{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,28]],"date-time":"2025-10-28T05:53:21Z","timestamp":1761630801359,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,31]],"date-time":"2017-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1504137600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100011260","name":"FP7 Research infrastructures","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["612050"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["612050"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100011260","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010669","name":"H2020 LEIT Information and Communication Technologies","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["688116"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["688116"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010669","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010664","name":"H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["645274"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["645274"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010664","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>On the road towards 5G, a proliferation of Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) is expected. Sensor networks are of great importance in this new wireless era, as they allow interaction with the environment. Additionally, the establishment of the Internet of Things (IoT) has incredibly increased the number of interconnected devices and consequently the already massive wirelessly transmitted traffic. The exponential growth of wireless traffic is pushing the wireless community to investigate solutions that maximally exploit the available spectrum. Recently, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) announced standards that permit the operation of Long Term Evolution (LTE) in the unlicensed spectrum in addition to the exclusive use of the licensed spectrum owned by a mobile operator. Alternatively, leading wireless technology developers examine standalone LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum without any involvement of a mobile operator. In this article, we present a classification of different techniques that can be applied on co-located LTE and Wi-Fi networks. Up to today, Wi-Fi is the most widely-used wireless technology in the unlicensed spectrum. A review of the current state of the art further reveals the lack of cooperation schemes among co-located networks that can lead to more optimal usage of the available spectrum. This article fills this gap in the literature by conceptually describing different classes of cooperation between LTE and Wi-Fi. For each class, we provide a detailed presentation of possible cooperation techniques that can provide spectral efficiency in a fair manner.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s17091994","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,31]],"date-time":"2017-08-31T10:54:44Z","timestamp":1504176884000},"page":"1994","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Cooperation Techniques between LTE in Unlicensed Spectrum and Wi-Fi towards Fair Spectral Efficiency"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Vasilis","family":"Maglogiannis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"IDLab, Department of Information Technology, imec, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 15, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dries","family":"Naudts","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IDLab, Department of Information Technology, imec, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 15, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1943-6261","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adnan","family":"Shahid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IDLab, Department of Information Technology, imec, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 15, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3190-8770","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Spilios","family":"Giannoulis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IDLab, Department of Information Technology, imec, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 15, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eric","family":"Laermans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IDLab, Department of Information Technology, imec, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 15, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2377-3674","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ingrid","family":"Moerman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IDLab, Department of Information Technology, imec, Ghent University, Technologiepark Zwijnaarde 15, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Qualcomm (2012). Rising to Meet the 1000x Mobile Data Challenge, Qualcomm White Paper."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Cisco (2015). Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2014\u20132019, Cisco White Paper."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"3GPP News (2017, July 07). Evolution of LTE in Release 13. Available online: http:\/\/www.3gpp.org\/news-events\/3gpp-news\/1628-rel13."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"3GPP TR 36.808 (2012). Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Carrier Aggregation; Base Station (BS) Radio Transmission and Reception, 3GPP. Release 10."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"(2017, July 07). MulteFire Alliance. Available online: http:\/\/www.multefire.org\/."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Huawei White Paper (2014). U-LTE: Unlicensed Spectrum Utilization of LTE, Huawei."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Maglogiannis, V., Naudts, D., Willemen, P., and Moerman, I. (2016, January 4\u20138). Impact of LTE Operating in Unlicensed Spectrum on Wi-Fi Using Real Equipment. Proceedings of the IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (GLOBECOM) 2016, Washington, DC, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/GLOCOM.2016.7841884"},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"3GPP TS 36.211 (2015). Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation;, 3GPP. Release 12."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"IEEE Standard 802.11 (2012). Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, IEEE."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"ETSI EN 301 893 v1.7.1 (2012). Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN); 5 GHz High Performance RLAN; Harmonized EN Covering the Essential Requirements of Article 3.2 of the R&TTE Directive, ETSI."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"(2017, July 07). European FP7 FLEX Project Portal. Available online: http:\/\/www.flex-project.eu."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"(2017, July 07). imec. Available online: https:\/\/www.imec-int.com\/en\/home."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ratasuk, R., Uusitalo, M.A., Mangalvedhe, N., Sorri, A., Iraji, S., Wijting, C., and Ghosh, A. (2012, January 28\u201331). License-exempt LTE deployment in heterogeneous network. Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Wireless Communication Systems (ISWCS) 2012, Paris, France.","DOI":"10.1109\/ISWCS.2012.6328367"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nihtil\u00e4, T., Tykhomyrov, V., Alanen, O., Uusitalo, M.A., Sorri, A., Moisio, M., Iraji, S., Ratasuk, R., and Mangalvedhe, N. (2013, January 7\u201310). System performance of LTE and IEEE 802.11 coexisting on a shared frequency band. Proceedings of the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC) 2013, Shanghai, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/WCNC.2013.6554707"},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"3GPP TS 36.213 V13.3.0 (2016). Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Layer Procedures, 3GPP. Release 13."},{"key":"ref_16","first-page":"2","article-title":"Licensed-Assisted Access to Unlicensed Spectrum in LTE Release 13","volume":"55","author":"Kwon","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Mag."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Qualcomm (2015). Making the Best Use of Unlicensed Spectrum for 1000x, Qualcomm White Paper."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Al-Khansa, R., and Artail, H. (2015, January 19\u201321). A Semi-Distributed LTE-Wi-Fi System Design for Future LTE-Unlicensed Deployments in Small-cell Environments. Proceedings of the IEEE Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob) 2015, Abu Dhabi, UAE.","DOI":"10.1109\/WiMOB.2015.7347939"},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"3GPP TS 36.300 (2010). Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall Description; Stage 2, 3GPP. Release 10."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhou, Z., Teng, F., Liu, J., and Xiao, W. (2016, January 15\u201318). Performance Evaluation for Coexistence of LTE and WiFi. Proceedings of the Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC) 2016, Kauai, HI, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCNC.2016.7440570"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sagari, S., Seskar, I., and Raychaudhuri, D. (2015, January 8\u201312). Modelling the Coexistence of LTE and WiFi Heterogeneous Networks in Dense Deployment Scenarios. Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communication Workshop (ICCW), London, UK.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCW.2015.7247524"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rupasinghe, N., and G\u00fcven\u00e7, \u0130. (2015, January 6\u20139). Reinforcement Learning for Licensed-Assisted Access of LTE in the Unlicensed Spectrum. Proceedings of the Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC) 2015, New Orleans, LA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/WCNC.2015.7127653"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1109\/TCCN.2016.2594780","article-title":"Efficient Coexistence of LTE with WiFi in the Licensed and Unlicensed Spectrum Aggregation","volume":"2","author":"Galanopoulos","year":"2016","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Cogn. Commun. Netw."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kim, C.K., Yang, C.S., and Kang, C.G. (2016, January 9\u201312). Adaptive Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) Scheme for LTE and Wi-Fi Systems Coexisting in Unlicensed Band. Proceedings of the 13th IEEE Annual Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC) 2016, Las Vegas, NV, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/CCNC.2016.7444845"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mushunuri, V., Panigrahi, B., Rath, H.K., and Simha, A. (2017, January 27\u201329). Fair and Efficient Listen Before Talk (LBT) Technique for LTE Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) Networks. Proceedings of the IEEE 31st International Conference on Advanced Information networking and Applications (AINA) 2017, Taipei, Taiwan.","DOI":"10.1109\/AINA.2017.135"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Hao, F., Yongyu, C., Li, H., Zhang, J., and Quan, W. (2016, January 20\u201323). Contention Window Size Adaptation Algorithm for LAA-LTE in Unlicensed Band. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Wireless Communications Systems, Poznan, Poland."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hasan, C., Marina, M.K., and Challita, U. (2016, January 5\u20138). On LTE-WiFi Coexistence and Inter-Operator Spectrum Sharing in Unlicensed Bands: Altruism, Cooperation and Fairness. Proceedings of the 17th ACM International Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and Computing, Paderborn, Germany.","DOI":"10.1145\/2942358.2942382"},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Sagari, S., Baysting, S., Saha, D., Seskar, I., Trappe, W., and Raychaudhuri, D. (October, January 29). Coordinated dynamic spectrum management of LTE-U and Wi-Fi Networks. Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks, Stockholm, Sweden."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1109\/MVT.2014.2380631","article-title":"5G Communications Race: Pursuit of More Capacity Triggers LTE in Unlicensed Band","volume":"10","author":"Ni","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1109\/COMST.2016.2593666","article-title":"Coexistence of LTE-LAA and Wi-Fi on 5 GHz With Corresponding Deployment Scenarios: A Survey","volume":"19","author":"Chen","year":"2017","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"(2017, July 07). 5 GHz Agreement, Available online: https:\/\/www.ntia.doc.gov\/legacy\/ntiahome\/press\/2003\/5gHzAgreement.htm."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"3GPP TR 36.889 v13.0.0 (2015). Feasibility Study on Licensed-Assisted Access to Unlicensed Spectrum, 3GPP."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"IEEE Standard (1999). Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, IEEE. ANSI\/IEEE Std 802.11."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/17\/9\/1994\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:43:47Z","timestamp":1760208227000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/17\/9\/1994"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,31]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,9]]}},"alternative-id":["s17091994"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s17091994","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,31]]}}}