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The sixth-generation (6G) wireless cellular network integrates several wireless bands and modes with the objectives of improving quality of service (QoS) and increasing network connectivity. The 6G environment includes asymmetrical heterogeneous networks (HetNets) with the intention of making effective use of the available frequencies. However, selecting a suitable gNB and a communication channel that works for users in the network is an enormous challenge in 6G HetNets. This paper investigates a joint user association (UA) and channel allocation (CA) problem in two-tier HetNets by considering the downlink scenario to improve QoS. Our study presents an innovative scheme for user association and channel allocation, wherein the user can be connected to either the macro base station (MBS) or a possible small base station (SBS) in a direct or relay-assisted link. Furthermore, the proposed scheme identifies the optimal channel to be allocated to each user so that the overall network QoS can be maximized. A symmetric matching game-based user association is proposed to find the optimal association for users. Moreover, a modified auction game is applied to allocate the optimal channel by considering the quota of each gNB. Regarding connection probability, throughput, energy efficiency (EE), and spectrum efficiency (SE), the simulation results show that the proposed approach performs well over the state-of-the-art techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system is expected to meet the different service needs of modern communication scenarios. Heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have received a lot of attention in recent years due to their potential as a novel structure for evolutionary networks. When compared to homogeneous networks, HetNets provide more potential for spatial spectrum reuse and higher quality of service (QoS). However, effective resource management (RM) solutions are essential to prevent interference and accomplish spectrum sharing due to mutual interference. This paper presents a comprehensive review of resource management in 6G HetNets. The study aims to give crucial background on HetNets to aid in the creation of more effective methods in this field of study. First, a detailed examination of recent work is presented in resource management aspects such as power allocation, user association, mode selection, and spectrum allocation. Second, we identify the most severe challenges associated with the current resource management methods and propose suitable solutions. Finally, several open issues and emerging areas of research are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beyond Fifth Generation (B5G) networks are expected to be the most efficient cellular wireless networks with greater capacity, lower latency, and higher speed than the current networks. Key enabling technologies, such as millimeter-wave (mm-wave), beamforming, Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (M-MIMO), Device-to-Device (D2D), Relay Node (RN), and Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) are essential to enable the new network to keep growing. In the forthcoming wireless networks with massive random deployment, frequency re-use strategies and multiple low power nodes, severe interference issues will impact the system. Consequently, interference management represents the main challenge for future wireless networks, commonly referred to as B5G. This paper provides an overview of the interference issues relating to the B5G networks from the perspective of HetNets, D2D, Ultra-Dense Networks (UDNs), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Furthermore, the existing interference mitigation techniques are discussed by reviewing the latest relevant studies with a focus on their methods, advantages, limitations, and future directions. Moreover, the open issues and future directions to reduce the effects of interference are also presented. The findings of this work can act as a guide to better understand the current and developing methodologies to mitigate the interference issues in B5G networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing a wireless communication network (WCN) is critical to saving people's lives during disasters. Since the user equipment (UE) must transfer their information to the functioning area, their batteries will be significantly drained. Thus, technologies that can compensate for battery power consumption, such as the energy harvesting (EH) strategy, are highly required. This paper proposes a framework that employs EH at the main cluster head (MCH) selected by the enhanced clustering technique (CFT) and simultaneously transmits information and power wirelessly to prolong the lifetime of the energy-constrained network. MCH harvests energy from the radio frequency signal via the relay station (RS) and uses the harvested energy for D2D communications. The suggested framework was evaluated by analyzing the EH outage probability and estimating the energy efficiency performance, which is expected to improve the stability of the network. Compared to the UAV scenario, the simulation findings show that when RS is in its optimal location, it enhances the network EH outage probability performance by 26.3%. Finally, integrating CFT with wireless communications links into cellular networks is an effective technique for maintaining communication services for mission-critical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To facilitate connectivity to the internet, the easiest way to establish communication infrastructure in areas affected by natural disaster and in remote locations with intermittent cellular services and/or lack of Wi-Fi coverage is to deploy an end-to-end connection over Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs). However, the potentials of MANETs are yet to be fully realized as existing MANETs routing protocols still suffer some major technical drawback in the areas of mobility, link quality, and battery constraint of mobile nodes between the overlay connections. To address these problems, a routing scheme named Mobility, Residual energy and Link quality Aware Multipath (MRLAM) is proposed for routing in MANETs. The proposed scheme makes routing decisions by determining the optimal route with energy efficient nodes to maintain the stability, reliability, and lifetime of the network over a sustained period of time. The MRLAM scheme uses a Q-Learning algorithm for the selection of optimal intermediate nodes based on the available status of energy level, mobility, and link quality parameters, and then provides positive and negative reward values accordingly. The proposed routing scheme reduces energy cost by 33% and 23%, end to end delay by 15% and 10%, packet loss ratio by 30.76% and 24.59%, and convergence time by 16.49% and 11.34% approximately, compared with other well-known routing schemes such as Multipath Optimized Link State Routing protocol (MP-OLSR) and MP-OLSRv2, respectively. Overall, the acquired results indicate that the proposed MRLAM routing scheme significantly improves the overall performance of the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the prominent technology in Fourth Generation (4G) communication standards, which provides higher throughput and better Quality of Service (QoS) to all users. However, users in the cell-edge area are receiving comparatively low QoS due to the distance from eNodeB (eNB) and bad channel conditions. The Conventional Modified Largest Weighted Delay First (MLWDF) algorithm is unable to resolve this issue, as it does not consider the location of the user. This paper proposes an extended MLWDF (EMLWDF) downlink scheduling algorithm to provide better services to the cell-edge user as well as to the cell-center user. The proposed algorithm divides the eNB cell area into inner and outer regions. It includes the distance of the user from attached eNB, received Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) and error probability into the original algorithm. The simulated results are compared with other well-known algorithms and the comparison shows that the proposed algorithm enhances overall 56.23% of cell-edge user throughput and significantly improves the average user throughput, fairness index, and spectral efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) system introduces carrier aggregation (CA) technique to improve the user throughput by aggregating multiple component carriers (CCs). Previous research works related to downlink radio resource allocation with carrier aggregation have not considered the delay factor and the error probability. Therefore, the previous methods are unable to provide better quality of service (QoS) compared to the LTE-A standard. This paper considers the radio resource management problem by zooming into the head of line delay, probability of packet loss, and the delay threshold for different types of data. In doing this, several constraints are imposed following the specifications of LTE-A system. Hence, an improved method is developed in this study to enhance the system throughput and to maintain the computational complexity. Extensive simulations were carried out with other well-known methods to verify the overall performance of the proposed method. The result obtained indicates that the proposed method outperforms the previous methods in the measurement of average user throughput, average cell throughput, fairness index, and spectral efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of future wireless networks, device-to-device (D2D) technology is widely used as the communication system in the Internet of Things (IoT) fifth generation (5G) network. The IoT 5G network based on D2D communication technology provides pervasive intelligent applications. However, to realize this reliable technology, several issues need to be critically addressed. Firstly, the device's energy is constrained during its vital operations due to limited battery power; thereby, the connectivity will suffer from link failures when the device's energy is exhausted. Similarly, the device's mobility alters the network topology in an arbitrary manner, which affects the stability of established routes. Meanwhile, traffic congestion occurs in the network due to the backlog packet in the queue of devices. This paper presents a Mobility, Battery, and Queue length Multipath-Aware (MBMQA) routing scheme for the IoT 5G network based on D2D communication to cope with these key challenges. The back-pressure algorithm strategy is employed to divert packet flow and illuminate the device selection's estimated value. Furthermore, a Multiple-Attributes Route Selection (MARS) metric is applied for the optimal route selection with load balancing in the D2D-based IoT 5G network. Overall, the obtained simulation results demonstrate that the proposed MBMQA routing scheme significantly improves the network performance and quality of service (QoS) as compared with the other existing routing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fog radio access network (F-RAN) is considered an efficient architecture for caching technology as it can support both edge and centralized caching due to the backhauling of the fog access points (F-APs). Successful transmission probability (STP), delay, and energy efficiency (EE) are key performance metrics for F-RAN. Therefore, this paper proposes a proactive cache placement scheme that jointly optimizes STP, delay, and EE in wireless backhauled cache-enabled F-RAN. First, expressions of the association probability, STP, average delay, and EE are derived using stochastic geometry tools. Then, the optimization problem is formulated to obtain the optimal cache placement that maximizes the weighted sum of STP, EE, and negative delay. To solve the optimization problem, this paper proposes the normalized cuckoo search algorithm (NCSA), which is a novel modified version of the cuckoo search algorithm (CSA). In NCSA, after generating the solutions randomly via Lévy flight and random walk, a simple bound is applied, and then the solutions are normalized to assure their feasibility. The numerical results show that the proposed joint cache placement scheme can effectively achieve significant performance improvement by up to 15% higher STP, 45% lower delay, and 350% higher EE over the well-known benchmark caching schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proactive content caching in a fog radio access network (F-RAN) is an efficient technique used to alleviate delivery delay and traffic congestion. However, the symmetric caching of the content is impractical due to the dissimilarity among the contents popularity. Therefore, in this paper, a multi-objective random caching scheme to balance the successful transmission probability (STP) and delay in wireless backhauled F-RAN is proposed. First, stochastic geometry tools are utilized to derive expressions of the association probability, STP, and average delivery delay. Next, the complexity is reduced by considering the asymptotic STP and delay in the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime. Then, aiming at maximizing the STP or minimizing the delay, the multi-objective cache placement optimization problem is formulated. A novel projected multi-objective cuckoo search algorithm (PMOCSA) is proposed to obtain the Pareto front of the optimal cache placement. The numerical results show that PMOCSA outperforms the original multi-objective cuckoo search algorithm (MOCSA) in terms of convergence to a feasible Pareto front and its rate. It also shows that the proposed multi-objective caching scheme significantly outperforms the well-known benchmark caching schemes by up to 40 % higher STP and 85 % lower average delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fog Radio Access Network (F-RAN) is a promising technology to address the bandwidth bottlenecks and network latency problems, by providing cloud-like services to the end nodes (ENs) at the edge of the network. The network latency can further be decreased by minimizing the transmission delay, which can be achieved by optimizing the number of Fog Nodes (FNs). In this context, we propose a stochastic geometry model to optimize the number of FNs in a finite F-RAN by exploiting the multi-slope path loss model (MS-PLM), which can more precisely characterize the path loss dependency on the propagation environment. The proposed approach shows that the optimum probability of being a FN is determined by the real root of a polynomial equation of a degree determined by the far-field path loss exponent (PLE) of the MS-PLM. The results analyze the impact of the path loss parameters and the number of deployed nodes on the optimum number of FNs. The results show that the optimum number of FNs is less than 7 % of the total number of deployed nodes for all the considered scenarios. It also shows that optimizing the number of FNs achieves a significant reduction in the average transmission delay over the unoptimized scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of super-hydrophobic nanomaterials for synthesizing membranes with unique physiochemical properties has gained a lot of interest among researchers. The presence of super-hydrophobic materials inside the membrane matrix can play a vital role not only in the separation of toxins, but also to achieve higher water flux with lower fouling tendencies required for an efficient membrane distillation process. In this research, super-hydrophobic carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) were synthesized using powder activated carbon (PAC) as a precursor, whereby the growth was initiated using a bimetallic catalyst of iron (Fe) and molybdenum (Mo). Until recently, no research has been conducted for synthesis and to observe the catalytic influence of bimetallic catalysts on the physiochemical characteristics of the derived CNMs. The synthesis process was carried out using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The CVD process was optimized using Box–Behnken factorial design (BBD), whereby 15 experiments were carried out under different conditions. Three input variables, which were percentage composition of catalysts (percentage of Fe and Mo) and reaction time (tr), were optimized with respect to their impact on the desired percentage output of yield (CY) and contact angle (CA). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) testing was carried out. It was observed that the developed model was statistically significant. The highest CY (320%) and CA (172°) were obtained at the optimal loading of 5% Fe and 2% Mo, with a reaction time of 40 min. Surface morphological features were observed using field emission scanning electron microscopic (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) analysis. The images obtained from FESEM and TEM revealed the presence of two types of CNMs, including carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Thermogravimetric analysis was carried out to observe the temperature degradation profile of the synthesized sample. Raman spectroscopic analysis was also used in order to have a better understanding regarding the proportion of ordered and disordered carbon content inside the synthesized sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coping with the skyrocketing needs for massive amounts of data for the future Fifth Generation (5G) network, Device-to-Device (D2D) communications technology will provide seamless connectivity, high data rates, extended network coverage, and spectral efficiency. The D2D communications are a prevalent emerging technology to achieve the vision of symmetry in the Internet of Things (IoT) services. However, energy resource constraints, network stability, traffic congestion, and link failure of the devices are the crucial impediments to establish an optimal route in the D2D communications based IoT 5G network. These obstacles induced packet drop, rapid energy depletion, higher end-to-end delay, and unfairness across the network, leading to significant route and network performance degradation. Therefore, in this paper, an energy, mobility, queue length, and link quality-aware routing (EMBLR) approach is proposed to overcome the challenges and boost network performance. Moreover, a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) technique is utilized for the selection of the intermediate device in an optimal route. Extensive simulation has been conducted and proven that the proposed routing approach significantly enhances network performance. Overall, results have been carried out in Quality of Service (QoS) performance metrics and compared with other well-known routing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces an efficient analysis of indoor 4.5 GHz radio wave propagation by using a proposed three-dimensional (3-D) ray-tracing (RT) modeling and measurement. The attractive facilities of this frequency band have significantly increased in indoor radio wave communication systems. Radio propagation predictions by simulation method based on a site-specific model, such as RT is widely used to categorize radio wave channels. Although practical measurement provides accurate results, it still needs a considerable amount of resources. Hence, a computerized simulation tool would be a good solution to categorize the wireless channels. The simulation has been performed with an in-house developed software tool. Here, the 3-D shooting bouncing ray tracing (SBRT) and the proposed 3-D ray tracing simulation have been performed separately on a specific layout where the measurement is done. Several comparisons have been performed on the results of the measurement: the proposed method, and the existing SBRT method simulation with respect to received signal strength indication (RSSI) and path loss (PL). The comparative results demonstrate that the RSSI and the PL of proposed RT have better agreements with measurement than with those from the conventional SBRT outputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of fifth-generation (5G) systems and their mechanics have introduced an unconventional frequency spectrum of high bandwidth with most falling under the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. The benefit of adopting these bands of the frequency spectrum is two-fold. First, most of these bands appear to be unutilized and they are free, thus suggesting the absence of interference from other technologies. Second, the availability of a larger bandwidth offers higher data rates for all users, as there are higher numbers of users who are connected in a small geographical area, which is also stated as the Internet of Things (IoT). Nevertheless, high-frequency band poses several challenges in terms of coverage area limitations, signal attenuation, path and penetration losses, as well as scattering. Additionally, mmWave signal bands are susceptible to blockage from buildings and other structures, particularly in higher-density urban areas. Identifying the channel performance at a given frequency is indeed necessary to optimize communication efficiency between the transmitter and receiver. Therefore, this paper investigated the potential ability of mmWave path loss models, such as floating intercept (FI) and close-in (CI), based on real measurements gathered from urban microcell outdoor environments at 38 GHz conducted at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur campus. The measurement data were obtained by using a narrow band mmWave channel sounder equipped with a steerable direction horn antenna. It investigated the potential of the network for outdoor scenarios of line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) with both schemes of co- (vertical-vertical) and cross (vertical-horizontal) polarization. The parameters were selected to reflect the performance and the variances with other schemes, such as average users cell throughput, throughput of users that are at cell-edges, fairness index, and spectral efficiency. The outcomes were examined for various antenna configurations as well as at different channel bandwidths to prove the enhancement of overall network performance. This work showed that the CI path loss model predicted greater network performance for the LOS condition, and also estimated significant outcomes for the NLOS environment. The outputs proved that the FI path loss model, particularly for V-V antenna polarization, gave system simulation results that were unsuitable for the NLOS scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a smart ray-tracing method based on the ray concept. From the literature review, we observed that there is still a research gap on conventional ray-tracing methods that is worthy of further investigation. The herein proposed smart 3D ray-tracing method offers an efficient and fast way to predict indoor radio propagation for supporting future generation networks. The simulation data was verified by measurements. This method is advantageous for developing new ray-tracing algorithms and simulators to improve propagation prediction accuracy and computational speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millimeter wave technology will be dominating the fifth-generation networks due to the clear advantage of higher frequency bands and hence wider spectrum. In this paper, the indoor radio wave propagation at 28 GHz is studied by developing an efficient three-dimensional ray tracing (ETRT) method. The simulation software based on the ETRT model has been verified by measurement data. The received signal strength indication and path loss have shown significant agreement between simulation and measurement. Compared with the conventional shooting bouncing ray tracing method, the proposed ETRT method has better agreement with measurement data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been widely speculated that the performance of the next generation based wireless network should meet a transmission speed on the order of 1000 times more than the current cellular communication systems. The frequency bands above 6 GHz have received significant attention lately as a prospective band for next generation 5G systems. The propagation characteristics for 5G networks need to be fully understood for the 5G system design. This paper presents the channel propagation characteristics for a 5G system in line of sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) scenarios. The diffraction loss (DL) and frequency drop (FD) are investigated based on collected measurement data. Indoor measurement results obtained using a high-resolution channel sounder equipped with directional horn antennas at 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz as a comparative study of the two bands below and above 6 GHz. The parameters for path loss using different path loss models of single and multi-frequencies have been estimated. The excess delay, root mean square (RMS) delay spread and the power delay profile of received paths are analyzed. The results of the path loss models show that the path loss exponent (PLE) in this indoor environment is less than the free space path loss exponent for LOS scenario at both frequencies. Moreover, the PLE is not frequency dependent. The 3GPP path loss models for single and multi-frequency in LOS scenarios have good performance in terms of PLE that is as reliable as the physically-based models. Based on the proposed models, the diffraction loss at 28 GHz is approximately twice the diffraction loss at 3.5 GHz. The findings of the power delay profile and RMS delay spread indicate that these parameters are comparable for frequency bands below and above 6 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Millimeter-Wave (mmW) technology is going to mitigate the global higher bandwidth carriers. It will dominate the future network system by the attractive advantages of the higher frequency band. Higher frequency offers a wider bandwidth spectrum. Therefore, its utilizations are rapidly increasing in the wireless communication system. In this paper, an indoor mmW propagation prediction is presented at 38 GHz based on measurements and the proposed Three-Dimensional (3-D) Ray Tracing (RT) simulation. Moreover, an additional simulation performed using 3-D Shooting Bouncing Ray (SBR) method is presented. Simulation using existing SBR and the proposed RT methods have been performed separately on a specific layout where the measurement campaign is conducted. The RT methods simulations results have been verified by comparing with actual measurement data. There is a significant agreement between the simulation and measurement with respect to path loss and received signal strength indication. The analysis result shows that the proposed RT method output has better agreement with measurement output when compared to the SBR method. According to the result of the propagation prediction analysis, it can be stated that the proposed method's ray tracing is capable of predicting the mmW propagation based on a raw sketch of the real environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]