CIF: Medium: Collaborative Research: Toward a General Theory of Information Transfer via Timing

信息理论、通信理论和统计信号处理已被证明是通信、数据压缩和信息处理技术的创新引擎，取得了惊人的成功。虽然这些理论在原则上是非常一般的，但在实践中，它们对于特定的模型家族是最有用的，例如离散的马尔可夫信源和带有加性高斯噪声的信道。虽然这个系列非常丰富，包含许多实用技术，但有几个重要的场景不属于这些模型。特别是，离散事件的时序是许多应用中感兴趣的模式，例如神经科学和网络安全中的某些问题，而这种模式不能很好地适应标准类。这项研究涉及扩展信息论、传播学和统计信号处理，以发展一个通过时间传递信息的一般理论。这项研究的第一阶段涉及解决通过定时传递信息的几个具体问题，例如定时信道的保密容量以及如何在无线和有线网络中通过定时侧信道最小化信息传递。第二个阶段是将这些不同的问题相互联系起来，形成一个通过计时进行信息传递的一般理论。通过提升计时在信息传递中的作用，本研究更好地定位了信息论、传播学和统计信号处理等领域对网络、神经科学和运筹学等相关领域的影响，在这些领域中，计时和延迟是至关重要的。这一影响是通过专题课程和会议特邀会议来促进的，这两者都是为了吸引来自不同领域的与会者。

Information theory, communication theory, and statistical signal processing have proven spectacularly successful as innovation engines for communication, data compression, and information processing technologies. Although in principle these theories are quite general, in practice they are most useful for a particular family of models, such as discrete Markov sources and channels with additive Gaussian noise. Although this family is quite rich and encompasses many practical technologies, there are several important scenarios thatfall outside of these models. In particular, the timing of discrete events is the modality of interest in many applications, such as neuroscienceand certain problems in network security, and this modality does not fit neatly into the standard classes. This research involvesextending information theory, communication theory, and statistical signalprocessing to develop a general theory of information transfer via timing. The first phase of this research involves solving several concreteproblems involving information transfer via timing, such as thesecrecy capacity of timing channels and how to minimize informationtransfer via timing side channels in both wireless and wirelinenetworks. The second phase involves interconnecting these disparateproblems to form a general theory of information transfer via timing.By elevating the role of timing in information transfer,this research better positions the fields of information theory,communication theory, and statistical signal processing toimpact allied fields such as networking, neuroscience, and operations research, where timing and delay are of fundamentalimportance. This impact is facilitated through special topics courses and invited sessions at conferences, both of which are designed to attract participants from a range of areas.