NeTS: Small: Enabling Cellular Networks to Exploit Millimeter-wave Opportunities (NEMOs)

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The demand for wireless services continues to increase rapidly, and society has come to rely on the availability of wireless services everywhere and at all times. Conventional wireless services rely on communications at radio frequencies below 5 GHz. These frequency bands are heavily used, and future systems will not be able to meet all demands if operated only with these existing technologies. Recent work has created electronic devices able to generate communications signals at higher frequencies, from 30-300 GHz, which is known as the 'millimeter wave' band. Communications links in these bands have the promise of delivering enormous wireless capacity, but these links behave somewhat more like beams of light than conventional radio communications they can be directional and are easily blocked by objects and by people's bodies. This project investigates the development of wireless networks that can effectively use these links. This exploration is through a collaboration between Virginia Tech (VT), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and Queen's University Belfast (QUB). The project explores many aspects of these millimeter wave communication systems, with a focus on improving services in population-dense environments like stadiums, theaters, and transportation hubs. The work will influence the development of future cellular communications systems; these systems are critical infrastructure for society and enablers for economic growth. The technical work of the project will be accomplished through six research thrusts. A network architecture for exploiting millimeter wave communication links while maintaining control of the network via a conventional cellular network will be developed and assessed. Making new measurements of millimeter wave channels will enable the creation of more accurate mathematical models of millimeter wave communication links. The allocation of resources to these communication links in ways that preserve the perceived performance of user applications in the presence of uncertainty regarding link conditions will be explored. The capacity of these densely deployed networks will be analyzed through the application of hybrid analytical-simulative techniques. New models of infrastructure sharing to enable this millimeter wave infrastructure to be shared among cellular operators will be developed and studied. Finally, the developed architecture will be assessed in a holistic way by developing end-to-end simulations and proof-of-concept demonstrations using commercial hardware.