Empirical Evidences of Why Smart Devices Should Be Part of the Network Fabric in 5G and Beyond
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5G networks rely on infrastructure-centric cellular solutions to address data traffic and service demands. Continuously scaling infrastructure-centric cellular networks is not exempt of challenges, and beyond 5G networks should consider the active coexistence and coordination of infrastructure-centric and device-centric wireless networks. Device-centric wireless networks will build from device-to-device (D2D) and multi-hop cellular networks (MCNs) technologies, and will allow exploiting the mobile computing, storage and connectivity resources of smart devices (including smartphones, vehicles, machines and robots). Such resources can be more efficiently utilized using demand-driven opportunistic networking that establishes the connections between devices and nodes not just based on their presence, but also on their capacity to support the requested demand and services. This paper presents results from experimental field tests that demonstrate the cellular spectral efficiency gains that can be achieved from the combined use of device-centric wireless communications and demand-driven opportunistic networking. The field trials demonstrate that these technologies can improve the cellular spectral efficiency of conventional cellular communications under the evaluated scenarios and conditions by up to a factor of 4.7 in outdoor pedestrian scenarios and a factor of 12 in vehicular scenarios. These results provide empirical evidences that further motivate progressing towards a Beyond 5G vision where smart mobile devices become part of the network fabric, and can opportunistically and locally integrate network management functions to ensure that sufficient resources are placed where the demand arises.
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