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

无线网络是人们连接到互联网、进行通信、开展业务和访问信息的主要媒介。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、用户部署的异构基础设施发展，其特征在于在较短的通信范围内具有非常高的数据速率，可能存在严重的干扰。在这种情况下，多流和多跳通信预计将发挥越来越重要的作用。然而，目前关于如何设计这种网络的设想受到这样一个事实的限制，即对这种新颖的通信范式的基本理解仍处于起步阶段。这项研究以新的想法，见解和工具的形式解决了多跳多流网络的关键问题，对未来网络的设计产生了变革性的影响。该项目分为三个共生的研究方向，分别是可扩展性、辅助信息和算法。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。辅助信息推力超越了理想化的模型假设，并在多个空间和时间尺度上结合了不完美或不确定的条件。第三推力算法翻译的新的关键思想，在前两个推力到显式的编码和信号处理算法的多项式复杂的网络规模，资源高效的多流多跳通信。这项研究可以产生新的想法，为未来几代无线网络的设计提供动力，从而对无线行业产生广泛影响。该项目还包括一项专门的教育计划，以招聘和培训在这一领域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.