5g Radio Access Networks : Centralized Ran, Cloud-ran and Virtualization of Small Cells

C-RAN and virtualized Small Cell technology poses several major research challenges. These include dynamic resource allocation, self-configuration in the baseband pool, high latency in data transfer between radio unit and baseband unit, the cost of data delivery, high volume of data in the network, software networking aspects, potential energy savings, security concerns, privacy of user’s personal data at a remote place, limitations of virtualized environment, etc. This book provides deeper insights into the next generation RAN architecture and surveys the coexistence of SDN, C-RAN and Small Cells solutions proposed in the literature at different levels.

Hrishikesh Venkataraman, PhD, is a senior researcher and Enterprise Ireland (EI) principal investigator with Performance Engineering Laboratory at the Irish national research center―The RINCE Institute, at Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. He obtained his PhD from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, in 2007, for his research on wireless cellular networks. He obtained his master's degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, India, in 2004, and did his master’s thesis from Vodafone Chair for Mobile Communications, Technical University Dresden, Germany, in 2003–2004 under the Indo-German DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) Fellowship. His research interests include mobile multimedia, wireless communications, and energy in wireless. Dr. Venkataraman has published more than 30 papers in journals, international conferences, and book chapters, and has won a Best Paper Award at an international conference at the University of Berkeley, California, in October 2009. Currently, Dr. Venkataraman is an executive editor of European Transactions on Telecommunications (ETT) and is a founding member of the UKRI (United Kingdom/Republic of Ireland) chapter of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Vehicular Technology Society.

Dr. Ramona Trestian joined the Design, Engineering and Mathematics Department, School of Science and Technology, Middlesex University in August 2013 where she currently is a Lecturer in Computing and Communications Engineering. She was previously an IBM-IRCSET Exascale Postdoctoral Researcher with the Performance Engineering Laboratory (PEL) at Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland since December 2011. The position was in collaboration with IBM Research and Development department located in Dublin. In March 2012 she was successfully awarded the PhD from Dublin City University, Ireland. In 2007 she was awarded the B.Eng. degree in Telecommunications from the Electronics, Telecommunications and the Technology of Information Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania in 2007. Her research interests include mobile and wireless communications, adaptive multimedia systems, multimedia communications, heterogeneous wireless environments, handover and network selection strategies as well as software defined networks.