Mission Critical Communications Research Articles

Cooperative transmission of UAV swarm using orthogonal time–frequency space modulation

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) emerge as versatile aerial nodes capable of dynamically filling coverage gaps and enabling mission-critical communication based on their mobile nature. UAV swarms, characterized by the coordinated operation of multiple drones, are employed for a wide range of applications such as surveillance, environmental monitoring, precision farming, and autonomous delivery. While individual UAVs suffer from limited power, group transmissions of UAV swarms can enhance the data rate, reliability, and energy efficiency. However, their mobility may cause severe Doppler spread. The existing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system exhibits limitations such as susceptibility to the Doppler effect in high-speed mobile environments. To address this issue, orthogonal time–frequency space (OTFS)-aided cooperative transmission (CT) for UAV swarms is considered, which can surmount the aforementioned limitations. The results show the BER improvement of the order of 103 at the SNR value of 10 dB when OTFS modulation is utilized and even better at the higher SNR values. Furthermore, the analytical framework of OTFS-based CT is presented by identifying the key design considerations on the subcarrier spacing, the number of symbols, and the number of subcarriers, which are subject to the maximum speed of the UAV and the cluster size of the UAV swarm. These results provide a significant platform for advancing research in the field of UAV-based CT, especially with the Doppler-resilient OTFS modulation.

Unequal Timeliness Protection Massive Access for Mission Critical Communications in S-IoT

Unequal Timeliness Protection Massive Access for Mission Critical Communications in S-IoT

Low Latency Device to Device Communications for Sustainable Development

The 5G device to device (D2D) communication is being given impetus as technology for achieving sustainable development goals (SDG) in various fields like health, smart city, education, infrastructure and clean energy. The low latency device to device communications are key enablers for achieving the goals and objectives promulgated as SDG. Network virtualisation, software defined networks, beamforming, artificial intelligence and cognitive methods are facilitating roll out of applications enabling achievement of SDG. The interference mitigation, efficient resource allocation, energy efficiency, mobility management, Quality of Service, scalability, standardisation and interoperability are few challenges being addressed to facilitate implementation of technology and its applications. In this paper existing work on D2D communications, its applications and research challenges has been reviewed. The impetus to D2D and mission critical communications by 3GPP frameworks and releases has been summarized. The SDG applications and research challenges have been analysed to highlight its implications on roll out of technology to achieve the SDG objectives and goals. These SDG applications and technology have the prospective to transform varied fields of health, education, infrastructure and industry for achieving goals.

Innovative Architectures and Management Strategies in 5G Communication Networks

The evolution of communication networks has witnessed a remarkable transformation with the advent of 5G technology. As the latest generation of cellular networks, 5G promises to revolutionize the way we connect, communicate, and interact with the digital world. This paper explores the architecture, management, and implications of 5G communication networks, shedding light on the key features, challenges, and opportunities presented by this transformative technology. At the core of 5G networks lies a sophisticated architecture designed to deliver unprecedented levels of speed, reliability, and connectivity. The 5G New Radio (NR) architecture encompasses three primary components: the User Equipment (UE), the Radio Access Network (RAN), and the Core Network (CN). These components work in tandem to facilitate seamless communication between user devices and the broader network infrastructure. One of the defining features of 5G networks is their ability to support significantly higher data speeds and lower latency compared to previous generations. With the potential to deliver data rates of several gigabits per second and latency as low as a few milliseconds, 5G opens the door to a plethora of innovative applications and services, ranging from immersive virtual reality experiences to real-time remote surgeries. Effective management of 5G networks is paramount to ensuring optimal performance, reliability, and security. Network management systems employ advanced algorithms for dynamic resource allocation, quality of service (QoS) optimization, and network slicing. Network slicing, in particular, enables operators to create virtual networks tailored to specific use cases, such as enhanced mobile broadband, massive IoT deployments, and mission-critical communications. However, the deployment and management of 5G networks pose several challenges and considerations. Infrastructure deployment requires substantial investment and coordination, while ensuring interoperability between different vendors' equipment and standards remains a pressing issue. Spectrum availability and allocation also play a critical role in determining the performance and capacity of 5G networks, necessitating careful regulatory oversight and spectrum management strategies. Despite these challenges, the implications of 5G technology are far-reaching and profound. From empowering smart cities and autonomous vehicles to enabling the widespread adoption of IoT devices and applications, 5G networks have the potential to reshape industries, drive innovation, and enhance the quality of life for billions of people around the world. 5G communication networks represent a paradigm shift in the way we connect and communicate. With their advanced architecture, dynamic management capabilities, and transformative potential, 5G networks are poised to unlock new opportunities, accelerate digital transformation, and usher in a new era of connectivity and innovation.

Innovative Architectures and Management Strategies in 5G Communication Networks

The evolution of communication networks has witnessed a remarkable transformation with the advent of 5G technology. As the latest generation of cellular networks, 5G promises to revolutionize the way we connect, communicate, and interact with the digital world. This paper explores the architecture, management, and implications of 5G communication networks, shedding light on the key features, challenges, and opportunities presented by this transformative technology. At the core of 5G networks lies a sophisticated architecture designed to deliver unprecedented levels of speed, reliability, and connectivity. The 5G New Radio (NR) architecture encompasses three primary components: the User Equipment (UE), the Radio Access Network (RAN), and the Core Network (CN). These components work in tandem to facilitate seamless communication between user devices and the broader network infrastructure. One of the defining features of 5G networks is their ability to support significantly higher data speeds and lower latency compared to previous generations. With the potential to deliver data rates of several gigabits per second and latency as low as a few milliseconds, 5G opens the door to a plethora of innovative applications and services, ranging from immersive virtual reality experiences to real-time remote surgeries. Effective management of 5G networks is paramount to ensuring optimal performance, reliability, and security. Network management systems employ advanced algorithms for dynamic resource allocation, quality of service (QoS) optimization, and network slicing. Network slicing, in particular, enables operators to create virtual networks tailored to specific use cases, such as enhanced mobile broadband, massive IoT deployments, and mission-critical communications. However, the deployment and management of 5G networks pose several challenges and considerations. Infrastructure deployment requires substantial investment and coordination, while ensuring interoperability between different vendors' equipment and standards remains a pressing issue. Spectrum availability and allocation also play a critical role in determining the performance and capacity of 5G networks, necessitating careful regulatory oversight and spectrum management strategies. Despite these challenges, the implications of 5G technology are far-reaching and profound. From empowering smart cities and autonomous vehicles to enabling the widespread adoption of IoT devices and applications, 5G networks have the potential to reshape industries, drive innovation, and enhance the quality of life for billions of people around the world. 5G communication networks represent a paradigm shift in the way we connect and communicate. With their advanced architecture, dynamic management capabilities, and transformative potential, 5G networks are poised to unlock new opportunities, accelerate digital transformation, and usher in a new era of connectivity and innovation.

Mission Critical Communications, Task-Oriented Communications, AI-Driven Sensing, and the 12 GHz Band

Mission Critical Communications, Task-Oriented Communications, AI-Driven Sensing, and the 12 GHz Band

A Short Overview of Mission Critical Communications Technologies for the Rail Industry

A Short Overview of Mission Critical Communications Technologies for the Rail Industry

ERNSS-MCC: Efficient relay node selection scheme for mission critical communication using machine learning in VANET

ERNSS-MCC: Efficient relay node selection scheme for mission critical communication using machine learning in VANET

Effects of Fire Plumes From Pine Needles on Small-Scale Fading in Radiowave Propagation

In this article, radiowave fading caused by fire plumes due to the burning of heaps of pine needles is studied. Detailed characterization of the fire impact in terms of excess loss due to the yielded plumes at UHF frequencies, mainly in the L-band, when considering two different ignition sources, is also presented. The implemented small-scale fire scenario is composed of a 1 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times 1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> m metallic grid covered with a 0.6 kg pine needle fuel bed that was placed right above a circular and linear gas burner to mimic an underbrush scenario. The propagation phenomena were evaluated through specific wideband measurements as the fire developed while intersecting the radio path at the antennas’ boresight. Results demonstrate changes in the propagation medium that is strongly influenced by the plume, which ultimately becomes (partly) ionized. Deep fades of up to 12 dB below median levels at specific frequencies during a short period of time, when the fire is more intense, were measured. We also obtained an overall median excess loss due to fire of up to 2 dB in the frequency range from 0.6 to 2 GHz in a relatively short path (below 1 m). A time-domain analysis allowed us to expand these results yielding fading values of the direct component of more than 3 dB in the presence of fire. Extending the findings presented in this article to a real-scale fire scenario, in which median excess loss of more than 20 dB and deeper nulls are ought to be expected, sets the rationale and motivation to pursue future work on the topic, with practical relevance to future mission-critical communication networks planning, such as, but not limited to, LTE Public-Safety and specific 5G use cases.

Mission Critical Communications Support With 5G and Network Slicing

Mission Critical (MC) communications take a pivotal role to achieve effective Public Protection and Disaster Relief (PPDR) actions. Even though 3GPP standards define MC applications and services in an architectural framework compatible with current 5G mobile networks, real-life experiments and applications of these concepts are still at the very beginning. In this paper, we present an architectural study and related experimental activity on network slicing for MC communications. We implemented these services in a fully virtualized environment, and deployed and tested them in a multi-domain network slicing scenario compliant with the ETSI NFV-MANO specifications. Our work aligns with the 5G approach separating control and data planes. The level of automation in service deployment and the slice isolation features are demonstrated, showing the benefits in terms of application performance, management flexibility, scalability, and quality of service differentiation capabilities.

An Investigation of the Optimum Power Allocation Technique in the MIMO-NOMA Network with the Deep Neural Network and Depth Limited Search Algorithm

The non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA) technique affords massive user scaling, industrial use for mission-critical communication, and multi-user shared in a single resource block. Because of these merits, it is a scheme that future technologies will prefer over orthogonal multiple access (OMA). This research study focuses on a comparative analysis of several power allocation algorithms (PAA) to identify the PAA that is most suited for the “MIMO-NOMA” technology. The investigation is done using two different methods. First, an analysis is conducted to take into account direct approaches, followed by PAA and the Deep Neural Network (DNN) and the Depth Limited Search Algorithm (DLSA). Both techniques are tested considering two-user and multi-user scenarios in a MIMO-NOMA network. Optimum power allocation (OPA) to the weaker user terminal is a complex task in a real environment; moreover, the appropriate distribution of access point (AP) source power is constrained by the successive interference cancellation (SIC) technique. The above issues can be resolved with the help of the Deep Neural Network (DNN) and DLSA, where the stronger signal user gets minimal power and the poorer signal user gets optimal power. Based on the DLSA, the “DNN-MIMO-NOMA” system helps user terminals to receive their signals more accurately and without noise. For the successful implementation of SIC, the DLSA combines MIMO-NOMA with deep learning. The location of the user terminal is predicted by the DLS and depending on where the user terminal is located; optimal power allocation is done. The simulation results show that the PAA, combining DNN and the DLSA, outperforms traditional power allocation technique.

Multitype Services Coexistence in Uplink NOMA for Dual-Layer LEO Satellite Constellation

The upcoming mega low-earth orbit (LEO) high-throughput satellite constellation is regarded as an emerging paradigm shift in the fifth-generation-advance (5GA) networks. In this article, we propose a multitype services coexistence handover (MSCH) nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme for a dual-layer mega LEO satellite constellation, which can simultaneously and efficiently provide uplink NOMA for three types of fifth-generation user equipments (UEs): 1) mission-critical communications (MCCs) UEs (CUs); 2) massive machine-type communications (mMTCs) UEs (MUs); and 3) enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) UEs (EUs). The EUs are mainly served in the higher layer satellites for longer service duration and may handover to the lower layer satellites to coexist with CUs or MUs. Moreover, the CUs and MUs perform grant-based (GB) and grant-free (GF) NOMA on resource blocks (RBs) in the lower layer satellites, respectively. Then, we derive the closed-form expressions of three specific key performance indicators (KPIs), i.e., outage probability (OP), system throughput (ST), and ergodic capacity (EC) in the MSCH NOMA scheme, and design five corresponding NOMA algorithms. Simulation results verify the accuracy of our theoretical derivations and show that the proposed NOMA schemes can achieve a better KPI performance than the state-of-the-art ones.

Toward Providing Connectivity When and Where It Counts: An Overview of Deployable 5G Networks

Public safety operations require fast and reliable mission critical communications under various scenarios, in which the availability of wireless connectivity can be a question of life or death. To provide connectivity when and where it counts, we have witnessed a growing demand for deployable networks for public safety in natural disasters or emergency situations. This article investigates the opportunities of using the fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) standard for designing flexible and reliable deployable networks. We describe use cases and provide an overview of deployable 5G network concepts, including architecture options, system performance analysis, and coexistence aspects. We also identify technical challenges that can be considered in the evolution of 5G NR to unlock the full potential of deployable 5G networks.

5G New Radio for Public Safety Mission Critical Communications

Driven by increasing demands on connectivity to improve safety, situational awareness and operational effectiveness for first responders, more and more public safety agencies are realizing the need of modernization of their existing non-3GPP networks. 3GPP based cellular networks offer the unique opportunity of providing fast, reliable, and prioritized communications for first responders in a shared network. In this article, we give an overview of service requirements of public safety mission critical communications. We identify key technical challenges and explain how 5G new radio (NR) features are being evolved to meet the emerging safety critical requirements, including enabling connectivity everywhere, supporting efficient group communications, prioritizing mission critical traffic, and providing accurate positioning for first responders.

A Combined ITM and LITU-R Model for Enhanced Radio Coverage Predictions of Mission-Critical Communications in Mountainous Vegetated Terrains

This letter presents a combined model for appropriate radio coverage of mission-critical push-to-talk communications in mountainous vegetated terrains. The proposed model uses the irregular terrain model (ITM) with the detailed information of the ground topography to predict the excess loss caused by the terrain irregularities, along with the Lateral International Telecommunications Union of Radio model, to account for the excess loss caused by the presence of vegetation in the radio path. The performance of the proposed combined model was assessed against experimental results obtained from a measurement campaign conducted along unpaved paths and trails, usually taken by firefighters during firefighting procedures, in mountainous terrains with dense vegetation. The acquired experimental data was assessed against experimental results obtained from a measurement campaign conducted along unpaved paths and trails.

Statistical Channel Model and Systematic Random Linear Network Coding Based QoS Oriented and Energy Efficient UWSN Routing Protocol

Considering the significance of an energy efficient, delay tolerant and reliable communication protocol for underwater acoustic wireless sensor network (UWSN), this paper proposes a novel systematic random linear network coding (SRLNC) based transmission system examined over a robust statistical UWSN channel model. The derived statistical channel model deals with both the small-scale fading primarily caused by scattering and small wavelength changes and large-scale fading introduced due to node dislocation in the underwater acoustic medium. The proposed SRLNC transmission-based routing approach has been applied over the proposed underwater acoustic (statistical) channel model, and respective performance assessment has been conducted in terms of throughput, energy efficiency, delay and computational complexity by varying network condition parameters. The contributions such as low coefficient vector and Galois filed, low redundant message requirements, computationally efficient pre-coding scheme, iterative buffer flush and enhanced FEC based decoding make the SRLNC based routing protocol sufficiently robust to enable reliable, energy-efficient and delay resilient communication over UWSN. The proposed SRLNC based UWSN routing protocol and its efficacy over dynamic channel conditions affirm that it can be a potential solution for QoS-oriented mission critical underwater communication purposes.

Entropy service for secure real‐time mission critical communications

AbstractReal Time Mission Critical Communication (RTMCC) in emergency situations can include real‐time video and audio calls between peers and first responders all occurring simultaneously. RTMCC also requires secure end‐to‐end (E2E) group communication (GC) sessions against potential security threats during such incidents. In this paper, we explore all aspects of the possible methods that are suitable for a software implementation of for session key change during GC in E2E encryption of RTMCC. Later, we introduce our Entropy Service concept, which can be very effective in secure E2E RTMCC sessions. The proposed method ensures E2E security in real‐time communication systems while allowing very fast session key change for clients involved in an RTMCC session with a computational complexity of 𝒪(1). Our experimental results show that the proposed Entropy Service can reduce total time by 99.6% and 99.2%, the idle time by 99.4% and 98.99%, and the number of messages by 51.4% and 35.33% compared to the key refreshing and hash methods, respectively, when the number of users in the system increases to 45. These results show that both communication and computation complexity are significantly reduced with the proposed RTMCC session key change.

UAV Support for Mission Critical Services

Mission critical solutions are essential for providing communications and services in the case of the troubles with connectivity that are often found in infrastructure-based solutions. Such solutions are typically used in the case of disasters, lack of energy, etc. There exist several narrowband solutions that provide countrywide coverage in certain countries. In recent years, the activities related to creating mission-critical broadband solutions based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) have led to the definition of LTE Mission Critical (LTE-MC). Both solutions ignore virtualization and require dedicated mobile terminals as a part of the mission-critical communication solution. This paper describes the opportunities, open issues and a proposal of a solution that exploits Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and network virtualization for mission-critical services. The presented approach combines Cloud/Edge and Fog orchestration to efficiently use all the available resources, including virtualized resources of the end-user devices.

Secure and Robust MIMO Transceiver for Multicast Mission Critical Communications

Mission-critical communications (MCC) involve all communications between people in charge of the safety of the civil society. MCC have unique requirements that include improved reliability, security and group communication support. In this paper, we propose secure and robust Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) transceivers, designed for multiple Base Stations (BS) supporting multicast MCC in presence of multiple eavesdroppers. We formulate minimization problems with the Sum-Mean-Square-Error (SMSE) at legitimate users as an objective function, and a lower bound for the MSE at eavesdroppers as a constraint. Security is achieved thanks to physical layer security mechanisms, namely MIMO beamforming and Artificial Noise (AN). Reliability is achieved by designing a system which is robust to two types of channel state information errors: stochastic and norm-bounded. We propose a coordinate descent-based algorithm and a worst-case iterative algorithm to solve these problems. Numerical results at physical layer and system level reveal the crucial role of robust designs for reliable MCC. We show the interest of both robust design and AN to improve the security gap. We also show that full BS cooperation in preferred for highly secured and reliable MCC but dynamic clustering allows to trade-off security and reliability against capacity.

Identity Management in Future Railway Mobile Communication System

The Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) has emerged as a worldwide standard for railway communication. This technology enables the operational efficiency and safety of railways to be improved by providing mission critical communications, machine-type communication for the railway system on board, in addition to trackside telemetry and broadband connectivity for passengers. Different equipment types, users, and functional identities can be involved in communication, and each of them is uniquely identified. Identity management is an important part of the security functions provided by the FRMCS system. This paper presents a service-oriented approach to identity management functionality, enabling service composition for railway applications and service virtualization. This paper studies functionality for the initial registration and subsequent deregistration of railway devices, users, and their functional identities, in addition to the transfer of the registered identities between different FRMCS serving areas while the train moves. Two FRMCS services that follow the principles of representational state transfer architecture are proposed. Services’ functionality is illustrated by use cases, data types, and application programming interfaces that enable services to be interacted with. Identity registration status models are developed, formally described, and mathematically verified. Discussion of the applicability of the proposed services for the implementation of FRMCS security and safety functions is provided. The presented service-oriented approach features a satisfactory level of flexibility and versatility.