@article {Amine2020, title = {Two-sided matching framework for optimal user association in 5G multi-RAT UDNs}, journal = {International Journal of Communication Systems}, volume = {33}, number = {8}, year = {2020}, note = {cited By 2}, abstract = {Recently, academic and industrial research communities are paying more explicit attention to the 5G multiple radio access technology ultra-dense networks (5G multi-RAT UDNs) for boosting network capacity, especially in UD urban zones. To this aim, in this paper, we intend to tackle the user association problem in 5G multi-RAT UDNs. By considering the decoupled uplink/downlink access (DUDA), we divide our user association problem into two distinct subproblems representing, respectively, the uplink and the downlink channels. Next, we formulated each one as a nonlinear optimization problem with binary variables. Then, to solve them, we were restricted by the hard complexity, as well as the hard feasibility of centralized user association schemes. Thus, to resolve our user association problem in a reasonable time and distributed manner, we formulated each subproblem as a many-to-one matching game based on matching theory. Next, we provide two fully distributed association algorithms to compute the uplink and downlink stable matching among user equipments (UEs) and base stations (BSs). Simulation results corroborate our theoretical model and show the effectiveness and improvement of our achieved results in terms of the overall network performance, quality of service (QoS), and energy efficiency (EE) of UEs. {\textcopyright} 2020 John Wiley \& Sons, Ltd.}, keywords = {5G mobile communication systems, 5G multi-RAT UDNs, Association algorithms, decoupled uplink/downlink access (DUDA), energy efficiency, Game theory, Industrial research, Matching game, Matching theory, Network performance, Nonlinear programming, Optimization, Quality of service, Rats, Stable matching}, doi = {10.1002/dac.4346}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85078931379\&doi=10.1002\%2fdac.4346\&partnerID=40\&md5=159a3a40021d6b340c2873e4db73e2ac}, author = {Amine, M. and Kobbane, A. and Ben-Othman, J. and Walid, A.} } @conference {Brihi2019, title = {A New Profile-QoS Aware User Association Scheme for 5G Ultra-Dense W HetNets}, booktitle = {2018 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2018 - Proceedings}, year = {2019}, note = {cited By 0}, doi = {10.1109/GLOCOM.2018.8647695}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85063550006\&doi=10.1109\%2fGLOCOM.2018.8647695\&partnerID=40\&md5=a6cded91d78a47e09a4f9c639843c2d9}, author = {Brihi, S. and Walid, A. and Ben-Othman, J. and El Koutbi, M.} } @conference {Assila2018213, title = {Achieving low-energy consumption in fog computing environment: A matching game approach}, booktitle = {19th IEEE Mediterranean Eletrotechnical Conference, MELECON 2018 - Proceedings}, year = {2018}, pages = {213-218}, doi = {10.1109/MELCON.2018.8379096}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85050157229\&doi=10.1109\%2fMELCON.2018.8379096\&partnerID=40\&md5=0250d5d03e5322d270460ae3af21ca94}, author = {Assila, B. and Kobbane, A. and Walid, A. and El Koutbi, M.} } @conference {Amine2018, title = {New user association scheme based on multi-objective optimization for 5G ultra-dense multi-RAT HetNets}, booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Communications}, volume = {2018-May}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.1109/ICC.2018.8422154}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85051424239\&doi=10.1109\%2fICC.2018.8422154\&partnerID=40\&md5=3572d774ac502ed9eb6c557554de3420}, author = {Amine, M. and Walid, A. and Kobbane, A. and Ben-Othman, J.} } @conference {Amine20171245, title = {A many-to-many matching game in ultra-dense LTE HetNets}, booktitle = {2017 13th International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference, IWCMC 2017}, year = {2017}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {1245-1250}, abstract = {In this work, we focus our study to improving the energy efficiency of mobile cellular users in ultra-dense LTE HetNets. The hyper-dense co-channel deployment of indoor LTE small cell networks (SCNs) within LTE macro cell networks (MCNs) will aggravate the effect of cross-tier interferences caused by the uplink transmissions of macro-indoor users located inside the overlapping zones of small base station (SBS) coverage areas. Hence, degrading the uplink performance at the level of SBSs adopting closed access policy. In order to eliminate the severe cross-tier interferences, each SBS attempts to open the access for macro-indoor users that accept only the SBS with Max-SINR offer. This will lead to network congestion problems in several SCNs. Wherefore, we formulate our problem as a many-to-many matching game. Then, we introduce an algorithm that computes the optimal many-to-many stable matching which consist of assigning each macro-indoor user with multi-homing capabilities to the most suitable set of SBSs and vice versa based on their preference profiles. With regard to the conventional Max-SINR association scheme, our solution can effectively improve the energy efficiency of cellular users. Moreover, it can ensure load balancing in ultra-dense LTE HetNets. {\textcopyright} 2017 IEEE.}, doi = {10.1109/IWCMC.2017.7986463}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85027886532\&doi=10.1109\%2fIWCMC.2017.7986463\&partnerID=40\&md5=a4a95449b5ea20b54454dcf7b7bd1e59}, author = {Amine, M. and Walid, A. and Kobbane, A. and Cherkaoui, S.} } @article {Walid201756, title = {Toward Eco-Friendly Smart Mobile Devices for Smart Cities}, journal = {IEEE Communications Magazine}, volume = {55}, number = {5}, year = {2017}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {56-61}, abstract = {It is expected that the incessant use of SBSs by indoor mobile users to achieve high data rate and high energy efficiency for their smart mobile devices will drive ultra dense deployment of SCNs within MCNs, specifically in future smart cities. However, SCN densification has a hard effect on the deterioration of the energy efficiency and QoS throughput of mobile users equipped with smart mobile devices like smartphones, laptops, PDAs, and tablets. This degradation is due to the severe cross-tier interferences occurring in ultra dense co-channel deployments of SCNs within MCNs. The present article intends to study the energy efficiency of mobile users for better battery life management of their smart mobile devices through minimal energy consumption during their uplink transmissions. The proposed solution, based on a fully decentralized algorithm for sharing time access executed by SBSs and multi-homing capabilities of macrocellular users, improves the energy efficiency of mobile users for better battery life, and keeps their QoS throughput requirements. Therefore, it leads to the eco-friendly smart mobile devices required in future smart cities. The results validate our proposed solution and show the improvement achieved compared to the conventional access control mechanisms. Furthermore, our scheme requires no coordination among SBSs and macro base stations, which reduces the huge signaling overhead when using cooperative schemes. {\textcopyright} 2017 IEEE.}, doi = {10.1109/MCOM.2017.1600271}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85019660063\&doi=10.1109\%2fMCOM.2017.1600271\&partnerID=40\&md5=72802ad5f91b7f2273d0c16e81e53251}, author = {Walid, A. and Kobbane, A. and Ben-Othman, J. and El Koutbi, M.} } @conference {Amine2016133, title = {Matching game for green uplink in hyper dense LTE HeTNets}, booktitle = {Proceedings - 2016 International Conference on Wireless Networks and Mobile Communications, WINCOM 2016: Green Communications and Networking}, year = {2016}, note = {cited By 0}, pages = {133-139}, abstract = {In this paper, we aim to improve the energy efficiency of cellular users located in hyper-dense co-channel deployments of LTE small cell Networks (SCNs), randomly distributed within LTE macro cell networks (MCNs). Avoiding the severe cross-Tier interferences at the small base stations (SBSs) levels caused by the uplink transmissions between the macro indoor users (which are inside the SBS coverage area) and the macro base station (MBS), ensuring load balancing, and improving energy efficiency are critical technical challenges in hyper-dense co-channel LTE SCNs deployments. As a solution, we formulate our problem as a matching game, then we propose the deferred acceptance algorithm to compute the optimal stable matching consisting of assigning each macro indoor user to the most suitable SBS and vice versa. Simulation results validate our solution, and show how it can effectively improve the energy efficiency of cellular users in hyper-dense LTE HetNets compared to the default Max-SINR association scheme. {\textcopyright} 2016 IEEE.}, doi = {10.1109/WINCOM.2016.7777204}, url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85010465149\&doi=10.1109\%2fWINCOM.2016.7777204\&partnerID=40\&md5=cfdd0315adeb3a468a5382cae7b1ed26}, author = {Amine, M. and Walid, A. and Oualhaj, O.A. and Kobbane, A.} }