In the area of radio resource management we developed an open source software tool, which complements and upgrades previously developed tool GRASS-RaPlaT, as well as a new method for dynamic allocation of radio sources in the LTE-A radio networks, which can be used to complement existing but partially damaged radio networks in the case of natural disasters or during temporary events. The method applies calculated sum of interference at the location of the user using the distributed radio environment maps (REMs) and the user demands at particular base station for centralized allocation of resource blocks in the LTE-A networks. In each allocation cycle, the method allocates a single resource block to each request in the node. The service priority is given to the demands already served in the previous cycles. The remaining resource blocks are applied for unserved demands from previous allocation cycles. The software tool was also upgraded by the optimization method based on the differential multi-objective evolution optimization algorithm (DEMO) and adapted for the needs of pilot demonstration in EC funded projects FP7 ABSOLUTE and H2020 eWINE. We also applied a parallelized variation, based on asynchronous master-slave approach, to speed up the optimization applying a computer cluster. Open source tool for radio coverage calculation GRASS-RaPlaT has been also upgraded with a new graphical user interface (GUI) and used, among other projects, also in the optimization of the frequency channel selection of digital VHF network for emergency units. An easy to install user-friendly version of GRASS-RaPlaT tool is openly accessible from the JSI website.
F.06 Development of a new product
COBISS.SI-ID: 29908007The VESNA embedded system development and prototyping platform, which is distinguished by a high processing capability, low power consumption and compatibility with a wide range of communication technologies, was originally designed and prototyped in the previous funding period. In current funding period, it has been thoroughly redesigned and continuously upgraded through FP7 and H2020 projects CREW, CITI-SENSE, Fed4FIRE, SUNSEED, ProaSense, eWINE, Fed4FIRE+ and WiSHFUL. In particular, the second generation design reflects (i) an upgrade with a new, more powerful version of the core modules and a complementary framework for the commissioning, execution and remote management of application specific software, (ii) extension with new advanced sensing modules and 5G capillary radio interfaces, and (iii) complemented with new software libraries. VESNA based prototype devices have been used in different real-life pilot deployments such as for UHF spectrum sensing in a UK national TV White Spaces trial in London (CREW project), for portable monitoring of air quality in Ljubljana pilot (CITI-SENSE project), for production line and microclimate monitoring at Hella (ProaSense project), for power management of portable base station and as sensor network gateway in ad hoc emergency network pilot (ABSOLUTE project), for synchrophasor measurements in electric distribution grid at Elektro Primorska (SUNSEED project), and for power quality measurements in grid or at customer premises (SUNSEED project). VESNA platfrom also forms the core of an open experimental testbed LOG-a-TEC, originally consisting of two clusters in the city of Logatec and upgraded in the current funding period with additional indoor and outdoor clusters at JSI. The testbed adopted common tools of the Fed4FIRE testbed federation for remote experimentation, thus achieving even closer integration with the European FIRE/FIRE+ initiative. This testbed is one of the unique tools of the research programme and it is used for experimental research in the areas of radio environment charaterization and localization, elastic and software-defined networking, and evaluation of technologies, devices, algorithms and protocols in the domain of Internet of Things. Through the Fed4FIRE+ project the LOG-a-TEC testbed is also part of the new European initiative NGI-EXP (Next Generation Internet Experimentation), and as such openly available to other national and foreign research groups and projects such as NRG-5, DEFENDER and SAAM for testing and piloting of newly developed solutions.
F.06 Development of a new product
COBISS.SI-ID: 28226087We have developed and deployed an infrastructure for measurement and analysis of satellite radio wave propagation at high frequencies. The measurement network comprises 5 ground stations at 4 sites in 2 countries: at Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, at Krvavec, in Lisec and in Graz (Austria). The most technologically advanced station in the network is the 4-channel Alphasat beacon receiver station, developed at JSI in collaboration with Slovenian and foreign industry. It is one of only few European stations with capabilities to measure the 19.7 GHz and 39.4 GHz satellite beacons and their cross-polar components and with the capability to track satellites in non-stationary geosynchronous orbits. The station has been developed for the European Space Agency (ESA). The ground stations are being used to measure the data about atmospheric impact on radio wave propagation. Up to now, these effects were rather unexplored, especially at Q-band (39.4 GHz). The results are being analysed in collaboration with the international experts in the scope of the associations ASAPE and ASALASCA. Based on the results, the development of efficient communication technology at high frequency bands will be enabled in order to achieve high satellite communication throughputs in the order of terabits/s. The potential customers of such systems include the global companies such as O3b, OneWeb, SpaceX, LeoSat, Qualcomm, Google and Airbus. The achievement may have an important impact on the development of Slovenian high-tech economy in the area of satellite technologies.
F.08 Development and manufacture of a prototype
COBISS.SI-ID: 28966439Several members of the programme group are habilitated at the Jozef Stefan International Postgraduate School, whose main mission is to contribute to the strengthening of the role of science and high technologies in the developmental potential of society through a joint research and educational process in an intensive research, development and innovative environment. The group members are lecturing and supervising students at the master and doctoral levels. They incorporate new knowledge, acquired in national and international research projects, in the individual courses that are regularly updated, and thus transfer it to postgraduate students trough teaching and supervising activities. In recent years we prepared more than 15 lecturing and study materials. Last two lecturing materials are providing an overview of current trends in radio propagation modelling for the 5G radio communication systems and the most recent advances in radio spectrum sharing. The acquired knowledge and lecturing materials are also used in the process of knowledge transfer to a wider group of professionals through presentations at national events such as the annual VITEL workshop and through seminars such as the one on sharing of radio spectrum given to the Agency for communication networks and services of the Republic of Slovenia.
D.10 Educational activities
COBISS.SI-ID: 30650919Granting of two patents by the U.S. Patent Office in 2013 represents a significant research and development success of the research group and proved to be a baseline for further research and developed within national and international projects in the current programme period. The first patent relates to an iterative method, which enables efficient localization of the 4G mobile station. The method is based on the measurement of the received signal levels from at least two base stations positioned in different directions with different distance from the mobile station. While patented method follows non-cooperative localization approach where the location of the mobile station is obtained from the estimated distance to base stations only, our recent studies have focused on cooperative localization approach where the location of mobile stations is estimated from the estimated distances to the base stations with known location and mobile stations within range with unknown location. The research work resulted in an open-source localization software consisting of cooperative and non-cooperative localization algorithms. The second patent was granted for a method that supports automatic setup and optimization of new base station parameters in the wireless cellular telecommunication network. The method is based on automatically obtained data on the location of new and the existing neighboring base stations and the list of available frequencies, which allows calculation of the optimal radio parameters. These are subsequently used in the process of automatic setting of a new base station. In this area our recent work focused on investigation and development of new algorithms and methods for multi-criteria optimization of base station operating parameters. Both patents had been originally developed in cooperation with the Slovenian company 4G Neuron but were subsequently taken over by the American company Accelera Mobile Broadband, Inc., which has given the patents greater potential to penetrate the global market.
F.32 International patent
COBISS.SI-ID: 23790631