Fast Cell Discovery in mm-wave 5G Networks with Context Information

The exploitation of mm-wave bands is one of the key-enabler for 5G mobile radio networks. However, the introduction of mm-wave technologies in cellular networks is not straightforward due to harsh propagation conditions that limit the mm-wave access availability. Mm-wave technologies require high-gain antenna systems to compensate for high path loss and limited power. As a consequence, directional transmissions must be used for cell discovery and synchronization processes: this can lead to a non-negligible access delay caused by the exploration of the cell area with multiple transmissions along different directions. The integration of mm-wave technologies and conventional wireless access networks with the objective of speeding up the cell search process requires new 5G network architectural solutions. Such architectures introduce a functional split between C-plane and U-plane, thereby guaranteeing the availability of a reliable signaling channel through conventional wireless technologies that provides the opportunity to collect useful context information from the network edge. In this article, we leverage the context information related to user positions to improve the directional cell discovery process. We investigate fundamental trade-offs of this process and the effects of the context information accuracy on the overall system performance. We also cope with obstacle obstructions in the cell area and propose an approach based on a geo-located context database where information gathered over time is stored to guide future searches. Analytic models and numerical results are provided to validate proposed strategies.Comment: 14 pages, submitted to IEEE Transaction on Mobile Computin

Paesaggio e insediamenti storici alpini: i borghi valdostani lungo la viabilità trasfrontaliera

Il saggio analizza il ruolo dei borghi alpini lungo la viabilità transfrontaliera del Ducato d'Aosta nella costruzione di una certa immagine di paesaggi

The ways to Superga. History and Design Studio projects for year 2012-2013

The e-book, specifically imaginated for foreign students, presents a selection of essays by the "History and Design Studio" teachers and collaborators to underline methodologically the relevance of the historical approach to the design. The specificity of the imposant baroque architecture of Superga Church, at the top of Torino Hills (the so called "Montagne de Turin" by ancient cartography) is related to the contest and to the city. Design proposals and solutions, equally are strongly connected to the landscape analysis. The book then proposes the students answer to these complex topics by a series of "atlas" interpretations and design suggestions. The deep analysis on cultural components, architectural monuments and urban organization is surely the main force of these projects in which the few projected solutions are able to dialogue truly with the contest. The presentations by the Course director and by the resposable of the lanscape administration (Parco del Po e della collina torinese) show the importante of the cooperation between associations and university to propose solutions able to dialogue with the complexity of nowadays cultural contest. With contributions by Fulvio Capurso, Maria Vittoria Cattaneo, Vittorio Defabiani, Luca Malvicino, Rachele Vicario and presentations by the Director of Studies and Superga Park responsible and collaborato

GIS and Land History: the documentation of the ancient Aosta Dukedom

GIS technology has been recognised as one of the best instruments able to join and relate data coming from different disciplines involved in a documentation process of Cultural Heritage objects. The RecorDIM (Recording, Documentation and Information Management) project defined some general rules to be followed when GIS technology is used to share documentation results among all the possible users (e.g. conservators, restorers, land planners, etc.). The aim of the paper is to show a real application of the proposed rules inside an Interreg III-A (community initiative seeking to favour the harmonious and even development of European territory by encouraging cross-border cooperation) ALCOTRA (Alpi Latine COoperazione TRAnsfrontaliera) project managed by the Italian Valle d'Aosta Region. The Valle d'Aosta Region assigned to the Politecnico di Torino research group (teachers of the High School on Cultural Heritage and Landscape) the goal of placing the results of the archaeological and historical investigations inside a not structured GIS files. This particular approach will allow the integration of the collected data in the regional GIS used for land planning and land risk assessment. This approach required a planning of the recording strategies adopted by the different specialists involved in the project and the structuring of the collected data in a way that could allow the dissemination of the results among all the land planners at every scale (from regional scale up to urban scale). The proposed approach will allow an easy and direct access to the results of historical and archaeological investigations to the specialists involved in the plan of future landscapes and land uses

Diurnal and semidiurnal cyclicity of Radon (222Rn) in groundwater, Giardino Spring, Central Apennines, Italy

Understanding natural variations of Rn (222Rn) concentrations is the fundamental prerequisite of using this radioactive gas as a tracer, or even precursor, of natural processes, including earthquakes. In this work, Rn concentrations in groundwater were continuously measured over a seven-month period, during 2017, in the Giardino Spring, Italy, together with groundwater levels in a nearby well installed into a fractured regional aquifer. Data were processed to reduce noise, and then analyzed to produce the Fourier spectra of Rn concentrations and groundwater levels. These spectra were compared with the spectrum of tidal forces. Results showed that diurnal and semidiurnal cycles of Rn concentrations, and filtered oscillations of groundwater levels, in the nearby well, are correlated with solar and luni-solar components of tidal forces, and suggested no correlation with the principal lunar components. Therefore, influencing factors linked to solar cycles, such as daily oscillations of temperature and atmospheric pressure, and related rock deformations, may have played a role in Rn concentrations and groundwater levels. An open question remains regarding the correlation, which is documented elsewhere, of Rn concentrations and groundwater levels with the lunar components of the solid Earth tides

The study of karstic aquifers by geodetic measurements in Bus de la Genziana station \u2013 Cansiglio Plateau (Northeastern Italy)

We propose an interdisciplinary study of karstic aquifers using titlmeters and GPS observations. The study region is located in northeastern Italy, in the seismic area of the Cansiglio Playeau. The Zollner type Marussi tiltmeters are installed in a natural cavity (Bus del la Genziana) that is part of an interesting karstic area of particular hydrogeologic importance. The Livenza river forms from a number of springs at the foothills of the karstic massif and flows through the Friuli-Veneto plain into the Adriatic Sea. Comparing the tiltmeter signal recorded at the Genziana station with the local pluviometrical series and the hydrometric series of the Livenza river, a clear correlation is recognized. Moreover, the data of a permanent GPS station located on the southern slopes of the Cansiglio Massif (CANV) show also a clear correspondence with the water runoff. Here we present the hydrologic induced deformations as observed by tiltmeter and GPS. After heavy rain events we record rapid deformations both by tiltmeters and GPS corresponding to the rainfall duration. In the following days a slow geodetic motion recovers the accumulated deformation with a distinctive pattern both in tilt and GPS data, which correlates with the runoff of the karstic aquifer. The purpose of this research is to open a new multidisciplinary frontier between geodetic and karstic system studies to improve the knowledge of the underground fluid flow circulation in karstic areas. Furthermore a better characterization of the hydrologic effects on GPS and tilt observations will have the benefit that these signals can be corrected when the focus of the study is to recover the tectonic deformation

Hydrologically induced slope deformations detected by GPS and clinometric surveys in the Cansiglio Plateau, southern Alps

Changes in groundwater or surface water level may cause observable deformation of the drainage basins in different ways. We describe an active slope deformation monitored with GPS and tiltmeter stations in a karstic limestone plateau in southeastern Alps (Cansiglio Plateau). The observed transient GPS deformation clearly correlates with the rainfall. Both GPS and tiltmeter equipments react instantly to heavy rains displaying abrupt offsets, but with different time constants, demonstrating the response to different catchment volumes. The GPS movement is mostly confined in the horizontal plane (SSW direction) showing a systematic tendency to rebound in the weeks following the rain. Four GPS stations concur to define a coherent deformation pattern of a wide area (12 75km2), concerning the whole southeastern slope of the plateau. The plateau expands and rebounds radially after rain by an amount up to a few centimeters and causing only small vertical deformation. The effect is largest where karstic features are mostly developed, at the margin of the plateau where a thick succession of Cretaceous peritidal carbonates faces the Venetian lowland. Acouple of tiltmeters installed in a cave at the top of the plateau, detect a much faster deformation, that has the tendency to rebound in less than 6h. The correlation to rainfall is less straightforward, and shows a more complex behavior during rainy weather. The different responses demonstrate a fast hydrologic flow in the more permeable epikarst for the tiltmeters, drained by open fractures and fissures in the neighborhood of the cave, and a rapid tensile dislocation of the bedrock measured at the GPS stations that affect the whole slope of the mountain. In the days following the rain, both tiltmeter and GPS data show a tendency to retrieve the displacement which is consistent with the phreatic discharge curve. We propose that hydrologically active fractures recharged by rainfall are the most likely features capable to induce the observed strain variations

Facing the Millimeter-wave Cell Discovery Challenge in 5G Networks with Context-awareness

The introduction of mm-wave technologies in the future 5G networks poses a rich set of network access challenges. We need new ways of dealing with legacy network functionalities to fully unleash their great potential, among them the cell discovery procedure is one of the most critical. In this article, we propose novel cell discovery algorithms enhanced by the context information available through a C-/Uplane- split heterogeneous network architecture. They rely on a geo-located context database to overcome the severe effects of obstacle blockages. Moreover, we investigate the coordination problem of multiple mm-wave base stations that jointly process user access requests. We show that optimizing the resource allocated to the discovery has a great importance in defining perceived latency and supported user request rate. We have performed complete and accurate numerical simulations to provide a clear overview of the main challenging aspects. Results show that the proposed solutions have an outstanding performance with respect to basic discovery approaches and can fully enable mm-wave cell discovery in 5G networks