This book focuses on the issue of optimizing radio resource allocation (RRA) and user admission control (AC) for multiple multicasting sessions on a single high altitude platform (HAP) with multiple antennas on-board. HAPs are quasi-stationary aerial platforms that carry a wireless communications payload to provide wireless communications and broadband services. They are meant to be located in the stratosphere layer of the atmosphere at altitudes in the range 17-22 km and have the ability to fly on demand to temporarily or permanently serve regions with unavailable telecommunications infrastructure.
An important requirement that the book focusses on is the development of an efficient and effective method for resource allocation and user admissions for HAPs, especially when it comes to multicasting. Power, frequency, space (antennas selection) and time (scheduling) are the resources considered in the problem over an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) HAP system.
Due to the strong dependence of the total number of users that could join different multicast groups, on the possible ways we may allocate resources to these groups, it is of significant importance to consider a joint user to session assignments and RRA across the groups. From the service provider's point of view, it would be in its best interest to be able to admit as many higher priority users as possible, while satisfying their quality of service requirements. High priority users could be users subscribed in and paying higher for a service plan that gives them preference of admittance to receive more multicast transmissions, compared to those paying for a lower service plan. Also, the user who tries to join multiple multicast groups (i.e. receive more than one multicast transmission), would have preferences for which one he would favor to receive if resources are not enough to satisfy the QoS requirements.
Technical topics discussed in the book include:
- Overview on High Altitude Platforms, their different types and the recent works in this area
- Radio Resource Allocation and User Admission Control in HAPs
- Multicasting in a Single HAP System: System Model and Mathematical Formulation
- Optimization schemes that are designed to enhance the performance of a branch and bound technique by taking into account special mathematical structure in the problem formulation
Alfa, Attahiru: - Attahiru S. Alfa is Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and also a UP/CSIR co-hosted SARChI Chair Professor at the University of Pretoria, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering. Dr. Alfa's most recent research focus covers wireless sensor networks, cognitive radio networks, network restoration tools for wireless sensor networks, and the role of 5G on IoT, with specific interest in the mathematical modeling of those systems. His general research covers, but not limited to, the following areas: queueing theory and applications, optimization, performance analysis and resource allocation in telecommunication systems, modeling of communication networks, analysis of cognitive radio networks, modeling and analysis of wireless sensor networks, and smart cities. Some of his previous works include developing efficient decoding algorithms for LDPC codes, channel modeling, traffic estimation for the Internet, and cross layer analysis. Dr. Alfa also works in the application of queueing theory to other areas such as transportation systems, manufacturing systems and healthcare systems. He has authored two books, "Queueing Theory for Telecommunications: Discrete Time Modelling of a Single Node System", published by Springer in 2010, and "Applied Discrete-Time Queue" published in 2015, also by Springer, as asecond edition of the first book.
Ibrahim, Ahmed: - Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim is currently a postdoctoral fellow and a per course instructor with the Memorial University of Newfoundland. He obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba (UoM) in Electrical and Computer Engineering in July 2016 and was the recipient of the IGSES and IGSS scholarships in UoM. His research area covers, but is not limited to radio resource allocation, cross layer design and optimization, device-to-device communications, link adaptation, heterogeneous networks, back hauling using millimeter technology, network performance analysis, UAV HAP communications, wireless sensor networks and scheduling for video streaming. Dr. Ibrahim teaches courses in communication networks and wireless communications. He also serves as a reviewer and TPC member in a number of IEEE journals and conferences like TWC, communication letters, Systems Journal, IEEE Access, JSTSP, Globecom, ICC, VTC and COMNETSAT.
