NeTS: Small: Joint Backhaul and Radio Access Design for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

提供对数据密集型无线应用的普遍访问取决于无线蜂窝系统能否维持预期的1000倍增长的无线容量需求。一种有希望的解决方案是通过无线网络致密化，在可能的不利位置部署小型基站，如灯柱和建筑物侧面，以显著提高无线容量。然而，要获得如此密集的蜂窝网络的好处，需要设计出新颖的异类回程解决方案，通过巧妙地联合利用现有的有线基础设施以及新的无线(可能是带内)回程解决方案，将小型基站连接到互联网和核心网络。因此，该项目的主要目标是引入一种全新的蜂窝网络设计框架，在该框架中，精心设计的无线、有线、异类以及可能的多跳回程模型与接入网络紧密集成，以促进回程和无线无线接入的联合分析、建模和优化。这一拟议的框架将使未来的蜂窝系统能够支持带宽密集型无线应用，如移动高清视频流，从而加快其全球部署。拟议的研究还与一项详细的教育计划相结合，该计划包括引入一项教育计划，该计划包括新课程和学生研讨会系列，重点是不同种类的蜂窝网络。此外，代表不足的学生群体将通过实践项目和外联活动参与研究，从而有助于培训未来在无线通信领域的劳动力。拟议的研究将引入一个整体的数学框架，为异类无线网络中的联合回程和无线接入设计奠定基础。所提出的框架将结合来自随机几何、微观经济学和无线网络的概念以产生几个重要结果，包括：1)新的易处理的模型和服务质量(Qos)度量，将提供对异类网络中联合回程和接入设计的性能限制的深入的、基本的理解；2)可用于联合优化回程和无线接入网络性能的根本新的资源管理算法；3)新的资源分配和网络设计方法，例如具有端到端服务质量保证的联合上行/下行链路优化，其可以明确地利用由于异类回程链路的存在而带来的机会；4)在软、硬件试验台上对所开发的理论进行验证。这些关键成果有望为新兴的异质蜂窝网络的全系统设计提供一个真正统一的理论，从而开辟新的研究领域。

Delivering pervasive access to data-hungry wireless applications is contingent upon enabling wireless cellular systems to sustain the foreseen 1000x increase in the demand for wireless capacity. One promising solution is via wireless network densification in which small base stations are deployed at possible adverse locations, such as lamp posts and the sides of the buildings, to significantly boost the wireless capacity. However, reaping the benefits of such dense cellular networks requires devising novel heterogeneous backhaul solutions that can connect the small base stations to the Internet and core network by smartly and jointly exploiting existing, wired infrastructure, as well as new wireless, possibly in-band, backhaul solutions. The key goal of this project is therefore to introduce a fundamentally new cellular network design framework in which elaborate wireless, wired, heterogeneous, and possibly multi-hop backhaul models are tightly integrated with the access networks to facilitate joint analysis, modeling, and optimization of backhaul and radio wireless access. This proposed framework will enable tomorrow's cellular systems to support bandwidth-intensive wireless applications such as mobile high-definition video streaming, thus expediting their global deployment. The proposed research is further coupled with an elaborate educational plan that includes the introduction of an educational program encompassing new courses and student seminar series focused on heterogeneous cellular networks. Moreover, under-represented student groups will be involved in the research via hands-on projects and outreach events, thus contributing to training tomorrow's workforce in the area of wireless communications. The proposed research will introduce a holistic mathematical framework that will lay the foundations of joint backhaul and radio access design in heterogeneous wireless networks. The proposed framework will marry together notions from stochastic geometry, microeconomics, and wireless networks to yield several important outcomes that include: 1) Novel tractable models and quality-of-service (QoS) metrics that will provide an in-depth, fundamental understanding on the performance limits of joint backhaul and access design in heterogeneous networks; 2) Fundamentally new resource management algorithms that can be used to jointly optimize the backhaul and radio access network performance; 3) New resource allocation and network design methodologies, such as joint uplink/downlink optimization with end-to-end QoS guarantees, that can explicitly leverage the opportunities brought forward by the presence of heterogeneous backhaul links; and 4) Validation of the developed theory over software and hardware testbeds. These critical outcomes are expected to break new research ground by providing a truly unified theory for system-wide design of emerging heterogeneous cellular networks.