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The B-BONE project aims at enhancing MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) as defined in UMTS Release 6 at Radio, RAN and Core Network levels, and evaluation of new techniques using link and system level simulation tools. |
The B-BONE project focuses on the enhancement of UMTS technology, for broadcast and multicast purposes, having as starting point the 3GPP Release 6 MBMS.
B-BONE started by performing the identification and characterisation of broadcast and multicast services, reference scenarios and requirements at user, network, services, spectrum and terminal level. Link level simulations are being performed to identify the best adaptive wireless techniques for capacity and transmission rates enhancement (MIMO systems, power and spectrally efficient coded modulation and their combination with macro-diversity combining). In parallel, resource management techniques and resource optimisation algorithms are being developed for multicast and broadcast services over a broadband all-IP UMTS network, taking into account the impact of handover and user mobility. Moreover, auction based resource allocation schemes for cost splitting were defined and evaluated. The definition of suitable metrics and evaluation scenarios, namely cellular layouts, traffic, propagation and mobility models and its implementation into the system level simulator will be followed by extensive simulations to evaluate the capacity enhancements in conjunction with the resources management gain.
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Technical Approach
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B-BONE project is structured as 6 workpackages, two of them dedicated to project management and dissemination and standardisation. The technical workpackages are: WP1: Broadcasting and Cellular System Requirements – intends to specify the requirements and reference architecture of the enhanced broadcasting/multicasting service and representative scenarios. WP2: UMTS Air Interface Enhancement - enhancement of performance and capacity of the future broadband UMTS network air interface, based on the combination of different wireless techniques, namely, 16QAM non-uniform constellations, MIMO systems and macro-diversity combination schemes. WP3: Network Resources Management and Optimisation - resource management and optimisation techniques for broadcast and multicast services. It will develop and implement resource management algorithms enabling QoS provisioning and differentiation for IP-based RAN and Core Networks. WP4: System Performance Evaluation and Validation - models and simulation methods that allow representing traffic in terms of capacity and quality of service requirements on the radio link, taking into consideration the constraints imposed by interference, as well as the multi-service nature of the traffic and dynamic behaviour of the users. The benchmark of the enhancements will be performed against MBMS Release 6. |
There are four key issues addressed in the B-BONE project.
1) Identification of system requirements for digital broadcasting/multicasting services over the Enhanced UMTS cellular network and the specification of the reference architecture;
2) Wireless techniques required to increase the bit rate and the throughput, namely, multi-code, MIMO systems and higher order modulations;
3) Optimisation and management of radio and network resources in RAN and Core networks that are broadcast/multicast capable; and
4) System level simulation to evaluate capacity gain and feasibility of project proposed solutions.
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The first issue is addressed by identifying in the literature the broadcast/multicast services and system requirements at user, network, services, spectrum and terminal level. System scenarios will be derived based on the broadcasting/multicasting service characteristics and spectrum constrains. The reference architecture will be derived based on what is already standardised in 3GPP. The second issue is addressed at three levels: 1) Multiple antennas at both transmitter and receiver will be investigated because of their large increase in capacity; 2) The combination of power and spectral efficient coding/modulation schemes is another technique capable of handling higher bit rates given the available total bandwidth; and 3) Macro-diversity combining with adaptive transmission techniques that recently emerged as a powerful tool for decreasing the required transmitted power from each base station per broadcast/multicast service.
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Regarding the third issue, in order to efficiently utilise both the radio access network (RAN) and the core network part of the Enhanced UMTS FDD mode, specific functionalities have to be added to the current UMTS standard (Release 6). The provision of a mobility management scheme that will facilitate seamless roaming between different cells within the UMTS RAN, further supported by the IP core network is needed, i.e., to manage the terminal mobility at the IP layer. In addition to mobility management, QoS support and resources management must also be extended, therefore appropriate algorithms are needed. The fourth issue is addressed by performing system level simulations and analysis of all results. Simulation models will be developed and a considerable effort will be made to verify and validate the results. |
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B-BONE results will have a very positive impact on the European industry competitiveness and technology standardisation. The manufacturers will incorporate in their products the new features to be developed by this project. The operator will have the opportunity to test the impact of providing broadcasting and multicasting type services to its users and be one of the first to launch commercially the new services. Universities and institutes will become more competitive and gain more experience and competences in the mobile communication area. In more general terms, this project is also a considerable step towards the convergence of the mobile and broadcast worlds that may lead to interesting transformations in these two sectors of activity, namely to make more obvious the need to have spectrum sharing, etc. B-BONE will also impact at the society level. The provision of broadcasting/multicasting services to the users with good quality and acceptable or generically affordable cost will certainly change the current picture in terms of usage of mobile terminals. For instance, users may watch the TV or radio news while they are on the move using the same apparatus as they use to talk or access data. Indirectly, users may have access to Internet in a faster way. Access to information in general will be easier and less costly due to the “sharing” of resources (data multicasting).
In summary, B-BONE objectives and expected results will be of paramount importance to three critical industrial sectors in the European domain: (1) network equipment vendors, including both core network and terminal equipment manufacturers, (2) broadcasting network operators and (3) cellular network carriers and operators.