skip to main content


Title: Adaptive Fuzzy-Based Models for Attenuation Time Series Forecasting
This work proposes an Adaptive Fuzzy Prediction (AFP) method for the attenuation time series in Commercial Microwave links (CMLs). Time-series forecasting models regularly rely on the assumption that the entire data set follows the same Data Generating Process (DGP). However, the signals in wireless microwave links are severely affected by the varying weather conditions in the channel. Consequently, the attenuation time series might change its characteristics significantly at different periods. We suggest an adaptive framework to better employ the training data by grouping sequences with related temporal patterns to consider the non-stationary nature of the signals. The focus in this work is two-folded. The first is to explore the integration of static data of the CMLs as exogenous variables for the attenuation time series models to adopt diverse link characteristics. This extension allows to include various attenuation datasets obtained from additional CMLs in the training process and dramatically increasing available training data. The second is to develop an adaptive framework for short-term attenuation forecasting by employing an unsupervised fuzzy clustering procedure and supervised learning models. We empirically analyzed our framework for model and data-driven approaches with Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) variations. We evaluate the proposed extensions on real-world measurements collected from 4G backhaul networks, considering dataset availability and the accuracy for 60 seconds prediction. We show that our framework can significantly improve conventional models’ accuracy and that incorporating data from various CMLs is essential to the AFP framework. The proposed methods have been shown to enhance the forecasting model’s performance by 30 − 40%, depending on the specific model and the data availability.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1910757
NSF-PAR ID:
10309867
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
2021 IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Antennas, Communications and Electronic Systems (COMCAS)
Issue:
Dec 2021
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. This work proposes an Adaptive Fuzzy Prediction (AFP) method for the attenuation time series in Commercial Microwave links (CMLs). Time-series forecasting models regularly rely on the assumption that the entire data set follows the same Data Generating Process (DGP). However, the signals in wireless microwave links are severely affected by the varying weather conditions in the channel. Consequently, the attenuation time series might change its characteristics significantly at different periods. We suggest an adaptive framework to better employ the training data by grouping sequences with related temporal patterns to consider the non-stationary nature of the signals. The focus in this work is two-folded. The first is to explore the integration of static data of the CMLs as exogenous variables for the attenuation time series models to adopt diverse link characteristics. This extension allows to include various attenuation datasets obtained from additional CMLs in the training process and dramatically increasing available training data. The second is to develop an adaptive framework for short-term attenuation forecasting by employing an unsupervised fuzzy clustering procedure and supervised learning models. We empirically analyzed our framework for model and data-driven approaches with Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) variations. We evaluate the proposed extensions on real-world measurements collected from 4G backhaul networks, considering dataset availability and the accuracy for 60 seconds prediction. We show that our framework can significantly improve conventional models’ accuracy and that incorporating data from various CMLs is essential to the AFP framework. The proposed methods have been shown to enhance the forecasting model’s performance by 30 − 40%, depending on the specific model and the data availability. 
    more » « less
  2. null (Ed.)
    The signals of microwave links used for wireless communications are prone to attenuation that can be significant due to rain. This attenuation may limit the capacity of the communication channel and cause irreversible damage. Accurate prediction of the attenuation opens the possibility to take appropriate actions to minimize such damage. In this paper, we present the use of the Long Short Time Memory (LSTM) machine learning method for short term prediction of the attenuation in commercial microwave links (CMLs), where only past measurements of the attenuation in a given link are used to predict future attenuation, with no side information. We demonstrate the operation of the proposed method on real-data signal level measurements of CMLs during rain events in Sweden. Moreover, this method is compared to a widely used statistical method for time series forecasting, the Auto-Regression Moving Average (ARIMA). The results show that learning patterns from previous attenuation values during rain events in a given CM 
    more » « less
  3. Real-time forecasting of non-stationary time series is a challenging problem, especially when the time series evolves rapidly. For such cases, it has been observed that ensemble models consisting of a diverse set of model classes can perform consistently better than individual models. In order to account for the nonstationarity of the data and the lack of availability of training examples, the models are retrained in real-time using the most recent observed data samples. Motivated by the robust performance properties of ensemble models, we developed a Bayesian model averaging ensemble technique consisting of statistical, deep learning, and compartmental models for fore-casting epidemiological signals, specifically, COVID-19 signals. We observed the epidemic dynamics go through several phases (waves). In our ensemble model, we observed that different model classes performed differently during the various phases. Armed with this understanding, in this paper, we propose a modification to the ensembling method to employ this phase information and use different weighting schemes for each phase to produce improved forecasts. However, predicting the phases of such time series is a significant challenge, especially when behavioral and immunological adaptations govern the evolution of the time series. We explore multiple datasets that can serve as leading indicators of trend changes and employ transfer entropy techniques to capture the relevant indicator. We propose a phase prediction algorithm to estimate the phases using the leading indicators. Using the knowledge of the estimated phase, we selectively sample the training data from similar phases. We evaluate our proposed methodology on our currently deployed COVID-19 forecasting model and the COVID-19 ForecastHub models. The overall performance of the proposed model is consistent across the pandemic. More importantly, it is ranked second during two critical rapid growth phases in cases, regimes where the performance of most models from the ForecastHub dropped significantly. 
    more » « less
  4. Wireless x-haul networks rely on microwave and millimeter-wave links between 4G and/or 5G base-stations to support ultra-high data rate and ultra-low latency. A major challenge associated with these high frequency links is their susceptibility to weather conditions. In particular, precipitation may cause severe signal attenuation, which significantly degrades the network performance. In this paper, we develop a Predictive Network Reconfiguration (PNR) framework that uses historical data to predict the future condition of each link and then prepares the network ahead of time for imminent disturbances. The PNR framework has two components: (i) an Attenuation Prediction (AP) mechanism; and (ii) a Multi-Step Network Reconfiguration (MSNR) algorithm. The AP mechanism employs an encoderdecoder Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model to predict the sequence of future attenuation levels of each link. The MSNR algorithm leverages these predictions to dynamically optimize routing and admission control decisions aiming to maximize network utilization, while preserving max-min fairness among the base-stations sharing the network and preventing transient congestion that may be caused by re-routing. We train, validate, and evaluate the PNR framework using a dataset containing over 2 million measurements collected from a real-world city-scale backhaul network. The results show that the framework: (i) predicts attenuation with high accuracy, with an RMSE of less than 0.4 dB for a prediction horizon of 50 seconds; and (ii) can improve the instantaneous network utilization by more than 200% when compared to reactive network reconfiguration algorithms that cannot leverage information about future disturbances 
    more » « less
  5. 4G, 5G, and smart city networks often rely on microwave and millimeter-wave x-haul links. A major challenge associated with these high frequency links is their susceptibility to weather conditions. In particular, precipitation may cause severe signal attenuation, which significantly degrades the network performance. In this paper, we develop a Predictive Network Reconfiguration (PNR) framework that uses historical data to predict the future condition of each link and then prepares the network ahead of time for imminent disturbances. The PNR framework has two components: (i) an Attenuation Prediction (AP) mechanism; and (ii) a Multi-Step Network Reconfiguration (MSNR) algorithm. The AP mechanism employs an encoder-decoder Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model to predict the sequence of future attenuation levels of each link. The MSNR algorithm leverages these predictions to dynamically optimize routing and admission control decisions aiming to maximize network utilization, while preserving max-min fairness among the nodes using the network (e.g., base-stations) and preventing transient congestion that may be caused by switching routes. We train, validate, and evaluate the PNR framework using a dataset containing over 2 million measurements collected from a real-world city-scale backhaul network. The results show that the framework: (i) predicts attenuation with high accuracy, with an RMSE of less than 0.4 dB for a prediction horizon of 50 seconds; and (ii) can improve the instantaneous network utilization by more than 200% when compared to reactive network reconfiguration algorithms that cannot leverage information about future disturbances. 
    more » « less