CIF: Medium: Collaborative Research: On-demand Physical Layer Cooperation

无线接入正迅速成为互联网的主要入口，导致对无线数据的需求呈指数级增长。 这将当前的无线系统推向了极限，尽管在基础设施方面进行了大量投资以满足不断增长的需求。物理层协作可以使可用的无线带宽的接近最优的使用。这个建议从根本上重新考虑物理层协作，通过引入一个按需的无线协作方法。可以说，（有线）互联网之所以能够取得成功，是因为它采用了适应、当地知识、反馈和尽力服务模式，按需运作。值得注意的是，许多对等网络协议的成功与网络的按需信息传播和适应密切相关。该提案的广泛目标是将这一理念引入无线网络，从而在可实现系统的复杂性约束内实现无线网络带宽的接近最佳使用。该项目旨在通过软件无线电测试平台上的概念验证部署来补充理论工作，并与行业合作伙伴合作，以影响下一代无线网络设计。 该项目还通过建立一个独特的大学间教育和研究方案的计划，促进研究工程师的培训，该方案将包括联合和协作的学生咨询和课程开发。大多数网络信息理论工作的基本假设是，人们可以构建这样的架构，其在非常快的时间尺度上紧密协调关于无线信道、用户需求和网络拓扑的信息的估计和共享，而不影响性能（速率、错误）。也就是说，没有考虑学习非常动态的网络状态的成本。另一个隐含的假设是完全的网络使用，即使用无线网络中的所有可用中继，而不适应用户需求。这在许多情况下可能是非常浪费的，并且再次，不必要地使用继电器的成本没有考虑在内。基于这些假设的许多突破性想法已经推进了集体理解，但是使物理层协作技术更接近实际网络需要额外的步骤来超越这些假设。该项目将开发按需网络操作的理论基础和实践的程序放在一起，无需这些假设。这需要操作满足目标速率的网络中继（子网络）的特定子集，而不是使用所有网络中继来实现最佳可能性能。该项目构建了一个理论上的理解，如何选择，适应和操作这些子网络的需求，通过使用负责任的部分网络知识和使用反馈机制，以提高信号适应未知。理论公式是紧密耦合到可实施的协议，将在测试台进行验证。

Wireless access is fast becoming the primary portal to the Internet, causing an exponentially rising demand for wireless data. This has pushed current wireless systems to their limits, despite significant investment in infrastructure to meet the ever-growing demands. Physical layer cooperation can enable near-optimal usage of the available wireless bandwidth.This proposal fundamentally rethinks physical-layer cooperation by introducing an on-demand approach to wireless cooperation. It can be argued that the success of the (wired) Internet was made possible by its on-demand operation, using adaptation, local knowledge, feedback and a best-effort service model. Notably, the success of many peer-to-peer network protocols is closely tied to on-demand information propagation and adaptation of the network. The broad goal of this proposal is to bring this philosophy to wireless networks, enabling near-optimal usage of the wireless network bandwidth within the complexity constraints of implementable systems. This project aims to complement the theoretical work with proof-of-concept deployments on software radio testbeds, and also engage industry partners to impact next-generation wireless network designs. The project also promotes training of research engineers, through a plan to establish a unique inter-university education and research program, which will include joint and collaborative student advising and curricular development. The underlying assumption of most network information theory works is that one can build architectures which tightly coordinate the estimation and sharing of information about the wireless channels, the user requirements and the network topology, at a very fast time-scale, without impacting the performance (rates, error). That is, the cost of learning the very dynamic network state is not accounted for. Another implicit assumption is complete network usage, that all available relays in a wireless network are used, with no adaptation to user demand. This can be very wasteful in many situations, and again, the cost of unnecessarily using relays is not accounted for. The many breakthrough ideas based on these assumptions have advanced a collective understanding, but bringing physical layer cooperation techniques closer to practical networks requires additional steps to move beyond these assumptions. This project puts together a program that develops the theoretical foundations and practice of an on-demand network operation, that dispenses with these assumptions. This entails operating specific subsets of the network relays (sub-networks) that fulfill target rates, as opposed to using all network relays to achieve the best possible performance. This project constructs a theoretical understanding of how to select, adapt and operate these sub-networks on demand, by using accountable partial network knowledge and using feedback mechanisms to enhance signal adaptation to the unknown. The theoretical formulations are tightly coupled to implementable protocols that will be validated in test beds.