CIF: Medium: Collaborative Research: Multihop Multiflow Wireless Networks: A Treasure Hunt

无线网络是人们连接互联网、通信、做生意和获取信息的主要媒介。对更高数据速率的不断增长的需求使传统的网络设计方法承受了相当大的压力。为了满足这一需求，未来的无线网络正迅速向高密度、用户部署的异质基础设施发展，其特征是在较短的通信范围内具有非常高的数据速率，并且可能存在严重的干扰。在这种背景下，多流多跳通信有望发挥越来越重要的作用。然而，目前关于这种网络应该如何设计的愿景受到这样一个事实的限制，即对这种新的通信范式的基本理解仍处于初级阶段。这项研究以新的想法、见解和工具的形式解决了关于多跳多流网络的关键问题，对未来网络的设计产生了革命性的影响。该项目被组织成三个关于可扩展性、辅助信息和算法的共生研究推动力。在可扩展性方面，研究人员对原型网络模型的多跳多流网络的容量有了新的理解。边信息推力超越了理想化的模型假设，在多个空间和时间尺度上包含了不完美或不确定的条件。关于算法的第三个主题将前两个主题中提出的新关键思想转化为具有网络规模多项式复杂度的显式编码和信号处理算法，用于资源高效的多流多跳通信。这项研究可以通过产生新的想法来广泛影响无线行业，这些想法将推动未来几代无线网络的设计。该项目还包括一项专门的教育计划，以招募和培训这一领域中代表性不足的少数群体。

Wireless networks are the dominant medium through which people connect to the Internet, communicate, do business and access information. The ever-growing demand for higher data rates places the conventional approaches to network design under considerable stress. To meet this demand, future wireless networks are rapidly evolving towards high-density, user-deployed, heterogeneous infrastructure characterized by very high data rates at shorter communication range, with possibly harsh interference. In this context, multiple flow and multiple hop communication is expected to play an increasingly important role. Yet, current visions of how such networks should be designed are limited by the fact that the fundamental understanding of such novel communication paradigms is still in its infancy. This research addresses key questions about multihop multiflow networks in the form of new ideas, insights and tools, with a transformative impact on the design of future networks. The project is organized into three symbiotic research thrusts on extensibility, side information and algorithms. In the extensibility thrust, the investigators develop a new understanding of the capacity of multihop multiflow networks of prototypical network models. The side information thrust moves beyond idealized model assumptions and incorporates imperfect or uncertain conditions at multiple spatial and temporal scales. The third thrust on algorithms translates the new key ideas developed in the first two thrusts into explicit coding and signal processing algorithms with polynomial complexity in the network size, for resource-efficient multiflow multihop communication. The research can broadly impact the wireless industry by generating new ideas that will power the design of future generations of wireless networks. The project also includes a dedicated educational plan to recruit and train under-represented minorities in this field.