II-NEW: A Reconfigurable Multi-Cell Research Platform for Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Networks

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Mobile data usage is skyrocketing thanks to the popularity of smartphones and tablets. Wireless network carriers are scrambling to increase their capacity by acquiring spectrum and deploying more base stations. Multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technologies have been widely recognized for their potential to significantly improve the spectral efficiency of wireless communication. In theory, the capacity of MIMO grows with the number of antennas. Because mobile devices are form factor-constrained, the majority of research has focused on placing many antennas on base stations, with aggressive proposals calling for hundreds of them. Such effort has created three pressing needs in wireless research platforms. First, there is a need for base stations with many antennas so that there is flexibility in how antennas are used, both for communication and experimental measurement. Second, there is a need for a network research platform in which emerging ideas that deal with inter-cell interference can be experimentally studied. Finally, there is a need for a network research platform with adequate and distributed computing resources to address the computational requirement and systems challenges of implementing advanced MIMO technologies. This project will develop ArgosNet, a reconfigurable multi-cell research platform that will meet the above three needs. ArgosNet will not only allow cutting-edge ideas for using MIMO to be experimentally tested under realistic settings, but also enable the teaching of them with a real-world experimental deployment. ArgosNet has three completely programmable key components: (i) a configurable number of base stations each of which can have up to several hundreds of antennas, (ii) battery-powered mobile terminals, (iii) a server cluster that are connected with the base stations with high-throughout, precisely synchronized backhaul. Real-time, wideband communication between base station and terminal will be supported for UHF and 2.4/5 GHz. Base stations will be precisely synchronized via the backhaul and will cooperate to fully support network functions such as handoff and localization. ArgosNet will be digitally and mechanically reconfigurable with a default configuration of three outdoor base stations each with 108 antennas. It can be easily reconfigured to have fewer base stations each with more antennas or more base stations each with fewer antennas. The research platform will be a new infrastructure deployed on the campus of Rice University. The project will develop an open-access repository with the complete hardware and software design for ArgosNet?s many-antenna base station, as well as examples and a toolkit for rapid prototyping with ArgosNet so that other researchers can build similar research platforms at their own organizations.