Innovative Architectures, Wireless Technologies and Tools for High Capacity and Sustainable 5G Ultra-Dense Cellular Networks

Project Information

5G Wireless

Grant agreement ID: 641985

DOI

10.3030/641985

Project closed

EC signature date 5 December 2014

Start date 1 January 2015

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 858 492,24

EU contribution

€ 3 858 492,24

Coordinated by

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - 5G Wireless (Innovative Architectures, Wireless Technologies and Tools for High Capacity and Sustainable 5G Ultra-Dense Cellular Networks)

Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2018-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

According to estimates from the European Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=17802) the fifth generation of communication network architectures (5G) will create 2.3 million new jobs. This implies that engineers with adequate cross-sectoral training and expertise on different aspects of 5G networks will be necessary. European Training Networks (ETNs) are the best instrument for providing cross-sectoral training to Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), allowing them to be exposed to both theory and practice under the guidance of experienced researchers. 5Gwireless is an integrated and multi-disciplinary training-through-research ETN of ESRs and senior supervisors committed to re-architecting current cellular principles, in order to make the fifth generation of communication systems and networks a reality. 5Gwireless focuses on this fundamental training layer with special focus on designing and optimizing the wireless access of 5G communication networks. 5Gwireless is committed to provide such an interdisciplinary training and to make major advances beyond the state-of-the-art of 5G communication networks. The main research objective of 5Gwireless is to define and optimize radically-changing architectures and technologies leading to a wholesale re-thinking of cellular operational principles and architectures, network topologies, transmission technologies and methods for their analysis, design and optimization. The main training objective of 5Gwireless is to recruit 15 ESRs and to provide them with personalized training on theoretical and applied sciences, in order to allow them to become recognized leaders in their fields, e.g. academic researchers, industrial professionals, and to conduct outstanding research at the national, European and international levels.

Importance for the Society
The socio-economic impact of 5G is expected to be very important and was recently evaluated, qualitatively and quantitatively, in a study prepared for the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=17802. The study provides insight to the perfect scenario if Europe can maximize the benefits of 5G. Forecasts have adopted conservative estimates and all assumptions are clearly presented to enable transparency in predictions. Based on the estimates, 5G is expected to generate benefits of 62.5 billion euro per annum in four main vertical markets (automotive, healthcare, transport and utilities) in 2025. Benefits of 50.6 billion euro are expected in four major environments (smart cities, non-urban areas, smart homes and smart workplaces). 63% of these benefits will arise for business and 37% will be provided for consumers and society. 5Gwireless will contribute to the achievements of this expected socio-economic impact with new scientific results in four major research areas: massive MIMO, millimeter-wave communications, smart protocol designs, ultra-dense cellular network deployments. In addition, 5Gwireless will contribute to the employability needs of 5G, by providing advanced training to 15 young academic and industrial researchers.

An article describing the impact of 5Gwireless can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/article_en.cfm?artid=49517&pk_campaign=rtd.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the second reporting period, the main activity conducted by all the beneficiaries of 5Gwireless can be briefly summarized as follows:
- Submission and finalization of the Consortium Agreement
- Finalization of the recruitment of the ESRs (last ESR)
- Revision of the Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) of the ESR if necessary
- Maintenance and update of the website, and the social media platforms
- Maintenance and update of the Internet-based video-conferencing training platform
- Maintenance and update of the public and secure/private repository
- Execution of three training schools
- Execution of five complementary courses
- Execution of the second workshop
- Execution of the final conference
- Execution of three open days
- Execution of the industrial dissemination day
- Participation to the European Researcher Night
- Execution to two STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities
- Execution of about 30 public talks given by the ESRs
- Publication of three newspaper articles
- Realization of two video clips
- Realization of three brochures
- Realization of eight newsletters
- Publication (and submission) of 58 journal and conference papers
- Realization of one EURASIP journal special issue on 5Gwireless research results
- Filling of five Patents
- Submission and acceptance of one contribution to 3GPP standardization
- Implementation of the open access publication strategy by making available all published results in open access repositories, such as ArXiv, ResearchGate, OpenAire
- Submission of all the deliverables
- Achievement of all milestones
- Execution of regular meetings among the beneficiaries
- Innovative research results (antenna prototypes, algorithms, protocols, and analytical methods) on massive MIMO, millimeter-wave, smart protocols, and ultra-dense cellular networks.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The ESRs provided important contributions beyond the state of the art of research in their respective fields.

WP1: Large-Scale Multiple-Antenna Technologies
LiU-1 has proved the need of intricate load-balancing and user-association schemes in massive MIMO. TUD-1 has worked on non-conventional modulation schemes applicable to massive MIMO for enhancing their spectral and spectral efficiency. HWU-1 has developed a new channel model providing a better complexity-accuracy-flexibility trade-off than current massive MIMO channel models. TTI-1 has developed two antenna prototypes for massive MIMO and single-RF MIMO.

WP2: mmWave Communications
SIR-1 has developed a new hybrid channel model for mmWave small-cell networks that account for obstructions of large objects and the self-obstructions of the human body. HWU-2 has developed a general average power delay profile method in order to determine the stationarity region in multiple domains, i.e. time, frequency and space. TTI-1 has designed a new end-fire antenna prototype for mmWave applications. UPC-1 proposed new transceiver designs for mmWave communications to reduce the energy consumption at an acceptable spectral efficiency.

WP3: Transmission Protocols for Smart Devices
IQU-1 has proposed new policies that facilitate the communication of two nearby device-to-device transmitters and receivers that are equipped with full-duplex capabilities. TUD-2 has proposed a new communication protocol for low-latency and energy-efficient transmission. EAB-1 has proposed a new precoding scheme for cell-free massive MIMO. LiU-2 has conducted research on interference-aware radio resource management for network-assisted device-to-device communications.

WP4: Ultra-Dense Cellular Networks Modeling
CNRS-1 has developed a new mathematical methodology for taking into account the spatial correlation of base stations in operational cellular network deployments. CNRS-2 has proposed a new modeling approach that unveils the fundamental energy efficiency vs. spectral efficiency performance trade-off in cellular networks. UPC-2 has introduced new and tractable analytical expressions for quantifying the potential gain of downlink and uplink decoupling. OTE-1 has identified accurate model to describe the traffic in heterogeneous cellular networks.

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