Device-to-device(D2D) communications are now considered as an integral part of future 5G networks
which will enable direct communication between user equipment (UE) without unnecessary routing via
the network Infrastructure. This architecture will result in higher throughputs than conventional cellular
networks, but with the increased potential for co-channel interference induced by randomly located
cellular and D2D UEs.
In a cellular communication system, a service area or a geographical
region is divided into a number of cells, and each cell is served by an
Infrastructure element called the base station through a radio interface.
Management of radio interface related resources is a critical design
component in cellular communications.
A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is formed by multiple moving nodes
equipped with wireless transceivers. The mobile nodes communicate with
each other through multi-hop wireless links, where every node can transmit
and receive information. Mobile ad-hoc networks have become increasingly
important in areas where deployment of communications Infrastructure is
difficult.
The information age is exploding around us,
giving us access to dizzying amounts of data the instant it becomes available.
Smart phones and tablets provide an untethered experience that offers stream-
ing video, audio, and other media formats to just about any place on the planet.
Even people who are not “computer literate” use Facebook to catch up with
friends and family, use Google to research a new restaurant choice and print
directions to get there, or Tweet their reactions once they have sampled the
fare. The budding Internet-of-things will only catalyze this data eruption.
The Infrastructure supporting these services is also growing exponentially,
and the technology that facilitates this rapid growth is virtualization.
Visible light communications (VLC) is the name given to an optical wireless
communication system that carries information by modulating light in the visible spectrum
(400–700 nm) that is principally used for illumination [1–3]. The communications signal
is encoded on top of the illumination light. Interest in VLC has grown rapidly with the
growth of high power light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the visible spectrum. The
motivation to use the illumination light for communication is to save energy by exploiting
the illumination to carry information and, at the same time, to use technology that is
“green” in comparison to radio frequency (RF) technology, while using the existing
Infrastructure of the lighting system.
Wireless networking is undergoing a transformation from what has
been primarily a medium for supporting voice traffic between telephones,
into what is increasingly becoming a medium for supporting traffic among
a variety of digital devices transmitting media of many types (voice,
data, images, video. etc.) Wireline networking underwent a similar
transformation in the 1990s, which led to an enormous build-up in the
capacity of such networks, primarily through the addition of new optical
fiber, switches and other Infrastructure.
A wireless ad-hoc network is a wireless network deployed without any Infrastructure. In
such a network, there is no access point or wireless router to forward messages among the
computing devices. Instead, these devices depend on the ad-hoc mode of their wireless net‐
work interface cards to communicate with each other. If the nodes are within the transmis‐
sion range of the wireless signal, they can send messages to each other directly. Otherwise,
the nodes in between will forward the messages for them. Thus, each node is both an end
system and a router simultaneously.
The electrical power grid is often referred to as one of the most complex man-
made systems on Earth. Its importance to all aspects of our daily lives, economic
stability, and national security cannot be overstated, and the need for an updated,
secure, resilient, and smarter power grid Infrastructure is increasingly recognized
and supported by policy makers and market forces.
One of the predominant topics in the domain of the emerging Smart Grid can be
seen in standardization. With the combination of existing protection and automa-
tion technology with upcoming ICT-based solutions, different interoperability is-
sues arise when technologies have to be combined in the Infrastructure. Standards
have proven to be one of the most striking solutions to actually cope with this topic.
Since 2008, this topic has gained much attention in various political and technical
agendas.
The next avatar of the Internet will revolutionize our world. In time, it will
provide us a universal remote control, enabling us to monitor and control
physical objects located anywhere on the planet, using a smart phone. It will
make the universe around us programmable, allowing us to script the behav-
ior of physical objects with electronic commands. This book is about such
an emerging new version of the Internet.
