CAREER: Realizing the Potential of Wireless Adhoc Networks Through Holistic Resource Allocation

这项提议的研究旨在为无处不在的计算开发网络解决方案——它有望开辟许多新的应用，从而全面提高我们家庭和办公室的生产力，并带来更好的生活质量。网络的挑战是在大量小型廉价计算机之间设计无缝、高质量的无线自组织通信。预计这些节点将自组织成能够执行复杂计算和通信功能的网络，从而导致严重的资源限制。受约束的资源是带宽、电源和缓冲内存。此外，拓扑的动态性和节点的地理分离要求分布式控制。拟议的研究力求在资源有限的情况下向用户提供所需的服务质量。我们注意到带宽、内存和功率是相互依赖的资源。这种耦合是由于这样一个事实，即可以通过利用另一个的可用性来补偿一个的暂时稀缺性。这种相互依赖性可以被用来设计一个综合的管理方案，对功率、内存和带宽，这大大提高了无线网络的流量承载能力。下一个关键观察结果是，在泛在计算中，单个节点大多数时候是空闲的，但必须处理偶尔爆发的活动。如果利用邻居的闲置资源，处理流量的能力会提高很多倍。研究目标是设计一个最优的分布式控制框架，利用局部观察和其他节点的资源需求和可用性的部分信息，实现(a)个体资源的有效和综合利用，(b)在个体资源不足的情况下，明智地使用其他空闲资源。由此产生的协议有望对网络流量的变化和由于移动性而产生的动态拓扑变化具有鲁棒性。该活动将促进高素质学生的培养，以满足信息技术领域对有能力的科学家和工程师日益增长的需求。本科生将通过创意设计项目参与无线研究。设计项目将针对具有社会意义的临时应用，如车辆的临时联网，例如防止低能见度相关事故的汽车。博士研究的监督将是整个活动的核心组成部分。通过在本科和研究生阶段设计无线领域的两门新课程，以及引入研讨会和行业合作，美国宾夕法尼亚大学（University of Pennsylvania）的整体教育使命将得到进一步推进。拓展活动将激励妇女从事工程事业。具体计划是通过参加(a)女童子军活动作为小组领导/导师和(b)当地IEEE学生分支机构，工程妇女协会（SWIE）和当地社区学院的协同活动来接触女学生，让她们参与创新项目，随后积极聘用女博士生。

The proposed research is directed towards developing networking solutions for ubiquitous computing - which has the promise to open up many new applications leading to an overall improvement of productivity at our homes and offices and would result in a better quality of life. The networking challenge is to design seamless, high quality wireless adhoc communication among a large number of small inexpensive computers. These nodes are expected to self-organize into networks capable of discharging complex computing and communication functionalities which lead to acute resource limitations. The constrained resources are bandwidth, power and buffer memory. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of the topology and the geographical separation of nodes require distributed control. The proposed research seeks to provide the desired quality of service to users in spite of the resource limitations. We note that bandwidth, memory and power are interdependent resources. The coupling is due to the fact that the temporary scarcity of one can be compensated by leveraging the availability of another. This interdependence can be exploited to design a comprehensive management scheme, for power, memory and bandwidth, which significantly enhances the traffic carrying capability of wireless networks. The next key observation is that in ubiquitous computing individual nodes are idle most of the time, but must handle occasional bursts of activity. The traffic handling capability increases many-fold if idle resources of the neighbors are leveraged. The research goal is to design an optimal distributed control framework which uses local observations and partial information of the resource requirements and availabilities at other nodes to attain (a) an efficient and comprehensive utilization of individual resources and (b) a judicious usage of others idle resources when the individuals resources are not sufficient. The resulting protocols are expected to be robust to variations in networking traffic and dynamic topological changes on account of mobility.The activity will promote the training of high caliber students to fill the expanding need for capable scientists and engineers in the information technology field. Undergraduates will be involved in wireless research through creative design projects. The design projects will target adhoc applications of societal significance such as adhoc networking of vehicles e.g., cars for preventing low-visibility related accidents. Supervision of doctoral research will be a core component of the overall activity.The overall education mission of the home institution (University of Pennsylvania) will be furthered through the design of two new courses in the wireless area at undergraduate and graduate level, and introduction of seminars and industry collaborations. The outreach activity will motivate women towards careers in engineering. The specific plan is to reach out to women students by participating in (a) girl scout activities as group leader/mentor and (b) local IEEE student branches, society of women in engineering (SWIE) and synergistic activities in local community colleges, involve them in innovative projects and subsequently proactively hire women PhD students.