NeTS-ProWin: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A new taxonomy for cooperative wireless networking

协作链路如何在物理层提供可观的性能提升已得到很好的记录，但尚不清楚需要哪种网络支持才能获得所需的收益。合作链路违反了广播传输的简单冲突模型，到目前为止，该模型在通信理论和网络理论的并行发展中发挥了重要作用。认识到在网络和多个接入层使用协作链路缺乏正确的分类，该协作项目的目标是从理论和实验上研究协作分散的物理层和整个无线网络体系结构之间的相互作用。更具体地说，该项目将开发可行的链路抽象、多路访问协议、端到端网络传输模型、适当的算法，以支持在无线移动网络中引入两种快速发展的技术：1)协作传输，由多个网络节点作为分散的多天线调制解调器操作；2)分布式信源编码，允许对相关观测进行分散压缩，因此与分散接收器的设计相关。该项目还将使用GNU软件无线电平台来测试协作链路，并在面临收发机同步、载波偏移、时钟抖动和计算延迟的实际限制时评估其可行性和劣化。算法和理论成果将通过研究出版物的标准工具传播。实验结果还将被记录在网上，该软件将被分享作为教育工具，并促进网状网络的新技术进步。该项目将使未来的无线网络更接近于实现通信的物理极限。

It is well documented how cooperative links can offer considerable performance gains at the physical layer, but it is unclear what kind of network support would be required to attain the sought gains. Cooperative links violate the simple collision model for broadcast transmission, a model that has been instrumental so far in allowing the parallel evolution of communication theory and network theory. Recognizing the absence of a correct taxonomy to use cooperative links at the network and multiple access layer, the objective of this collaborative project is to investigate theoretically and experimentally the interplay between a cooperative decentralized physical layer and the wireless network architecture as a whole. More specifically, the project will develop viable link abstractions, multiple access protocols, end-to-end network transport models, appropriate algorithms to support the introduction in wireless mobile networks of two technologies that are rapidly advancing: 1) cooperative transmission, that consists of multiple network nodes operating as a decentralized multi-antenna modem and, 2) distributed source coding, that allows the decentralized compression of correlated observations and, thus, is relevant to the design of a decentralized receiver.The project will also use the GNU software radio platform to test cooperative links and assess their feasibility and degradation when facing real limitations of transceiver synchronization, carrier offset, clock jitter and computation delays. Algorithms and theoretical results will be disseminated through the standard tools of research publications. Experimental results will be also documented online where the software will be shared to serve as an educational tool as well as to foster new technological advances in mesh networks.This project will bring future wireless networks closer to achieving the physical limits of communications.