Signal Processing and Communications Group

Técnicas distribuidas para la gestión y operación de redes de comunicaciones celulares inalámbricas, de sensores y de la red eléctrica inteligente

Acronym:    DISNET
Code:    TEC2013-41315-R
Funder:    Spanish Government
Company:    FUNDER: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, y Fondos FEDER
Start date:    2014 January 1st
End date:    2018 June 30th
Keywords:    Cellular networks, sensor networks, smart energy grid, distributed optimization, self-organizing techniques, convex optimization, variational inequality theory, game theory, diffusion algorithms
    
SPCOM Participants:    Adrian Agustin de Dios, Italo Atzeni, Margarita Cabrera Bean, Juan Castro Arvizu, Juan Fernández Rubio, Luis García Ordóñez, Pere Giménez Febrer, Sandra Lagén Morancho, Olga Muñoz Medina, Alba Pagès Zamora, Antonio Pascual Iserte, Adriano Pastore, Javier Rodríguez Fonollosa, Javier Rubio López, Silvana Silva Pereira, Marc Torrellas Socastro and Josep Vidal Manzano
SPCOM Responsible:    Alba Pagès Zamora

Summary

Wireless cellular networks, sensor networks and the smart energy grid are examples of distributed networks consisting of a vast number of terminals and/or entities whose operation demands continuous optimization. The complexity of the underlying problems in the design, management and operation of these networks is overwhelming due to their multivariate nature and because the optimal solution generally entails information that is spread throughout the network. Centralized optimization techniques are out of consideration in future networks due to their high complexity and lack of scalability. Instead, distributed optimization allows for feasibility of optimal solutions, rendering opportunities to new services while guaranteeing an overall network performance enhancement. Specifically, in wireless cellular networks, a distributed operation of small cells overlying macrocells will bring advantages in terms of network capacity, energy saving and cloud computing capabilities; in sensor networks, a distributed decentralized operation reduces network complexity, cost and power consumption, and increases scalability and robustness to node failures; and, finally, in the smart energy grid, a distributed operation is fundamental in order to guarantee the privacy and autonomy of the consumers parcipating actively in the electricity network optimization process.

Distributed techniques pose specific challenges to the design, operation and management of the network. Fully distributed networks aim at operating in a completely decentralized self-organized way so that the entities of the network make decisions, solve problems and/or perform computations locally without demanding extensive information flow, even sometimes with information exchange only among neighboring entities. When participating entities do not pursue a common interest, distributed techniques may lead to self-interested solutions that might not be optimal from a network global perspective. In some instances, entities should cooperate and even convey the required information to a hierarchically higher management unit for coordination or to support the distributed solution.

DISNET aims at providing distributed solutions to some problems present in wireless cellular networks, sensor networks and the smart energy grid by means of powerful mathematical tools such as convex optimization, stochastic programming, variational inequality theory in a game theoretical framework, and diffusion/consensus based algorithms. The research group accumulates substantial background in all of them as proven by its publications and research project history, and by the outcome of the previous MOSAIC TEC2010-19171 and COMONSENS Consolider Ingenio-2010 projects.

In particular, DISNET will address the next objectives:

  • Design self-organizing and QoS-preserving radio resource management techniques for interference-limited cooperative small cell networks.
  • Devise network optimization procedures for distributing workloads between the mobile terminal and across a cloud of small cell base stations in a distributed yet cooperative way.
  • Propose diffusion-based distributed algorithms for estimation of parameters in sensor networks.
  • Study distributed demand-side management solutions for the smart energy grid while including specific modeling of the uncertainties of distributed renewable sources and the stochastic nature of the users' demand.

 

More project information: http://futur.upc.edu/15141116

Related Journal publications

[1] J. Del Olmo, and J. R. Fonollosa, "Strong secrecy on a class of degraded broadcast channels using polar codes”, Entropy: international and interdisciplinary journal of entropy and information studies, Vol. 20, No. 6, DOI: 10.3390/e20060467, June 2018, p. 1-35. Document

[2] S. Silva Pereira, R. López-Valcarce and A. Pagès Zamora, "Parameter estimation in wireless sensor networks with faulty transducers: a distributed EM approach", EURASIP Signal Processing, Elsevier, Signal Processing, Vol. 144C, March 2018, pp. 226 - 237. Document.

[3] A. Agustin de Dios, S. Lagen, J. Vidal, O. Muñoz, A. Pascual-Iserte, Z. Guo, R. Wen, "Efficient Use of Paired Spectrum Bands through TDD Small Cell Deployments", IEEE Comm. Magazine, Vol. 55, No.9, September 2017, pp. 210-217. Document

[4] J.M.Castro-Arvizu, J.Vilà-Valls, A.Moragrega, P.Closas, and J. A. Fernández-Rubio, “Received signal strength–based indoor localization using a robust interacting multiple model– extended Kalman filter algorithm,” International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, vol. 13, no. 8, 2017. Document

[5] J. Rubio, A. Pascual Iserte, D. P. Palomar and A. Goldsmith, "Joint Optimization of Power and Data Transfer in Multiuser MIMO Systems", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Available at http://arxiv.org/abs/1604.00434, Vol. 65, No. 1, January 2017, pp. 212 - 227. Document

[6] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Achievable DoF-delay Trade-offs for the K-user MIMO Interference channel with delayed CSIT", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, October 2016. Document

[7] A. Pastore, M. Joham and J. R. Fonollosa, "A Framework for Joint Design of Pilot Sequence and Linear Precoder", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 62, No. 9, September 2016, pp. 5059 - 5079. Document

[8] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "On the Superiority of Improper Gaussian Signaling in Wireless Interference MIMO Scenarios", IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 64, No. 8, August 2016, pp. 3350 - 3368. Document

[9] A. Martínez-Fernández, J. Vidal, J. Simó-Reigadas, I. Prieto-Egido, A. Agustin de Dios, J. Paco and A. Rendón, "The TUCAN3G Project: Wireless Technologies for Isolated Rural Communities in Developing Countries Based on 3G Small Cell Deployments", IEEE Communications Magazine, No. 7, July 2016, pp. 1 - 9. Document

[10] J. Rubio, O. Muñoz Medina and A. Pascual Iserte, "A Stochastic Approach for Resource Allocation with Backhaul and Energy Harvesting Constraints", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 65, No. 7, July 2016, pp. 5788 - 5797. Document

[11] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Coexisting Linear and Widely Linear Transceivers in the MIMO Interference Channel", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Vol. 64, No. 3, February 2016, pp. 652 - 664. Document

[12] O. Muñoz Medina, A. Pascual Iserte and J. Vidal, "Optimization of Radio and Computational Resources for Energy Efficiency in Latency-Constrained Application Offloading", IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, Vol. 64, No. 10, October 2015, pp. 4738 - 4755. Document

[13] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Decentralized Coordinated Precoding for Dense TDD Small Cell Networks", IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, Vol. 14, No. 8, August 2015, pp. 4546 - 4561. Document

[14] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios, J. Vidal and O. Muñoz Medina, "The DoF of the 3user MIMO Interference Channel", Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 62, No. 11, September 2014, pp. 3842 - 3853. Document

[15] A. Pastore, T. Koch and J. R. Fonollosa, "A Rate-Splitting Approach to Fading Channels with Imperfect Channel-State Information", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 60, No. 7, July 2014, pp. 4266 - 4285. Document

[16] Italo Atzeni, L. G. Ordóñez, G. Scutari, D. P. Palomar and J. R. Fonollosa, "Noncooperative Day-Ahead Bidding Strategies for Demand-Side Expected Cost Minimization with Real-Time Adjustments: A GNEP Approach", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, Vol. 62, No. 9, May 2014, pp. 2397 - 2412. Document

Related Conference publications

[1] F. Salek, A.  Anshu, M.-H. Hsieh, R. Jain, J. R. Fonollosa, "One-shot Capacity Bounds on the Simultaneous Transmission of Public and Private Information over Quantum Channels", 2018 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), Vail (Colorado), USA, 17-22 June 2018. Document

[2] A. Agustin de Dios, J. Vidal and S. Lagén, "Signal-Timing Offset Compensation in Dense TDD OFDM-based Networks", IEEE Global Communications Conference, Singapur, 4-8 December 2017. Document

[3] P. A. Traganitis, A. Pagès Zamora and Georgios B. Giannakis, "Learning from Unequally Reliable Blind Ensembles of Classifiers", IEEE Global Conference on Signal and Information Processing, Montreal (Canada), 14-16 November 2017, pp. 106 - 110. Document

[4] M. Cabrera-Bean, A. Pagès Zamora, C. Diaz-Vilor, M. Postigo-Camps, D. Cuadrado-Sanchez and M. Luengo-Oroz, "Counting Malaria Parasites with a two-stage EM based algorithm using crowdsourced data", Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society , Jeju Island (Korea), 11-15 July 2017, pp. 2283 - 2287. Document

[5] D. Surís, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Delay Minimization in Dynamic and Scalable Multi-operator Wireless Backhauling", IEEE International Conference on Communications, Paris (France), 21-25 May 2017. Document

[6] A. Pagès Zamora, Georgios B. Giannakis, R. López-Valcarce and Pere Giménez-Febrer, "Robust Clustering of Data Collected Via Crowdsourcing", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, New Orleans (USA), 5-9 March 2017, pp. 4014 - 4018. Document

[7] P. Giménez-Febrer and A. Pagès Zamora, "Matrix completion of noisy graph signals via proximal gradient minimization", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, New Orleans (USA), 5-9 March 2017, pp. 4441 - 4445. Document

[8] J Del Olmo and J. R. Fonollosa, "Strong Secrecy on a Class of Degraded Broadcast Channels Using Polar Codes", IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, Philadelphia (USA), 17-19 October 2016, pp. 601 - 605. Document

[9] Alexis I. Aravanis, O. Muñoz Medina, A. Pascual Iserte and J. Vidal, "Analysis of Downlink and Uplink Decoupling in Dense Cellular Networks", IEEE International Workshop on Computer-Aided Modeling Analysis and Design of Communication Links and Networks , Toronto (Canada), 23-25 October 2016, pp. 219 - 224. Document

[10] J. Rubio, O. Muñoz Medina, A. Pascual Iserte and J. Vidal, "Stochastic Resource Allocation with a Backhaul Constraint for the Uplink", IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, Valencia (Spain), 4-7 September 2016. Document

[11] J. Rubio, A. Pascual Iserte, D. P. Palomar and A. Goldsmith, "SWIPT Techniques for Multiuser MIMO Broadcast Systems", IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, Valencia (Spain), 4-7 September 2016. Document

[12] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Joint User Scheduling and Transmit Direction Selection in 5G TDD Dense Small Cell Networks", IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications,Valencia (Spain), 4-7 September 2016. Document

[13] M. Cabrera-Bean, C. Diaz-Vilor and J. Vidal, "Impact of noisy annotators reliability in a crowdsourcing system performance", European Signal Processing Conference, Budapest (Hungary), 28 August - 2 September 2016. Document

[14] P. Giménez-Febrer, A. Pagès Zamora and R. López-Valcarce, "Online EM-based distributed estimation in sensor networks with faulty nodes", European Signal Processing Conference, Budapest (Hungary), 28 August - 2 September 2016, pp. 175 - 179. Document

[15] R. López-Valcarce, Daniel Romero, J. Sala Alvarez and A. Pagès Zamora, "Distributed Multivariate Regression with Unknown Noise Covariance in the presence of Outliers: An MDL Approach Distributed online EM in sensor networks with faulty nodes", IEEE Workshop on Statistical Signal Processing, Mallorca (Spain), June 2016, pp. 1 - 5. Document

[16] P. Giménez-Febrer, A. Pagès Zamora and R. López-Valcarce, "Online EM-based distributed estimation in sensor networks with faulty nodes", Spanish Workshop on Information and Communication Theory, Sevilla (Spain), 28-29 January 2016.

[17] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios, J. Vidal, B. Soret and K. I. Pedersen, "Distributed User-Centric Clustering and Precoding Design for CoMP Joint Transmission", IEEE Global Communications Conference, San Diego (USA), 6-10 December 2015. Document

[18] J. Rubio, A. Pascual Iserte and J. Vidal, "Base Station On/Off Strategies for Wireless Networks Powered with Energy Harvesting Sources", Joint Newcom/COST Workshop on Wireless Communications, Barcelona (Spain), 14-15 October 2015. Document

[19] J. Castro Arvizu, A. Moragrega, P. Closas Gómez and J. Fernández Rubio, "Assessment of RSS Model Calibration with Real WLAN Devices", International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems, Twelfth International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems 2015, Brussels (Belgium), 25-28 August 2015. Document

[20] P. Giménez-Febrer, A. Pagès Zamora, S. Silva Pereira and R. López-Valcarce, "Distributed AOA-based source positioning in NLOS with sensor networks", Spanish Workshop on Information and Communication Theory, Donostia (Spain), 2-3 July 2015.

[21] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Net DoF analysis for the K-user MISO IC with outdated and imperfect channel feedback", European Conference on Networks and Communications, Paris (France), 29 June - 2 July 2015, pp. 52 - 56. Document

[22] J. R. Fonollosa, K. Navaie and J Del Olmo, "Security and Privacy issues in Vehicular Communications", CHIST-ERA Conference, Lisboa (Portugal), June 2015.

[23] M. Torrellas, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Retrospective Interference Alignment for the MIMO Interference Broadcast Channel with Delayed CSIT", IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, Hong Kong, 14-19 June 2015, pp. 1492 - 1496. Document

[24] A. Agustin de Dios, S. Lagén and J. Vidal, "Energy Efficient Cell Load-aware Coverage Optimization for Small-Cell Networks", IEEE International Conference on Communications, London (UK), 8-12 June 2015. Document

[25] P. Giménez-Febrer, A. Pagès Zamora, S. Silva Pereira and R. López-Valcarce, "Distributed AOA-based source positioning in NLOS with sensor networks", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Brisbane (Australia), 19-24 April 2015, pp. 3197 - 3201. Document

[26] S. Silva Pereira, A. Pagès Zamora and R. López-Valcarce, "Distributed TLS Estimation under Random Data Faults", IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Brisbane (Australia), 19-24 April 2015, pp- 2949 - 2953. Document

[27] A. Agustin de Dios, S. Lagén and J. Vidal, "Channel Training Procedures for MIMO Interfering Point-to-Multipoint Channel", IEEE Global Communications Conference, Austin (USA), 8-12 December 2014. Document

[28] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Decentralized Widely Linear Precoding Design for the MIMO Interference Channel", IEEE Global Communications Conference, Austin (USA), 8-12 December 2014. Document

[29] J. Castro Arvizu, J. Vilà-Valls, P. Closas Gómez and J. Fernández Rubio, "Simultaneous tracking and RSS model calibration by robust filtering", IEEE Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, Pacific Grove (USA), 2-5 November 2014. Document

[30] M. Molina, O. Muñoz Medina, A. Pascual Iserte and J. Vidal, "Joint Scheduling of Communication and Computation Resources in Multiuser Wireless Application Offloading", IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, Washington DC (USA), 2-5 September 2014, pp. 1093 - 1098. Document

[31] S. Valcarcel Macua, C. Moreno Leon, J. S. Romero, S. Silva Pereira, J. Zazo, A. Pagès Zamora, R. López-Valcarce and S. Zazo, "How to implement doubly-stochastic matrices for consensus-based distributed algorithms", IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop, Proc. of the IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop, La Coruña (Spain), 22-25 June 2014, pp. 333 - 336. Document

[32] A. Pastore, T. Koch and J. R. Fonollosa, "A Rate-Splitting Approach to Fading Multiple-Access Channels with Imperfect Channel-State Information", IEEE International Zurich Seminar on Broadband Communications, Zurich (Switzerland), 26-28 February 2014, pp. 9 - 12. Document

Latest Related Patents

[1] A. Pagès Zamora, J. Vidal, Pere Giménez-Febrer and S. Silva Pereira, "Procedimiento y sistema de localización de terminales móviles" February 2015.

[2] S. Lagén, A. Agustin de Dios and J. Vidal, "Method and systems for decentralized interference management in a multi-antenna wireless communication system" August 2014.