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V-Edge: Virtual Edge Computing as an Enabler for Novel Microservices and Cooperative Computing

May, 2022

As we move from 5G to 6G, edge computing is one of the concepts that needs revisiting. In this position paper, we discuss a way forward, namely the virtual edge computing (V-Edge) concept. V-Edge helps bridging the gap between cloud, edge, and fog by virtualizing all available resources including the end users' devices and making these resources widely available. Thus, V-Edge acts as an enabler for novel microservices as well as cooperative computing solutions in next-generation networks. We introduce the general V-Edge architecture and we characterize some of the key research challenges to overcome in order to enable wide-spread and intelligent edge services.
  • Falko Dressler, Carla Fabiana Chiasserini, Frank H. P. Fitzek, Holger Karl, Renato Lo Cigno, Antonio Capone, Claudio Ettore Casetti, Francesco Malandrino, Vincenzo Mancuso, Florian Klingler and Gianluca A. Rizzo, "V-Edge: Virtual Edge Computing as an Enabler for Novel Microservices and Cooperative Computing," IEEE Network, 2022. (to appear) [BibTeX, PDF and Details...]

Hybrid-Fidelity: Utilizing IEEE 802.11 MIMO forPractical Aggregation of LiFi and WiFi

March, 2022

This paper introduces Hy-Fi, a system that aggregates light fidelity (LiFi) and radio frequency (RF)-based communication on the 802.11 (WiFi) physical layer by utilizing the MIMO capabilities in IEEE 802.11-compliant commodity WiFi chips. Hy-Fi is based on two key ideas. First, we use inexpensive commodity hardware to facilitate direct transmission of WiFi waveforms over the optical wireless channel, as this is proposed in the IEEE P802.11bb task group. Second, we use the MIMO signal processing from WiFi to aggregate LiFi and radio signals directly at the physical layer.

Multi-Technology Cooperative Driving: An Analysis Based on PLEXE

February, 2022

This work tackles the fallback and recovery mechanisms that the longitudinal controlling system of a platoon of vehicles can implement as a distributed system with multiple communication interfaces. We present a protocol and procedure to correctly compute the safe transition between different controlling algorithms, down to autonomous (or manual) driving when no communication is possible. To empower the study, we also develop a new version of PLEXE, which is an integral part of this contribution as the only Open Source, free simulation tool that enables the study of such systems with a modular approach, and that we deem offers the community the possibility of boosting research in this field.

Reducing Waiting Times at Charging Stations with Adaptive Electric Vehicle Route Planning

January, 2022

Electric vehicles are becoming more popular all over the world. With increasing battery capacities and a growing fast-charging infrastructure, they are becoming suitable for long-distance travel. However, queues at charging stations could lead to long waiting times, making efficient route planning even more important. We propose a central charging station database (CSDB) that helps estimating waiting times at charging stations ahead of time. This enables our adaptive charging and routing strategy to reduce these waiting times.

Dwell Time Estimation at Intersections for Improved Vehicular Micro Cloud Operations

December, 2021

The idea of vehicular micro clouds is to turn cars into (virtual) edge computing infrastructure. One of the challenging questions in this domain is to maintain data within and among such micro clouds. In this paper, we focus on this task and present a novel solution for such data exchange between vehicular micro clouds. For efficient operation, the dwell times of cars in such a micro cloud need to be known or accurately predicted. In an extensive study based on trace data, we investigate the distribution of dwell times of cars at intersections.

Vehicular Visible Light Communications: A Survey

November, 2021

In this survey article, we study the state of the art of Vehicular Visible Light Communication (V-VLC) and identify open issues and challenges. We study the V-VLC communication system as a whole and also dig into the characteristics of the VLC channel. For the beginner in the field, this review acts as a guide to the most relevant literature to quickly catch up with current trends and achievements. For the expert, we identify open research questions and also introduce the V-VLC research community as a whole.

LSTM-characterized Deep Reinforcement Learning for Continuous Flight Control and Resource Allocation in UAV-assisted Sensor Network

October, 2021

This paper proposes a new deep reinforcement learning based flight resource allocation framework (DeFRA) to minimize the overall data packet loss in a continuous action space. DeFRA is based on Deep Determin- istic Policy Gradient (DDPG), optimally controls instantaneous headings and speeds of the UAV, and selects the ground device for data collection. Furthermore, a state characterization layer, leveraging long short-term memory (LSTM), is developed to predict network dynamics, resulting from time-varying airborne channels and energy arrivals at the ground devices.
  • Kai Li, Wei Ni and Falko Dressler, "LSTM-characterized Deep Reinforcement Learning for Continuous Flight Control and Resource Allocation in UAV-assisted Sensor Network," IEEE Internet of Things Journal, August 2021. (online first) [DOI, BibTeX, Details...]

Duality between Coronavirus Transmission and Air-based Macroscopic Molecular Communication

September, 2021

This paper exploits the duality between aviral infection process and macroscopic air-based molecularcommunication. Airborne aerosol and droplet transmission through human respiratory processes is modeled as an instance of a multiuser molecular communication scenario employing respiratory-event-driven molecular variable-concentration shift keying. Modeling is aided by experiments that are motivated by a macroscopic air-based molecular communication testbed. In artificially induced coughs, a saturated aqueous solution containing a fluorescent dye mixed with saliva is released by an adult test person. We confirmed the experimental data by simulation.
  • Max Schurwanz, Peter Adam Hoeher, Sunasheer Bhattacharjee, Martin Damrath, Lukas Stratmann and Falko Dressler, "Duality between Coronavirus Transmission and Air-based Macroscopic Molecular Communication," IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological and Multi-Scale Communications (T-MBMC), Infectious Diseases Special Issue, vol. 7 (3), pp. 200–208, September 2021. [DOI, BibTeX, PDF and Details...]

Towards an IEEE 802.11 Compliant System for Outdoor Vehicular Visible Light Communications

August, 2021

This paper introduces a complete IEEE 802.11 compliant V-VLC system. The system relies on USRP software defined radios programmed using the GNURadio framework, a typical car headlight plus a custom driver electronics for the high-power car LEDs (sender), and a photodiode (receiver). Our system also supports OFDM with a variety of Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCS) up to 64-QAM and is fully compliant with IEEE 802.11. We, for the first time, experimentally explore the communication performance in outdoor scenarios, even in broad daylight, and show that rather simple optical modifications help to reduce the ambient noise to enable long distance visible light communication.

Low-Power Downlink for the Internet of Things using IEEE 802.11-compliant Wake-Up Receivers

July, 2021

We go beyond classic wake-up system concepts and show how wake-up receivers can be used for an efficient and multi-purpose low power downlink (LPD) communication channel. We demonstrate how to (a) extend the wake-up signal to support low-power flexible and extensible unicast, multicast, and broadcast downlink communication and (b) utilize the WuRx-based LPD to also improve the energy efficiency of uplink data transfer.
  • Johannes Blobel, Vu H. Tran, Archan Misra and Falko Dressler, "Low-Power Downlink for the Internet of Things using IEEE 802.11-compliant Wake-Up Receivers," Proceedings of 40th IEEE International Conference on Computer Communications (INFOCOM 2021), Virtual Conference, May 2021. [DOI, BibTeX, PDF and Details...]

Hy-Fi: Aggregation of LiFi and WiFi using MIMO in IEEE 802.11

June, 2021

We present Hy-Fi, a system which combines light fidelity (LiFi) and radio based on the WiFi physical layer waveform by using the MIMO features available in IEEE 802.11-compliant commodity chip sets. Hy-Fi is based on two key ideas. First, we use inexpensive COTS hardware to facilitate direct transmission of WiFi waveforms over the optical wireless channel, as this is proposed in the IEEE P802.11bb task group. Second, we use the MIMO signal processing to aggregate LiFi and radio signals at the physical layer.

Age of Information in Molecular Communication Channels

May, 2021

This paper introduces the age of information (AoI) concept in molecular communication channels. We derive a theoretical equation to compute the average peak AoI. This allows analyzing the trade-off between an increased rate of transmission (thereby a reduced latency) and the produced inter-symbol interference (ISI) (thereby an increased error rate).

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