Nakagami-m probability density function (pdf) is one of the frequently used distributions for describing fast received signal variations in radio channels, obtained as a result of multipath phenomenon. It is foremost derived by assuming the most general multipath channel model but applying mathematical approximations. Afterward, it is derived without approximations, but based on dedicated physical models with many constraints. Consequently, neither approach can be considered both, universally applicable and exact. Accordingly, in this paper, a novel approach in deriving Nakagami-m pdf is provided, being based on fewer constraints on propagation phenomena than others. Herein, it is shown that Nakagami-m pdf can be obtained as a distribution of a Euclidean distance of a point orthogonally projected from homogeneous distributed n-dimensional hypersphere on N-dimensional space, where received signal envelope is interpreted as mentioned Euclidean distance, with $n$ being a total number of orthogonal multipath components which can reach the receiver in idealized condition and $N$ being a number of these components which reach the receiver in reality (with N < n).

Channel coding is a common technique used to reduce bit-error rate (BER) in a communication channel. In cases where a certain block code is used, there is a known procedure for determining a residual BER (bit-error rate after encoding and decoding). Analysis in opposite direction should determine a block code parameters for optimising system performance in terms of reliability and throughput. This paper proposes an iterative method for addressed problem by introducing some auxiliary function, whose inverse can be written in closed form. We demonstrate the usage of proposed method in determining parameters of suitable binary BCH code to improve error probability during the transmission of BPSK signal over Rayleigh fading channel. The correctness of analytically obtained results are validated by simulation results.

Software-defined networking (SDN) has attracted the attention of the research community in recent years, as evidenced by a large number of survey and review papers. The architecture of SDN clearly recognizes three planes: application, control, and data planes. The application plane executes network applications, the control plane regulates the rules for the entire network based on the requests generated by network applications, and based on the set rules, the controller configures the switches in the data plane. The role of the switch in the data plane is to simply forward packets based on the instructions given by the controller. By analyzing the SDN-related research papers, it is observed that research, from the very beginning, is insufficiently focused on the data plane. Therefore, this paper gives a comprehensive overview of the data plane survey with a particular emphasis on the problem of programmability and flexibility. The first part of the survey is dedicated to the evaluation of actual data plane architectures through several definitions and aspects of data plane flexibility and programmability. Then, an overview of the SDN-related research was presented with the aim of identifying the key factors influencing the gradual deviation from the original data plane architectures given with ForCES and OpenFlow specifications. In this paper, we used the term data plane evolution for this deviation. By establishing a correlation between the treated problem and the problem-solving approaches, the limitations of ForCES and OpenFlow data plane architectures were identified. Based on the identified limitations, a generalization of approaches to addressing the problem of data plane flexibility and programmability has been made. By examining the generalized approaches, open issues have been identified, establishing the grounds for future research directions proposal.

Software-Defined Networks (SDN) simplify tasks performed by the network switches and centralize the network management by clearly separating networking processes into an application, control, and data plane. An OpenFlow, the flagship of SDN implementation, has reduced the innovation of such networks by diminishing switching tasks to the simple lookup of packet flow tables. A novel hybrid architecture of a deeply programmable packet-switching node (DPPSN), based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and central processing unit (CPU) technologies, is proposed, with the aim of overcoming OpenFlow’s limitations regarding the ability to implement new protocols and advanced packet processing functionalities. It has been demonstrated, through the implementation and experimental evaluation of the DPPSN, that it is justified to use hybrid FPGA/CPU architecture for this purpose.

Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO) and (high) Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) are well-known major drawbacks of the Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signal. So, in many practical situations, specifically with LTE-Advanced downlink introducing carrier aggregation, estimation of PAPR and CFO-induced OFDM symbol phase deviation is of interest. However, this demands complex test equipment, such as e.g. Vector Signal Analyzer (VSA), which might not be always and everywhere available. Therefore, we applied the link abstraction principle on the residual BER that is considered to be determined just by the CFO-caused phase deviation, i.e. as if the channel is noiseless and time-dispersion-free (so that evident errors occur just due to actual CFO). Moreover, as recently it has been shown that the phase deviation is linear with the instantaneous (per-OFDM-symbol) PAPR, we develop a simple model for analytical estimating of BER-based CFO, considering the easy-to-measure BER degradation as resulting just from the according additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) power level, which abstracts the CFO distortion. The proposed analytical model is validated by according Monte-Carlo simulations.

The well-known major drawbacks of the Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), namely, the transmitter versus receiver Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO), and the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted OFDM signal, may degrade the error performance, by causing Intercarrier Interference (ICI), as well as in-band distortion and adjacent channel interference, respectively. Moreover, in spite of the utmost care given to CFO estimation and compensation in OFDM wireless systems, such as wireless local networks or the mobile radio systems of the fourth generation, e.g., the Long-Term Evolution (LTE), still some residual CFO remains. With this regard, though so far the CFO and the PAPR have been treated independently, in this paper, we develop an Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) based analytical model for the CFO-induced constellation symbol phase distortion, which essentially reveals that the maximal CFO-caused squared phase deviation is linear with the instantaneous (per-OFDM-symbol) PAPR. This implies that any PAPR reduction technique, such as simple clipping or coding, indirectly suppresses the CFO-induced phase deviation, too. The analytically achieved results and conclusions are tested and successfully verified by conducted Monte Carlo simulations.

In mobile communication systems, the transmitted RF signal is subject to mutually independent deterministic path loss and stochastic multipath and shadow fading. As at each spatial location mostly the composite signal samples are measured, their components are distinguished by averaging out the multipath-caused signal level variations, while preserving just the ones due to shadowing. The prerequisite for this is the appropriateness of the local area averaging path length that enables obtaining the local mean (composed of mean path loss and shadow fading) and the multipath fading as difference between the composite signal sample and the local mean. However, the so far reported analytical approaches to estimation of the averaging path length are based on considering either the multipath or just the shadow fading, with applicability limited to only specific topologies and frequencies. Therefore, in this paper, the most widely used Lee analytical method is generalized and improved by considering multipath and shadowing concurrently, so providing the general closed-form elementary-function based estimation of the optimal averaging path length as a function of common multipath and shadow fading parameters characterizing particular propagation environment. The model enables recommendations for the optimal averaging length for all propagation conditions facing the mobile receiver.