MRI Consortium: Development of Wireless Networking Testbed and Emulator (WiNeTestEr)

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Proposal #: 10-40422 Collaborative with Proposal #: 10-40429PI(s): Prakash, Ravi & Rajan, Dinesh Banerjee, Bhaskar; Mittal, Neeraj, Venkatesan,S. & Camp, Joseph, Chen, Jinghong, Gui, PingInstitution(s): University of Texas-Dallas & Southern Methodist UniversityTitle: MRI/Dev Consortium: Dev. of Wireless Networking Testbed and Emulator (WiNeTestEr) Project Proposed:This project proposes to build a versatile wireless networking testbed called Wireless Networking Testbed and Emulator (WiNeTestEr). The main objectives and the novelty of this testbed is in its capability to - Emulate the large-scale wireless networks in multiple licensed and unlicensed bands, - Allow access to local and remote users to configure and control the same emulator, and provide repeatability,- Support experiments related to node mobility, multi-antenna (MIMO) operation, and cognitive radios, and - Provide an easy-to-use interface for remotely running wireless experiments overThe main intellectual challenge is in fundamental difficulties to emulate the analog nature of wireless channels and the related effects, such as attenuation, multipath fading and multi-user interference. To this end the proposal addresses methods to emulate the multipath effect, such as by converting the analog RF signal from a node into digital baseband, buffer it for a period of time using an FPGA, add scaled versions of the signals that have experienced different amounts of delay, and finally, convert the resulting signal back into the analog domain. To emulate multi-user interference, the proposal suggests that RF signals from different nodes are fed into an RF combiner and then into a receiving node?s antenna. Other channel effects are also addressed. It is planed to emulate different wireless environments with consideration of scalability up to hundreds of wireless nodes. The design of the WiNeTestEr is robust, as it will use coaxial cables to connect the wireless nodes to the emulator which mimics the over-the-air link between them. In this way, the network should be immune to interference from other devices in the laboratory and the environment. The usage of the instrument includes novel developments in both hardware and software, such as new wideband RF circuits and boards for emulation emulate a variety of channel effects, a new RF combiner that can simultaneously operate over multiple bands, and a software tool that includes algorithm design, control of parallel emulator processes, and network management.