arXiv subjects

Nicola Bui

Publications and source records attributed to Nicola Bui.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2017

A Survey of Anticipatory Mobile Networking: Context-Based Classification, Prediction Methodologies, and Optimization Techniques

A growing trend for information technology is to not just react to changes, but anticipate them as much as possible. This paradigm made modern solutions, such as recommendation systems, a ubiquitous presence in today's digital transactions. Anticipatory networking extends the idea to communication technologies by studying patterns and periodicity in human behavior and network dynamics to optimize network performance. This survey collects and analyzes recent papers leveraging context information to forecast the evolution of network conditions and, in turn, to improve network performance. In particular, we identify the main prediction and optimization tools adopted in this body of work and link them with objectives and constraints of the typical applications and scenarios. Finally, we consider open challenges and research directions to make anticipatory networking part of next generation networks.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2016

OWL: a Reliable Online Watcher for LTE Control Channel Measurements

Reliable network measurements are a fundamental component of networking research as they enable network analysis, system debugging, performance evaluation and optimization. In particular, decoding the LTE control channel would give access to the full base station traffic at a 1 ms granularity, thus allowing for traffic profiling and accurate measurements. Although a few open-source implementations of LTE are available, they do not provide tools to reliably decoding the LTE control channel and, thus, accessing the scheduling information. In this paper, we present OWL, an Online Watcher for LTE that is able to decode all the resource blocks in more than 99% of the system frames, significantly outperforming existing non-commercial prior decoders. Compared to previous attempts, OWL grounds the decoding procedure on information obtained from the LTE random access mechanism. This makes it possible to run our software on inexpensive hardware coupled with almost any software defined radio capable of sampling the LTE signal with sufficient accuracy.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2014

Staying Alive: System Design for Self-Sufficient Sensor Networks

Self-sustainability is a crucial step for modern sensor networks. Here, we offer an original and comprehensive framework for autonomous sensor networks powered by renewable energy sources. We decompose our design into two nested optimization steps: the inner step characterizes the optimal network operating point subject to an average energy consumption constraint, while the outer step provides online energy management policies making the system energetically self-sufficient in the presence of unpredictable and intermittent energy sources. Our framework sheds new light into the design of pragmatic schemes for the control of energy harvesting sensor networks} and permits to gauge the impact of key sensor network parameters, such as the battery capacity, the harvester size, the information transmission rate and the radio duty cycle. We analyze the robustness of the obtained energy management policies in the cases where the nodes have differing energy inflow statistics and where topology changes may occur, devising effective heuristics. Our energy management policies are finally evaluated considering real solar radiation traces, validating them against state of the art solutions and describing the impact of relevant design choices in terms of achievable network throughput and battery level dynamics.

cs.NI↗