Abstract
A key distinction between today’s and future networks is the appetite for reliable communication to support emerging critical-communication services. In this paper, we study multi-operator connectivity as a form of redundancy to support the design of reliable networks and investigate its trade-offs. This approach is motivated by 3GPP standardisation initiatives of dual-connectivity and similar techniques in industrial wired networks. We deploy a risk awareness performance metric to assess reliability: this superquantile metric accounts for periods of connectivity shortfalls. Our analysis shows that multi-operator connectivity brings significant reliability gains, in particular when network deployments by different operators exhibit high complementarity in coverage. We also explore the effects of multi-connectivity on spectral efficiency in times of high demand for bandwidth. Our study is based on a real-world dataset comprising signal strength indicators of three mobile operators in Dublin, Ireland.
Highlights
Reliable communication is one of the grand challenges for the generation of mobile networks, enabling emerging communication services for factory automation, augmented reality, cloud gaming, smart transportation, and other yetto-come applications [1], [2]
We focus on multi-operator connectivity as a form of redundancy, where information is redundantly transmitted in all active connections, in light of 3GPP standardisation initiatives of dual-connectivity since release 12 and similar approaches in use in industrial wired networks for reliable communication [7]
We would expect a significant increase in reliability in PF MC as both proportional fair and multi-operator connectivity tend to benefit under-performing users
Summary
Reliable communication is one of the grand challenges for the generation of mobile networks, enabling emerging communication services for factory automation, augmented reality, cloud gaming, smart transportation, and other yetto-come applications [1], [2]. Reliability usually requires redundant network resources, such as antennas and spectrum, or denser network deployments, for example, in the form of additional base stations (BSs). Both approaches result in additional investment by mobile network operators (MNOs). We have previously studied network sharing in the form of multi-operator connectivity sharing [5], where a mobile can simultaneously connect to multiple network operators. Redundant connections come at a cost to operators in terms of lower spectral efficiency This is especially harmful in high-demand networks where the use of redundant resources introduced by sharing can lead to increasing demand for spectrum (or any other scarce network resource), potentially decreasing the capacity operators can offer to their subscribers.
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