NeTS: Small: Collaborative Research: Efficient Spectrum Access for Gbps WLANs in a Crowd of Legacy Networks

下一代WLAN协议将严重依赖频谱聚合来实现Gbps吞吐量。但是，当聚合宽带频谱与传统窄带信道重叠时，它可能会严重未被充分利用，甚至会被耗尽。随着无线局域网协议的不断扩展和多样化，这种异构频谱共享日益普遍，共存成为一个根本问题和现实问题。本研究的目标是通过测量研究深入了解Gbps和传统wlan的共存，开发优化驱动的协议，以实现两者之间的有效频谱共享，并在中等规模的软件无线电测试平台中验证协议。提出的解决方案提高了MAC层对异构频谱共享的感知，并通过细粒度频谱接入和机会性频谱聚合实现对物理层的智能控制。它们具有实现Gbps无线网络的潜力，即使是在一群低速率的传统网络/设备中。通过解决异构频谱共享的关键问题，拟议的研究有助于加速Gbps wlan的部署，从而提高数十亿WiFi最终用户的体验质量。它还将培养具有理论和实践经验平衡组合的研究生，并综合他们在计算机科学和通信工程方面的知识。本科生也将参与该项目，并得到PI所在机构本科生研究项目的补充支持。pi将与工业界密切互动，以实现研究成果的可能转化。

Next-generation WLAN protocols will rely heavily on spectrum aggregation to achieve Gbps throughput. But the aggregated wideband spectrum may be severely underutilized and even starved when it overlaps with legacy narrowband channels. As WLAN protocols continue their expansion and diversification, such heterogeneous spectrum sharing becomes increasingly prevalent, raising coexistence as a fundamental problem and practical problem. The objective of this research is to gain insights into coexistence of Gbps and legacy WLANs through measurement studies, develop optimization-driven protocols to enable efficient spectrum sharing between them, and validate the protocols in a medium-scale software-radio testbed. The proposed solutions improve the MAC layer's awareness of heterogeneous spectrum sharing, and enforce intelligent control over the PHY layer through fine-grained spectrum access and opportunistic spectrum aggregation. They have the potential to realize Gbps wireless networking even in a crowd of low-rate legacy networks/devices.By addressing the key issues of heterogeneous spectrum sharing, the proposed research helps accelerate the deployment of Gbps WLANs which will, in turn, improve the quality of experience for billions of WiFi end-users. It will also train graduate students with a balanced mix of theory and hands-on experiences, and synthesize their knowledge in both computer science and communications engineering. Undergraduate students will also participate in this project, with the complementary support from the undergraduate research programs in the PI's institutions. The PIs will interact closely with industry for possible transitioning of the research results.