PhD Offers of the WNG research group

PhD positions

The following are some proposals of the Wireless Networks Group (WNG) for doctoral studies in Network Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).

https://wireless.upc.edu/en/phd-thesis-offers

Open Source LTE Network Implementation Evaluations and Improvements

Software Defined Radio (SDR) enables the execution of many hardware-based operations through programmable FPGA-based SDR systems. With the open-source LTE software (www.openairinterface.org/) and an ETTUS SDR system, we are able to run a LTE base station and core network on a PC. In this work, we will evaluate the OpenAirInterface LTE software that implements the LTE eNB and the core network and propose improvements. There are several options for investigation, such as LTE scheduler, implementation on portable devices, separation of base station functionalities to different computers, etc.
Contact: PhD. Ilker Demirkol (Ilker.demirkol (at) entel.upc.edu)

5G Wireless Backhaul/Fronthaul Integration

The 5G cellular network transport is expected to carry many different types of traffic and will be subject to tough data rate and delay requirements. Through this thesis, we will develop and evaluate methods that would investigate wireless backhaul/fronthaul integration for 5G networks, which allows the radio units to be located distantly from the baseband unit. We will exploit this approach to achieve significant performance improvements in terms of capacity, energy efficiency, etc. The thesis will be in line with an international European project that targets the transport network of 5G network development (H2020-5GPP). The project itself aims at building up a converged optical and wireless network solution that relies on a flexible infrastructure able to support of the backhaul and fronthaul networks required to tackle the future challenges that RAN imposes.
Contact: PhD. Ilker Demirkol (Ilker.demirkol (at) entel.upc.edu)

Ultra low power Communication Enabler: Wake-up Radio

Energy efficient operation is a challenge for wireless networks. A common method employed for this purpose is duty-cycled operation, which extends battery lifetime, yet, incurs several types of energy wastes and challenges. A very promising and recent idea is the use of Wake-up Radio (WuR), where the main Microcontroller Unit (MCU) and transceiver, i.e. the two most energy consuming elements, are kept in energy-saving mode until a special signal from another node is received by an attached, secondary, ultra-low power receiver. In this work, we will study the integration of WuR to potential systems (WSN, VLC, WiFi, etc.) to achieve energy efficient operation of these systems. Imagine that your mobile phone turns itself off till a wake-up call is received from a base station or vice versa.
Contact: PhD. Ilker Demirkol (Ilker.demirkol (at) entel.upc.edu)