A Hybrid Route Selection Scheme for 5G Network Scenarios: An Experimental Approach.

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Electrical Engineering
• Telecommunications

Background:

• Rising network utilization demands advanced solutions like fifth-generation (5G) networks.
• 5G networks enhance channel utilization and enable opportunistic spectrum access by secondary users (SUs).
• Device-to-device (D2D) communication offers a strategy for offloading traffic from the control plane to the data plane.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a hybrid route selection mechanism for 5G networks.
• To enable centralized proactive route evaluation by the central controller (CC) and distributed reactive route selection by source nodes.
• To leverage D2D communication for improved network efficiency.

Main Methods:

• A hybrid route selection mechanism combining centralized and distributed approaches.
• Theoretical analysis of the proposed mechanism.
• Implementation of a proof-of-concept testbed with eleven independent nodes.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated improvements in traffic offloading.
• Achieved higher network channel utilization.
• Observed a lower interference level between primary users (PUs) and secondary users (SUs).
• Noted impact on packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay due to intermediate nodes and PU activity dynamics.

Conclusions:

• The hybrid routing mechanism effectively enhances 5G network performance.
• D2D communication plays a crucial role in traffic offloading and network efficiency.
• Further research may be needed to mitigate the effects of node count and PU dynamicity on delay and delivery ratios.