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A special issue of Electronics (ISSN 2079-9292). This special issue belongs to the section "Networks".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 45031

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Prof. Dr. Piotr Zwierzykowski

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Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Poznan University of Technology, 60-965 Poznań, Poland
Interests: communications networks; teletraffic; teletraffic engineering; performance evaluation; cellular networks
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Prof. Dr. Erich Leitgeb

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Institute of Microwave and Photonic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Information Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 12/I, A-8010 Graz, Austria
Interests: optical wireless technologies for broadband communications
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Dr. Paweł Śniatała

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Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology, 60-965 Poznań, Poland
Interests: VLSI circuits for digital and mixed analog–digital signal processing systems: ultra-low power ASIC design; implantable IC; signal/image processing hardware-software codesign; hardware accelerators

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Telecommunication networks have for many years been important elements of backbone and access networks. The main objective of this Special Issue is to report recent developments in architectures, protocols, algorithms, and techniques of telecommunication networks, including issues such as design, dimensioning, modeling, control and performance evaluation, and optimization. Authors of both theoretical and application-oriented papers presenting emerging ideas and technologies to solve various unsolved problems and challenges in telecommunications networks are welcome. We invite worldwide researchers and experts to submit high-quality original research papers or critical survey articles.

The topics of interest include but are not limited to:

Network architectures, design, and performance evaluation;
Technologies used in optimization process of telecommunication networks;
Services in optical wire and wireless networks;
Performance evaluation of multiservice access nodes in telecommunication networks;
Resource management mechanisms for telecommunication networks;
Traffic control methods in telecommunication networks;
Analytical and simulation models of core and access networks;
Design and dimensioning of nodes in backbone networks;
Network slicing;
Energy-efficient networks.

Prof. Dr. Piotr Zwierzykowski
Prof. Dr. Erich Leitgeb
Dr. Paweł Śniatała
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

telecommunication networks
optical networks
industrial networks
mobile and cellular networks

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 364 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Potential of MP-QUIC as Transport Layer Aggregator for Multiple Cellular Networks

by Zsolt Krämer, Felicián Németh, Attila Mihály, Sándor Molnár, István Pelle, Gergely Pongrácz and Donát Scharnitzky

Electronics 2022, 11(9), 1492; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11091492 - 6 May 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2470

Abstract

Multipath transport protocols have the ability to simultaneously utilize the different paths and thus outperform single-path solutions in terms of achievable goodput, latency, or reliability. In this paper our goal is to examine the potential of connecting a mobile terminal to multiple mobile networks simultaneously in a dynamically changing environment. To achieve this, first we analyze a dataset obtained from an LTE drive test involving two operators. Then we study the performance of MP-QUIC, the multipath extension of QUIC, in a dynamic emulated environment generated from the collected traces. Our results show that MP-QUIC may leverage multiple available channels to provide uninterrupted connectivity, and a better overall goodput even when compared to using only the best available channel for communication. We also compare the MP-QUIC performance with MPTCP, identify challenges with the current protocol implementations to fill in the available aggregate capacity, and give insights on how the achievable throughput could be increased. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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17 pages, 2300 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On Analyzing Beamforming Implementation in O-RAN 5G

by Mustafa Mohsin, Jordi Mongay Batalla, Evangelos Pallis, George Mastorakis, Evangelos K. Markakis and Constandinos X. Mavromoustakis

Electronics 2021, 10(17), 2162; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10172162 - 4 Sep 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 11854

Abstract

The open radio access network (O-RAN) concept is changing the landscape of mobile networks (5G deployment and 6G research). O-RAN Alliance’s suggestions that O-RAN can offer openness and intelligence to the traditional RAN vendors will enable the capability for multi-vendors to re-shape the RAN structure and optimize the network. This paper positions the main research challenges of the O-RAN approach in regards to the implementation of beamforming. We investigate the O-RAN architecture and the configurations of the interfaces between O-RAN units and present the split options between the radio and distributing units in terms of O-RAN specification and 3GPP standards. From this point, we discuss the beamforming methods in O-RAN, addressing challenges and potential solutions, and suggest the introduction of the zero-forcing equalizer as a precoding vector in the channel-information-based beamforming method. This may be one of the solutions for achieving flexibility in a high-traffic communication environment while reducing the radio unit interferences caused by implanting the precoding in the open radio unit. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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23 pages, 2215 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling and Prediction of Daily Traffic Patterns—WASK and SIX Case Study

by Róża Goścień, Aleksandra Knapińska and Adam Włodarczyk

Electronics 2021, 10(14), 1637; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10141637 - 9 Jul 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2412

Abstract

The paper studies efficient modeling and prediction of daily traffic patterns in transport telecommunication networks. The investigation is carried out using two historical datasets, namely WASK and SIX, which collect flows from edge nodes of two networks of different size. WASK is a novel dataset introduced and analyzed for the first time in this paper, while SIX is a well-known source of network flows. For the considered datasets, the paper proposes traffic modeling and prediction methods. For traffic modeling, the Fourier Transform is applied. For traffic prediction, two approaches are proposed—modeling-based (the forecasting model is generated based on historical traffic models) and machine learning-based (network traffic is handled as a data stream where chunk-based regression methods are applied for forecasting). Then, extensive simulations are performed to verify efficiency of the approaches and their comparison. The proposed modeling method revealed high efficiency especially for the SIX dataset, where the average error was lower than 0.1%. The efficiency of two forecasting approaches differs with datasets–modeling-based methods achieved lower errors for SIX while machine learning-based for WASK. The average prediction error for SIX reached 3.36% while forecasting for WASK turned out extremely challenging. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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18 pages, 23795 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Machine Learning Classification and Regression Approaches for Optical Network Traffic Prediction

by Daniel Szostak, Adam Włodarczyk and Krzysztof Walkowiak

Electronics 2021, 10(13), 1578; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10131578 - 30 Jun 2021

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3651

Abstract

Rapid growth of network traffic causes the need for the development of new network technologies. Artificial intelligence provides suitable tools to improve currently used network optimization methods. In this paper, we propose a procedure for network traffic prediction. Based on optical networks’ (and other network technologies) characteristics, we focus on the prediction of fixed bitrate levels called traffic levels. We develop and evaluate two approaches based on different supervised machine learning (ML) methods—classification and regression. We examine four different ML models with various selected features. The tested datasets are based on real traffic patterns provided by the Seattle Internet Exchange Point (SIX). Obtained results are analyzed using a new quality metric, which allows researchers to find the best forecasting algorithm in terms of network resources usage and operational costs. Our research shows that regression provides better results than classification in case of all analyzed datasets. Additionally, the final choice of the most appropriate ML algorithm and model should depend on the network operator expectations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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20 pages, 2816 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modelling and Optimization of Multi-Service Optical Switching Networks with Threshold Management Mechanisms

by Maciej Sobieraj, Piotr Zwierzykowski and Erich Leitgeb

Electronics 2021, 10(13), 1515; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10131515 - 23 Jun 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1745

Abstract

DWDM networks make use of optical switching networks that allow light waves of multiple lengths to be serviced and provide the possibility of converting them appropriately. Research work on optical switching networks focuses on two main areas of interest: new non-blocking structures for optical switching networks and finding traffic characteristics of switching networks of the structures that are already well known. In practical design of switching nodes in optical networks, in many cases, the Clos switching networks are successfully used. Clos switching networks are also used in Elastic Optical Networks that can effectively manage allocation of resources to individual multi-service traffic streams. The research outcomes presented in this article deal with the problems of finding traffic characteristics in blocking optical switching networks with known structures. This article aims at presenting an analysis of the influence of traffic management threshold mechanisms on the traffic characteristics of multi-service blocking Clos switching networks that are used in the nodes of elastic optical networks as well as their influence on the traffic efficiency of network nodes. The analysis was carried out on the basis of research studies performed in a specially dedicated purpose-made simulation environment. The article presents a description of the simulation environment used in the experiments. The study was focused on the influence of the threshold mechanism, which is one of the most commonly used and elastic traffic management mechanisms, and on the traffic characteristics of switching networks that service different mixtures of multi-service Erlang, Engset and Pascal traffic streams. The conducted study validates the operational effectiveness and practicality of the application of the threshold mechanism to model traffic characteristics of nodes in an elastic optical network. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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20 pages, 616 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fragmentation-Aware Traffic Grooming with Lane Changes in Spectrally–Spatially Flexible Optical Networks

by Piotr Lechowicz, Aleksandra Knapińska and Róża Goścień

Electronics 2021, 10(12), 1502; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10121502 - 21 Jun 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2083

Abstract

Traffic in current networks is constantly increasing due to the growing popularity of various network services. The currently deployed backbone optical networks apply wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques in single-core single-mode fibers (SMFs) to transmit the light. However, the capacity of SMFs is limited due to physical constraints, and new technologies are required in the near future. Spectrally–spatially-flexible optical networks (SS-FONs) are proposed to provide a substantial capacity increase by exploring the spatial dimension. However, before this technology will reach maturity, various aspects need to be addressed. In particular, during traffic grooming, multiple small requests are aggregated into large-capacity optical corridors in an optical layer to increase the spectral efficiency. As the summary traffic volume is dynamically changing, it may be required to set up and tear down optical channels, which results in network fragmentation. As a consequence, in a congested network, part of the requests can be blocked due to the lack of spectrum resources. Thus, the grooming of traffic and the creation of lightpaths should be carefully designed to minimize network fragmentation. In this study, we present several fragmentation metrics and develop a fragmentation-aware traffic grooming algorithm that reduces the bandwidth blocking probability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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18 pages, 1168 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Efficient Flow Restoration in Spectrally-Spatially Flexible Optical Networks

by Róża Goścień

Electronics 2021, 10(12), 1468; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10121468 - 18 Jun 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1655

Abstract

We focus on the efficient modeling and optimization of the flow restoration in the spectrally-spatially flexible optical networks (SS-FONs) realized using a single mode fiber bundle. To this end, we study a two-phase optimization problem, which consists of: (i) the network planning with respect to the spectrum usage and (ii) the flow restoration after a failure aiming at maximizing the restored bit-rate. Both subproblems we formulate using the integer linear programming with two modeling approaches—the node-link and the link-path. We perform simulations divided into: (i) a comparison of the proposed approaches, (ii) an efficient flow restoration in SS-FONs—case study. The case study focuses on the verification whether the spectral-spatial allocation may improve the restoration process (compared to the spectral allocation) and on the determination of the full restoration cost (the amount of additional resources required to restore whole traffic) in two network topologies. The results show that the spectral-spatial allocation allows us to restore up to 4% more traffic compared to the restoration with only the spectral channels. They also reveal that the cost of the full traffic restoration depends on plenty of factors, including the overall traffic volume and the network size, while the spectral-spatial allocation allows us to reduce its value about 30%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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24 pages, 1825 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On Increasing the Accuracy of Modeling Multi-Service Overflow Systems with Erlang-Engset-Pascal Streams

by Mariusz Głąbowski, Damian Kmiecik and Maciej Stasiak

Electronics 2021, 10(4), 508; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10040508 - 22 Feb 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2154

Abstract

In this article, we present an analysis of the accuracy level of methods for modeling the multi-service overflow systems that service Erlang, Engset, and Pascal traffic. In systems with traffic overflow, new calls that cannot be serviced by the primary resources are overflown (directed) to other available resources that can service a given call, that is, to the secondary resources (alternative resources). In the article, we focus on studying the influence of methods for determining the parameters of traffic that overflows to the secondary resources on the accuracy of determining the traffic characteristics of overflow systems. Our analysis revealed that the main source of the inaccuracy of the existing methods is their approach to determining both the average value and the variance of multi-service Pascal traffic streams offered to the secondary resources. Therefore, we proposed a new method for determining the parameters of Pascal overflow traffic. The method is based on the decomposition of multi-service primary resources into single-service resources and the subsequent conversion of Engset and Pascal streams into equivalents of Erlang traffic. The results of the analytical calculations obtained on the basis of the new method are then compared with the results of simulation experiments for a number of selected structures of overflow systems that service Erlang, Engset, and Pascal traffic. The results of the study indicate that the proposed theoretical model has a significantly higher accuracy than the models proposed in the literature. The method can be used in the analysis, dimensioning, and optimization of multi-service telecommunication systems composed of separated resources, for example, mobile cellular systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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30 pages, 1393 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dynamic Task Migration Combining Energy Efficiency and Load Balancing Optimization in Three-Tier UAV-Enabled Mobile Edge Computing System

by Wu Ouyang, Zhigang Chen, Jia Wu, Genghua Yu and Heng Zhang

Electronics 2021, 10(2), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10020190 - 15 Jan 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 2836

Abstract

As transportation becomes more convenient and efficient, users move faster and faster. When a user leaves the service range of the original edge server, the original edge server needs to migrate the tasks offloaded by the user to other edge servers. An effective task migration strategy needs to fully consider the location of users, the load status of edge servers, and energy consumption, which make designing an effective task migration strategy a challenge. In this paper, we innovatively proposed a mobile edge computing (MEC) system architecture consisting of multiple smart mobile devices (SMDs), multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and a base station (BS). Moreover, we establish the model of the Markov decision process with unknown rewards (MDPUR) based on the traditional Markov decision process (MDP), which comprehensively considers the three aspects of the migration distance, the residual energy status of the UAVs, and the load status of the UAVs. Based on the MDPUR model, we propose a advantage-based value iteration (ABVI) algorithm to obtain the effective task migration strategy, which can help the UAV group to achieve load balancing and reduce the total energy consumption of the UAV group under the premise of ensuring user service quality. Finally, the results of simulation experiments show that the ABVI algorithm is effective. In particular, the ABVI algorithm has better performance than the traditional value iterative algorithm. And in a dynamic environment, the ABVI algorithm is also very robust. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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18 pages, 3569 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Congestion Probabilities in a Multi-Cluster C-RAN Servicing a Mixture of Traffic Sources

by Iskanter-Alexandros Chousainov, Ioannis D. Moscholios and Panagiotis G. Sarigiannidis

Electronics 2020, 9(12), 2120; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9122120 - 11 Dec 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1842

Abstract

A multi-cluster cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is considered in this paper where the remote radio heads (RRHs) form different clusters. A cluster includes RRHs that have the same radio resource unit capacity. In addition, all RRHs are separated from the common pool of computational resource units named baseband units. Each RRH accommodates calls whose arrival process can be random, quasi-random, or even bursty. The latter is modeled according to the compound Poisson process where calls arrive in the C-RAN in the form of batches whose size (in calls) is generally distributed. An arriving call requires a radio and a computational resource unit so as to be accepted in the C-RAN. If at least one of these units is not available, the call is blocked. To analyze the proposed multi-cluster C-RAN we model it as a loss system, show that the steady-state probabilities have a product form solution and propose an algorithm for the computation of congestion probabilities. The accuracy of the proposed algorithm is verified via simulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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20 pages, 411 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Optimum User Association Algorithm in Heterogeneous 5G Networks Using Standard Deviation of the Load

by Noha Hassan and Xavier Fernando

Electronics 2020, 9(9), 1495; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9091495 - 11 Sep 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3038

Abstract

Fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks and beyond will be heterogeneous in nature, with a mixture of macro and micro radio cells. In this scenario where high power macro base stations (MBS) coexist with low power micro base stations (mBS), it is challenging to ensure optimal usage of radio resources to serve users with a multitude of quality of service (QoS) requirements. Typical signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR)-based user allocation protocols unfairly assign more users to the high power MBS, starving mBS. There have been many attempts in the literature to forcefully assign users to mBS with limited success. In this paper, we take a different approach using second order statistics of user data, which is a better indicator of traffic fluctuations. We propose a new algorithm for user association to the appropriate base station (BS) by utilizing the standard deviation of the overall network load. This is done through an exhaustive search of the best user equipment (UE)–BS combinations that provide a global minimum to the standard deviation. This would correspond to the optimum number of UEs assigned to every BS, either macro or micro. We have also derived new expressions for coverage probability and network energy efficiency for analytical performance evaluation. Simulation results prove the validity of our proposed methods to balance the network load, improve data rate, average energy efficiency, and coverage probability with superior performance compared with other algorithms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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25 pages, 1678 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling of Clos Switching Structures with Dynamically Variable Number of Active Switches in the Spine Stage

by Mariusz Głąbowski, Maciej Sobieraj, Maciej Stasiak and Michał Dominik Stasiak

Electronics 2020, 9(7), 1073; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9071073 - 30 Jun 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2886

Abstract

This article proposes a new analytical model of a switching structure using a Clos network topology. The assumption is that, in the structure under consideration, it is possible to switch off temporarily a certain number of spine switches (those in the middle stage of the switching fabric) depending on the current intensity of the offered traffic to reduce power consumption. The solution presented in the article can be used in present-day multiservice switching fabrics and in networks connecting servers in data centers. The developed analytical model allows the value of blocking probabilities for different stream classes of multiservice traffic to be evaluated in switching structures (switching fabrics) with a variable number of switches in the middle stage. The results obtained on the basis of the analytical model are compared with the results obtained as a result of relevant simulation experiments for a selected structure of the switching fabric. The study confirms high accuracy of the proposed model. This model can be used in further works to evaluate the effectiveness of energy-saving switching fabrics and the networks of data centers, as well as to construct energy-saving control algorithms that would control these switching structures, that is, algorithms that would change the topology of the switching fabric depending on changes in the offered traffic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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19 pages, 19126 KiB

Open AccessArticle

BBR-CWS: Improving the Inter-Protocol Fairness of BBR

by Yeong-Jun Song, Geon-Hwan Kim and You-Ze Cho

Electronics 2020, 9(5), 862; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9050862 - 22 May 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4713

Abstract

TCP congestion control adjusts the sending rate in order to protect Internet from the continuous traffic and ensure fair coexistence among multiple flows. Especially, loss-based congestion control algorithms were mainly used, which worked relatively well for past Internet with low bandwidth and small bottleneck buffer size. However, the modern Internet uses considerably more sophisticated network equipment and advanced transmission technologies, and loss-based congestion control can cause performance degradation due to excessive queueing delay and packet loss. Therefore, Google introduced a new congestion control in 2016, Bottleneck Bandwidth Round-trip propagation time (BBR). In contrast with traditional congestion control, BBR tries to operate at the Kleinrock’s optimal operating point, where delivery rate is maximized and latency is minimized. However, when BBR and loss-based congestion control algorithms coexist on the same bottleneck link, most of bottleneck bandwidth is occupied by flows that use a particular algorithm, and excessive packet retransmission can occur. Therefore, this paper proposes a BBR congestion window scaling (BBR-CWS) scheme to improve BBR’s inter-protocol fairness with a loss-based congestion control algorithm. Through Mininet experiment results, we confirmed that fairness between BBR-CWS and CUBIC improved up to 73% and has the value of 0.9 or higher in most bottleneck buffer environments. Moreover, the number of packet retransmissions was reduced by up to 96%, compared to the original BBR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Telecommunication Networks)

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