Technical Challenges and Symmetries in Next Generation Mobile Networks

A special issue of Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 8029

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania
Interests: quality of service (QoS) in data networks; quality of experience (QoE) and security of real-time applications in mobile and general data networks; distributed applications using next generation mobile networks; wireless communication; Internet of things; network security; big data analytics in networks

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Guest Editor
School of Computer Science and Information Technology, National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland
Interests: mobile computing and related topics; image processing; efficient computation methods in mobile infrastructures; computational number theory; computational methods for cancer modelling

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Guest Editor
School of Computing and Digital Technology, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK
Interests: mobile programming; mobile systems security; mobile computing; graphics and multimodal interaction; collaboration context awareness and the sensing of the surrounding environment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During approximately the past twenty years, the paradigm of mobile communications has changed the modalities through which users relate to technology, considering both the comfort and functional aspects of their lives. The specification and implementation of new protocols and technologies designed for mobile scenarios, such as 5G, HetNets, UAVs, and autonomous vehicles, have significantly expanded the field of research in the scope of mobile technologies. Considering the 5G environments especially, certain deployed infrastructures, such as IoT-networked devices, determine an opportunity to thoroughly analyze several aspects of human life, fully considering the advantages of next-generation mobile networks pertaining to the environment, health, energy consumption, or mobile computing.

Next-generation mobile networks, such as the ones determined by technologies, e.g., 5G and beyond, define a field of study interesting for researchers, practitioners, and end users alike. Hence, there is an objective need to investigate how relevant technological patterns, e.g., artificial intelligence (AI) techniques such as deep learning and artificial neural networks (ANN), can be used in a dynamic fashion in order to approach the numerous challenges in the scope of the Internet of Things (IoT). As an example, machine learning is one of the most promising artificial intelligence (AI) tools, used, for example, in order to support the function of smart radio terminals. Moreover, next-generation mobile networks should be capable of using low-latency data transmission channels in order to reliably manage the Internet of Things (IoT) devices in real-time dynamic environments, requiring specialized network cores integrating advanced algorithmic patterns and technologies. These applications generate a large amount of data, which can be naturally assimilated to the category of big data, and should be collected, transmitted, and processed in a real-time or almost real-time fashion.

Additionally, there are intrinsic architectural problems requiring observation, such as, for example, the 5G backhaul infrastructure involving a greater degree of topological symmetry compared to previous-generation wireless standards, a problem also constituting an important part of this Special Issue’s scope.

Consequently, it is important to disseminate the relevant scientific contributions reporting ideas concerning the real-world usage of next-generation technologies such as 5G and 6G, also including related research topics. Therefore, the scope of this Special Issue is to collect contributions related to the aforementioned problems and concepts. Consequently, the possible research topics of interest include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:

  • Integration of different and recent mobile communication technologies with 5G standards;
  • Protocols and algorithms for environmental sensing suitable for 5G networks;
  • Low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technologies for wireless sensor networks and IoT;
  • Studies regarding the architectural features of next-generation mobile networks discussing the topological symmetries and other particular structural aspects and their influence on the real-world behavior of the respective next-generation networks;
  • Applications of mobile and/or wearable sensing for healthcare and other sensible use case scenarios based on 5G connectivity;
  • Ultra-low latency and real-time applications in 5G networks;
  • Vehicular protocols and their integration with other technologies (vehicular ad hoc networks—VANETs; 4G, 5G, mobile IP, etc.);
  • Network planning and network slicing in the context of 5G networks;
  • Applications and protocols related to sustainable computing in the context of 5G;
  • Beyond 5G: 6G-enabling technologies, research challenges, open problems, potential solutions, and applications.

Dr. Razvan Bocu
Dr. Sabin Tabirca
Dr. Daniel C. Doolan
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. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

  • cognitive wireless sensor networks
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • artificial intelligence (AI)
  • machine learning (ML)
  • smart radio
  • smart spectrum utilization
  • network functions virtualization (NFV)
  • 5G
  • 6G
  • mobile data privacy

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 5401 KiB  
Article
Joint Optimization Scheme of User Association and Channel Allocation in 6G HetNets
by Hayder Faeq Alhashimi, Mhd Nour Hindia, Kaharudin Dimyati, Effariza Binti Hanafi and Tengku Faiz Tengku Mohmed Noor Izam
Symmetry 2023, 15(9), 1673; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15091673 - 30 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 726
Abstract
The sixth-generation (6G) wireless cellular network integrates several wireless bands and modes with the objectives of improving quality of service (QoS) and increasing network connectivity. The 6G environment includes asymmetrical heterogeneous networks (HetNets) with the intention of making effective use of the available [...] Read more.
The sixth-generation (6G) wireless cellular network integrates several wireless bands and modes with the objectives of improving quality of service (QoS) and increasing network connectivity. The 6G environment includes asymmetrical heterogeneous networks (HetNets) with the intention of making effective use of the available frequencies. However, selecting a suitable gNB and a communication channel that works for users in the network is an enormous challenge in 6G HetNets. This paper investigates a joint user association (UA) and channel allocation (CA) problem in two-tier HetNets by considering the downlink scenario to improve QoS. Our study presents an innovative scheme for user association and channel allocation, wherein the user can be connected to either the macro base station (MBS) or a possible small base station (SBS) in a direct or relay-assisted link. Furthermore, the proposed scheme identifies the optimal channel to be allocated to each user so that the overall network QoS can be maximized. A symmetric matching game-based user association is proposed to find the optimal association for users. Moreover, a modified auction game is applied to allocate the optimal channel by considering the quota of each gNB. Regarding connection probability, throughput, energy efficiency (EE), and spectrum efficiency (SE), the simulation results show that the proposed approach performs well over the state-of-the-art techniques. Full article
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22 pages, 3993 KiB  
Article
Split Hop Penalty for Transmission Quality Metrics in a Better Approach to Mobile Ad Hoc Networking (BATMAN) for IoT-Based MANET
by Syed Talib Abbas Jafri, Irfan Ahmed, Sundus Ali, Jamaiah Yahaya, Faizan Qamar and Zuriani Hayati Abdullah
Symmetry 2023, 15(5), 969; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15050969 - 24 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1600
Abstract
Various routing protocols have been developed for wireless ad hoc networks to shift from infrastructure-based networks to self-controlling and self-configurable networks. These ad hoc networks are easy to implement and have plenty of application in the fields of healthcare, transportation, smart cities, etc. [...] Read more.
Various routing protocols have been developed for wireless ad hoc networks to shift from infrastructure-based networks to self-controlling and self-configurable networks. These ad hoc networks are easy to implement and have plenty of application in the fields of healthcare, transportation, smart cities, etc. Although almost all of the routing protocols work on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model’s network layer, a few routing protocols support routing on the data link layer of the OSI model rather than the conventional one. One of these routing protocols include the Better Approach To Mobile Ad Hoc Networking (BATMAN). Though BATMAN is a comparably new routing protocol and included in the Linux kernel, it suffers from performance deterioration and latency issues that need to be addressed especially in the Internet of Things (IoT). This paper presents a symmetry-based split hop penalty for BATMAN version 4 to improve the network’s performance in multi-hop scenarios. Split hop penalty defines two different sets of penalties to accommodate the routing protocol metric based on the interface media type. The experiments were conducted within the campus building of the university with physical nodes, and the obtained results highlight that overall performance is improved in terms of throughput, latency, and jitter while no performance gain is measured in packet loss and routing loops that are still present. Full article
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15 pages, 1576 KiB  
Article
Real-Time Intrusion Detection and Prevention System for 5G and beyond Software-Defined Networks
by Razvan Bocu and Maksim Iavich
Symmetry 2023, 15(1), 110; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym15010110 - 31 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3218
Abstract
The philosophy of the IoT world is becoming important for a projected, always-connected world. The 5G networks will significantly improve the value of 4G networks in the day-to-day world, making them fundamental to the next-generation IoT device networks. This article presents the current [...] Read more.
The philosophy of the IoT world is becoming important for a projected, always-connected world. The 5G networks will significantly improve the value of 4G networks in the day-to-day world, making them fundamental to the next-generation IoT device networks. This article presents the current advances in the improvement of the standards, which simulate 5G networks. This article evaluates the experience that the authors gained when implementing Vodafone Romania 5G network services, illustrates the experience gained in context by analyzing relevant peer-to-peer work and used technologies, and outlines the relevant research areas and challenges that are likely to affect the design and implementation of large 5G data networks. This paper presents a machine learning-based real-time intrusion detection system with the corresponding intrusion prevention system. The convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to train the model. The system was evaluated in the context of the 5G data network. The smart intrusion detection system (IDS) takes the creation of software-defined networks into account. It uses models based on artificial intelligence. The system is capable to reveal not previously detected intrusions using software components based on machine learning, using the convolutional neural network. The intrusion prevention system (IPS) blocks the malicious traffic. This system was evaluated, and the results confirmed that it provides higher efficiencies compared to less overhead-like approaches, allowing for real-time deployment in 5G networks. The offered system can be used for symmetric and asymmetric communication scenarios. Full article
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18 pages, 783 KiB  
Article
Personal Health Metrics Data Management Using Symmetric 5G Data Channels
by Razvan Bocu, Anca Vasilescu and Delia Monica Duca Iliescu
Symmetry 2022, 14(7), 1387; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym14071387 - 06 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1419
Abstract
The integrated collection of personal health data represents a relevant research topic, which is enhanced further by the development of next-generation mobile networks that can be used in order to transport the acquired medical data. The gathering of personal health data has become [...] Read more.
The integrated collection of personal health data represents a relevant research topic, which is enhanced further by the development of next-generation mobile networks that can be used in order to transport the acquired medical data. The gathering of personal health data has become recently feasible using relevant wearable personal devices. Nevertheless, these devices do not possess sufficient computational power, and do not offer proper local data storage capabilities. This paper presents an integrated personal health metrics data management system, which considers a virtualized symmetric 5G data transportation system. The personal health data are acquired using a client application component, which is normally deployed on the user’s mobile device, regardless it is a smartphone, smartwatch, or another kind of personal mobile device. The collected data are securely transported to the cloud data processing components, using a virtualized 5G infrastructure and homomorphically encrypted data packages. The system has been comprehensively assessed through the consideration of a real-world use case, which is presented. Full article
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