CAREER: Traffic Differentiation in Multihop Wireless Networks

在无线局域网取得巨大的商业成功之后，包括无线传感器网络、无线网状网和移动自组织网络在内的多跳无线网络有望引领下一波部署浪潮。从用户的角度来看，这些网络不仅实现了无处不在的通信，而且还应该提供支持不同应用需求的手段，特别是区分各种类型数据流和确保服务质量的能力。这个项目的目标是设计分布式算法和网络协议来解决多跳无线网络中的几个基本问题，包括端到端加权带宽分配、带宽保证和流量区分中的性能/开销权衡。这项研究涵盖了各种网络条件，包括单一商品或多商品流、单路径或多路径路由以及静态或高度动态的无线网络。重点研究了两种基于聚集状态和分组标签的逐跳、独立于路由的轻量级方法。这些方法在不保持每流状态的情况下，能够在聚合或加权Maxmin模型下实现业务区分，并具有很大的灵活性，基于网络/业务条件进行自适应。预计研究成果将产生重大的学术和实践影响。无线传感器网络、Mesh网络和移动自组织网络将为现代社会提供无处不在的通信基础设施，并极大地改变人们与网络空间和物理环境的交互方式。流量区分能力使这些网络能够满足不同的应用需求，这将促进它们进入市场。作为一项教育工作，该项目积极吸引高年级本科生和少数族裔学生参与。

After WLAN's phenomenal commercial success, multihop wireless networks, including wireless sensor networks, wireless mesh networks, and mobile ad-hoc networks, are expected to lead in the next wave of deployment. From a user's perspective, not only do these networks enable ubiquitous communication, but also they should provide means to support diverse application requirements, particularly, the ability to differentiate various types of data flows and ensure quality of service. The objective of this project is to design distributed algorithms and network protocols to solve several fundamental problems in multihop wireless networks, including end-to-end weighted bandwidth allocation, bandwidth assurance, and performance/overhead tradeoff in traffic differentiation. The study covers a variety of network conditions, including single-commodity or multi-commodity flows, single-path or multi-path routing, and static or highly-dynamic wireless networks. The research focuses on two hop-by-hop, routing-independent, light-weight approaches based on aggregate state and packet labels, respectively. Without maintaining any per-flow state, these approaches are able to implement traffic differentiation under aggregate or weighted maxmin models and have great flexibility in adaptation based on network/traffic conditions. The research results are expected to have significant intellectual and practical impact. Wireless sensor networks, mesh networks, and mobile ad-hoc networks will provide a pervasive communication infrastructure for modern societies and dramatically change the way people interact with cyberspace and physical environment. Traffic-differentiation capability allows these networks to meet diverse application requirements, which will promote their entrance into the marketplace. As an educational effort, this project actively involves senior undergrads and minority students.