Led by
• King’s College London, UK
• The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, EU
• Eurecom, France
– Also involving
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Saints’ Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, FYRoM
Poznan University of Technology, Poland
University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy
University of Piraeus Research Centre, Greece
Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications, Greece
University of Surrey, UK
University of Leeds, UK
The Trials Team
•
•
Extensive involvement of other projects, notably ICT-SOLDER (www.ict-solder.eu),
ICT-CREW (www.crew-project.eu), Newcom# Network of Excellence
(www.newcom-project.eu), ICT-CRS-i (http://www.ict-crsi.eu). Also numerous
high-profile individual groups participating
Following reflects both the above projects participants, and individual groups
participating (not exhaustive)
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–
–
–
–
–
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Belgium: iMinds, IMEC
Finland: Fairspectrum, Turku University of Applied Sciences
Germany: Technical University of Dresden
Greece: Industrial Sciences Institute
Ireland: Trinity College Dublin
Italy: CNIT/Politecnic of Torino, Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, Create-Net
Japan: NICT, Sony
Portugal: IT/University of Aveiro, IT/University of Beira Interior
Slovenia: Jozef Stefan Institute
UK: Queen Mary University of London, University of York, University of Cambridge,
University of Bath, University of Strathclyde/Larkhill, British Telecom, Nominet