This paper quantitatively analyzes the maximum UDP (User Datagram Protocol) throughput for two-way flows in wireless string multi-hop networks. The validity of the analysis is shown by the comparison with the simulation and the experiment results. The authors also clarify the difference fundamental characteristics between a one-way flow and a two-way flow in detail based on the simulation results. The result shows that collisions at both ends' nodes are decisive in determining the throughput for two-way flows. The analyses are applicable to the estimation of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) capacity for string multi-hop networks represented by WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) mesh networks.

This paper evaluates the downlink performance of an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) heterogeneous network that uses carrier aggregation (CA) between macro and small cells. The concept of utilizing the CA functionalities in LTE-A is effective in increasing the network capacity in a congested area through raising of the base station density using small cells overlaid onto an existing macro cell network. This concept is also effective in maintaining the mobility performance of user equipment (UE) because handover operation is not applied when entering/leaving a small cell, but component carrier addition/removal is only performed through CA while maintaining the connection to a macro cell. In order to present comprehensive performance evaluations in an LTE-A heterogeneous network with CA, this paper evaluates various performance criteria, e.g., downlink cell throughput and downlink user throughput. According to the obtained simulation results, the total downlink cell throughput achieved in an LTE-A heterogeneous network deployment with CA (four small cells overlaid onto a macro cell sector) exhibits a 3.9-fold improvement compared to a conventional-macro-cell-only network deployment using two frequency bands.

In Long-Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A), which is currently in the process of standardization in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP), carrier aggregation (CA) was introduced as a main feature for bandwidth extension while maintaining backward compatibility with LTE Release 8 (Rel. 8). In the CA mode of operation, since two or more component carriers (CCs), each of which is compatible with LTE Rel. 8, are aggregated, mobility management is needed for CCs such as inter/intra-frequency handover, CC addition, and CC removal to provide sufficient coverage and better overall signal quality. Therefore, the signaling overhead for Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration for the mobility management of CCs in LTE-A is expected to be larger than that in LTE Rel. 8. In addition, CA allows aggregation of cells with different types of coverage. Therefore, the signaling overhead may be dependent on the coverage of each CC assumed in a CA deployment scenario. Furthermore, especially in a picocell-overlaid scenario, the amount of signaling overhead may be different according to whether the aggregation of CCs between a macrocell and a picocell, i.e., transmission and reception from multiple sites, is allowed or not. Therefore, this paper investigates the CC control overhead with several CC management policies in some CA deployment scenarios, including a scenario with overlaid picocells. Simulation results show that the control overhead is almost the same irrespective of the different management policies, when almost the same coverage is provided for the CCs. In addition, it is shown that the increase in the control overhead is not significant even in a CA deployment scenario with overlaid picocells. We also show that the amount of signaling overhead in a picocell-overlaid scenario with the CA between a macrocell and a picocell is almost twice as that without the CA between a macrocell and a picocell.

This paper proposes two novel hidden node problem aware routing metrics for wireless local area network (WLAN) mesh networks. To select the path that is least affected by the serious hidden node problem, we propose two routing metrics, MNn and MPCP, that take into account the number of neighboring nodes (Nn) and the packet collision probability (PCP), respectively. The PCP is estimated from neighbor information that is periodically gathered as state announcement packets, which include the transmission time ratio and the neighbor list. Simulation results show that the first proposed MNn routing metric tends to be less effective as the number of WLAN nodes increases, i.e., the mesh network becomes denser. On the other hand, with an acceptable increased in the control overhead in the mesh network due to the neighbor information, the second proposed MPCP routing metric improves the number of allowable concurrent voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls and the user datagram protocol (UDP) data throughput compared to the MNn metric. The MPCP also provides better performance than the other conventional routing metrics, the hop count, and the Airtime proposed in IEEE 802.11s.