In consortium with leading academic and industrial partners, Institute IMDEA Networks, is conducting research on the design and development of cellular networks capable of coping with the traffic demand of the future wireless Internet, while aiming to make those networks more energy-efficient and lowering their costs. The iJOIN project exemplifies the firm commitment of the Regional Government of Madrid to research.
The main pillar of these improvements focuses on shifting functionality to the cloud, which should enable for a cut in capital expenditures and make the infrastructure easier to manage. This paves the way for the arrival of new entrants into the sector and thus promotes competition and economic growth. iJOIN is designing a novel architecture in which some of the features that traditionally are performed separately on different elements of a mobile network are exported to the cloud.
With this integration, it is expected that network capacity will increase by 100% and reduce cost by 90%. Furthermore, it will improve its energy efficiency, reducing consumption by 95% compared to existing networks. From the applied research perspective, iJOIN has the potential of delivering technological benefits such as a substantial increase in the performance of mobile cellular communication networks.