EARS: Cross Layering in Full Duplex - from Integrated Circuits to Networking

无线业务的指数增长要求设计频谱有效的通信方案。现有的无线系统是半双工的，其中用户发送和接收的信号在频率或时间上的分离导致有限频谱的低效利用。一种可以显著提高频谱效率的新兴和变革性的通信技术是全双工通信，即在同一频率信道上同时发送和接收。然而，与全双工通信相关的基本挑战是非常强大的发射机自干扰或回波，它可以压倒接收机。因此，全双工操作需要在接收器处消除自干扰。尽管最近在实验室台式全双工收发器实现的开发方面取得了进展，但这些设计利用了庞大的现成组件，并且不适合于商业小形状因子移动的应用所需的紧凑集成电路实现。此外，要充分利用全双工通信的优势，需要对高层协议进行根本性的重新设计。这个跨学科的项目直接解决了设计紧凑型全双工收发器集成电路的需求以及联合设计媒体访问控制和物理层的重要跨层挑战，同时考虑到全双工集成电路的特性。特别是，该项目的一个主要组成部分是开发下一代全双工收发器集成电路，以满足具有挑战性的要求。另一个主要组成部分是获得全双工集成电路收发器的影响，设计用于小形状因子节点，算法和媒体访问控制层设计以及网络容量的基本理解。因此，主要活动包括：（i）开发新的全双工收发器概念和集成电路，其同时实现自干扰消除和对由广泛部署的全双工操作产生的新干扰机制的鲁棒性，（ii）导出用于最近开发的全双工消除器集成电路的现实模型，并开发用于物理层消除的自适应算法，（iii）开发用于功率控制、信道分配和调度的算法，并研究所得到的全双工容量增益（在实际模型下），以及（iv）理解用于随机接入网络的全双工媒体接入控制协议的设计考虑（例如，Wi-Fi）和小小区蜂窝网络。开发的算法将具有强大的理论基础，并将在由项目内开发的定制设计全双工收发器组成的独特软件定义全双工测试平台中进行评估。在社会范围内，实现全双工操作和提高频谱利用率将有助于灾难恢复、医疗保健和公共安全领域的无线应用。更广泛的影响还包括有当地高中生参加的旨在扩大妇女和代表性不足的少数群体参与的重大外联活动;将新理论和设计技术纳入本科生和研究生课程;通过文献和会议传播成果;以及向工业转让技术。

The exponential growth of wireless traffic calls for the design of spectrum-efficient communication schemes. Existing wireless systems are half-duplex, where the separation of a users transmitted and received signal in either frequency or time causes inefficient utilization of the limited spectrum. An emerging and transformative communication technology that can substantially improve spectrum efficiency is Full-Duplex communication, namely, simultaneous transmission and reception on the same frequency channel. The fundamental challenge associated with Full-Duplex communication, however, is the extremely powerful transmitter self-interference, or echo, that can overwhelm the receiver. Full-Duplex operation, therefore, requires the cancellation of the self-interference at the receivers. Despite recent progress in the development of laboratory bench-top Full-Duplex transceiver implementations, these designs utilize bulky off-the-shelf components and are not suitable for compact Integrated Circuit implementations necessary for commercial small-form-factor mobile applications. Moreover, fully utilizing the benefits of Full-Duplex communication calls for a fundamental redesign of the higher layer protocols. This interdisciplinary project directly addresses the important cross-layer challenges stemming from the need to design compact Full-Duplex transceiver Integrated Circuits and to jointly design the Medium Access Control and Physical layers, while taking into account the Full-Duplex Integrated Circuit characteristics. In particular, a main component of the project is the development of next-generation Full-Duplex transceiver Integrated Circuits that meet the challenging requirements. Another major component is obtaining fundamental understanding of the impact of Full-Duplex Integrated Circuit transceivers, designed for small form factor nodes, on algorithm and Medium Access Control layer design as well as on network capacity. Hence, the main activities include: (i) developing new Full-Duplex transceiver concepts and Integrated Circuits that simultaneously achieve self interference cancellation and robustness to the new interference mechanisms that arise from widely-deployed Full Duplex operation, (ii) deriving realistic models for recently developed Full-Duplex canceller Integrated Circuits and developing adaptive algorithms for physical layer cancellation, (iii) developing algorithms for power control, channel allocation, and scheduling, and studying the resulting Full-Duplex capacity gains (under realistic models), and (iv) understanding the design considerations of Full-Duplex Medium Access Control protocols for random access networks (e.g., Wi-Fi) and for small-cell cellular networks. The developed algorithms will have a strong theoretical foundation and will be evaluated in a unique software-defined Full-Duplex testbed composed of the custom-designed Full-Duplex transceivers developed within the project. On a societal scale, enabling Full-Duplex operation and improving spectrum utilization will contribute to wireless applications in the areas of disaster recovery, healthcare, and public safety. The broader impacts also include major outreach activities involving local high school students and aiming at broadening the participation of women and underrepresented minorities; incorporation of new theory and design techniques into undergraduate and graduate classes; dissemination of the results through the literature and conferences; and technology transfer to industry.