EARS: Collaborative Research: Mobile Millimeter-Wave Networking: Distributed Cognition and Coordination Algorithms using Novel On-Chip Phased-Arrays

由于过去二十年中无处不在的连接的快速增长，无线领域变得越来越拥挤，导致无线电频谱即将陷入僵局。另一方面，最近的测量也表明，由于时间、空间和频率槽的需求变化，许可的无线电频谱可能大大未得到充分利用。无线电频谱的日益拥挤，加上其利用的固有效率低下，最近激发了人们对毫米波频段的广泛兴趣，毫米波频段可以显着扩展20-100 GHz的可用通信频谱。然而，要实现高效且具有成本效益的毫米波移动网络技术，需要创新的解决方案来应对天线设计、信号、认知和协调算法方面的技术挑战，这些解决方案要针对这些新频段的特点量身定制。该项目的总体目标是通过开发一种综合和创新的方法来利用毫米波频段用于未来的移动网络，以解决迫在眉睫的无线电频谱紧张问题。该项目的成果将有助于克服由于智能设备革命而迅速增长的数据服务需求激增，并将有助于缓解即将到来的无线电频谱拥堵，并为公众带来不间断的宽带连接。为了实现下一代毫米波移动网络，本项目采用跨天线设计、认知通信和移动网络的跨学科方法。特别是，将开发一种新的超宽带相控阵架构，用于毫米波移动节点的低成本片上实现。与此同时，将确定高效的信令、信道感知和估计方案、决策策略以及节能操作原则和服务质量感知算法，这些将为下一代无线网络带来超过100Gbps的数据速率。这种新型片上相控阵将具有前所未有的超宽带覆盖，具有多用户波束形成的灵活性，同时与现有技术相比，效率提高了10倍。开发的相控阵将为扩频和/或跳频链路实现20-100GHz连续覆盖（即5:1带宽），随后扩展到亚毫米波段（例如220GHz大气窗口）。在这种新型超宽带前端的支持下，将探索用于移动无线节点的新型高效学习算法，目标是在高动态环境中动态地访问20-100GHz频谱。这种新策略将有助于确定和利用移动毫米波节点之间的节能传输方案。此外，将开发自适应和低复杂性的资源分配算法，以便在目标毫米波区域有效地提供服务质量。作为其变革性的特点，这种协作和综合的努力将首次实现高效和极其实惠的下一代毫米波无线网络，不仅包括新颖的天线前端，还包括协同优化的信令和网络算法，以真正改变广泛的宽带移动数据和多媒体服务。

Due to rapid growth in ubiquitous connectivity in the past two decades, the wireless landscape has become increasingly congested, leading to an impending gridlock of the radio frequency spectrum. On the other hand, recent measurements have also shown that the licensed radio frequency spectrum can be considerably underutilized due to demand variations in time, space, and frequency slots. This increasing congestion in the radio spectrum coupled with the inherent inefficiencies in its utilization has recently spurred widespread interest in the millimeter-wave band which could significantly expand the available communication spectrum spanning 20-100 GHz. However, the implementation of efficient and cost-effective millimeter-wave mobile networking technologies require innovative solutions to technical challenges in antenna-design, signaling, cognition, and coordination algorithms that are tailored to the characteristics of these new bands. The overarching objective of this project is to address the imminent radio spectrum crunch by developing an integrative and innovative approach to harness the millimeter-wave band for future mobile networks. The results of this project will help overcome the surge of data service demands that are rapidly growing due to the smart device revolution and will help relieve the impending congestion of the radio-frequency spectrum and usher uninterrupted broadband connectivity to the general public. Towards the realization of next generation millimeter-wave mobile networks, this project takes an inter-disciplinary approach spanning antenna-design, cognitive communication, and mobile networking. In particular, a novel ultra-wideband phased-array architecture will be developed for low-cost on-chip realization of millimeter-wave mobile nodes. In conjunction, efficient signaling, channel sensing and estimation schemes, decision-making strategies will be determined along with energy-efficient operation principles, and quality-of-service-aware algorithms that will usher in data-rates in excess of 100Gbps for future generation wireless networks. The novel on-chip phased-arrays will be built with unprecedented ultra-wideband coverage with multi-user beam-forming agility, while concurrently enabling 10-fold improvement in efficiency compared to the state of the art. The developed phased arrays will enable 20-100GHz continuous coverage (i.e. 5:1 bandwidth) for spread-spectrum and/or frequency hopping links, subsequently extending to the sub-millimeter-wavebands (e.g. the 220GHz atmospheric window). Enabled by this novel ultra-wideband front-end, new and efficient learning algorithms for mobile wireless nodes will be explored with the goal of dynamically and opportunistically accessing the 20-100GHz spectrum in highly-dynamic environments. This new strategy will help identify and utilize energy efficient transmission schemes between mobile millimeter-wave nodes. Additionally, adaptive and low-complexity resource allocation algorithms will be developed for effective quality-of-service provisioning in the targeted millimeter-wave regime. As its transformative feature, this collaborative and integrative effort will realize, for the first time, highly efficient and extremely affordable next generation millimeter-wave wireless networks, incorporating not only novel antenna front-ends but also synergistically optimized signaling and networking algorithms to truly transform a wide range of broadband mobile data and multimedia services.