CAREER: A Millimeter-Wave Multi-Layer WLAN Architecture for Multi-Gigabit, Always-On Connectivity

由于移动的设备和带宽需求型应用的数量迅速增长，我们目前正在经历无线网络流量的爆炸式增长。行业研究预测，到2020年，总带宽需求将增长1000倍。尽管在提高WiFi和蜂窝网络中的频谱效率方面进行了数十年的研究，但现有技术只能提供短期解决方案。由IEEE 802.11ad标准支持的未经许可的60 GHz频带中的毫米波（mmWave）技术最近已成为传统WiFi的替代方案，有望实现每秒数千兆位的吞吐量。然而，需要注意的是，由于波长小，毫米波信号的衰减和阻塞的脆弱性高。例如，在发射机和接收机之间的视线（LOS）中存在人体可能导致完全链路中断。该项目旨在实施一项综合研究和教育计划，以实现毫米波频段通用多千兆位WLAN的宏伟愿景，该WLAN将在家庭和企业环境中提供始终在线的连接，但吞吐量比目前2.4/5 GHz频段的WiFi网络高一个数量级。为了实现这一愿景，该项目将开发一种系统化的毫米波多层WLAN架构，自下而上的方式，从了解毫米波信道及其对更高层性能的影响开始，并逐渐向上移动到网络堆栈的各个层。具体而言，该项目包括以下任务：（i）毫米波无线信道的测量和建模、协议栈的不同层之间的交互以及毫米波网络接口的功耗，（ii）模型驱动的MAC协议设计（速率和波束自适应、自适应帧聚合、丢失诊断）以性能和功率节省为目标，（iii）毫米波中继架构，用于改善连接性（在人为阻塞的情况下）、扩展网络覆盖、以及增加无线容量，沿着在线链路测量框架、以及用于最佳中继选择的一组度量。拟议的架构将在60 GHz测试平台上进行原型设计和评估，该测试平台由现成的和专有的硬件平台组成，将作为本项目的一部分开发。此外，该项目还将开发一个新的多层次逼真的60 GHz模拟器，用于大规模评估，并将其提供给无线网络社区。

We are experiencing today an explosion in wireless network traffic driven by the rapidly growing number of mobile devices and bandwidth-hungry applications. Industry research predicts a 1000-fold increase in aggregate bandwidth demands by 2020. In spite of decades of research on improving spectrum efficiency in WiFi and cellular networks, existing techniques can only offer short-term solutions. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology in the unlicensed 60 GHz band, supported by the IEEE 802.11ad standard, has recently emerged as an alternative to legacy WiFi, promising multi-Gigabit per second throughput. The caveat, however, is the high attenuation and vulnerability to blockage of mmWave signals, due to the small wavelength. For example, the presence of a human body in the Line-of-Sight (LOS) between the transmitter and the receiver can result in a complete link outage. This project aims to implement an integrated research and education plan towards an ambitious vision of general purpose multi-Gigabit WLANs in the mmWave frequency bands that will offer always-on connectivity in home and enterprise environments but an order of magnitude higher throughput than current WiFi networks in 2.4/5 GHz bands.To realize this vision, the project will develop a mmWave multi-layer WLAN architecture in a systematic, bottom-up fashion, starting with an understanding of the mmWave channel and its impact on higher layer performance and gradually moving up the layers of the network stack. Specifically, the project includes the following tasks: (i) measurement and modeling of the mmWave wireless channel, the interactions among different layers of the protocol stack, and the power consumption of mmWave network interfaces, (ii) model-driven MAC protocol design (rate and beam adaptation, adaptive frame aggregation, loss diagnosis) targeting both performance and power savings, (iii) a mmWave relay architecture for improving connectivity (in the case of human blockage), extending network coverage, and increasing wireless capacity, along with an online link measurement framework, and a set of metrics for optimal relay selection. The proposed architecture will be prototyped and evaluated on a 60 GHz testbed, consisting of a combination of off-the-shelf and proprietary hardware platforms, which will be developed as part of this project. Additionally, the project will develop a new multi-level realistic 60 GHz simulator for large scale evaluation and will make it available to the wireless networking community.