NeTS: Small: Collaborative Research: Can LTE & WiFi Live Happily Ever After?

迫切需要更有效地利用现有频谱，以维持无线数据的爆炸性增长。两种最常见和使用最广泛的宽带无线接入网络是蜂窝和Wi-Fi，它们传统上运行在截然不同的频谱监管领域：蜂窝在许可频谱上允许独占使用，而Wi-Fi是为未经许可的频段设计的，根据规则没有干扰保护。这种差异导致了根本不同的系统架构：蜂窝系统是集中控制的，其中用户在频率和/或时间上被分配资源，以便将小区内和小区间干扰降至最低。另一方面，Wi-Fi被设计成在一个必须容忍相似和不同系统之间干扰的环境中运行。最近，人们越来越有兴趣在目前主要由Wi-Fi使用的非许可频段中部署原本打算用于许可蜂窝频段的系统，只需进行最小的更改。这创造了一种新的、在很大程度上未被探索的异类干扰场景：调度系统(蜂窝)与冲突避免协议(Wi-Fi)共存。目前，行业参与者已经提出了多种共存解决方案，通常反映了现有的既得利益和促进一方或另一方的选择性用例和测试场景。对这些不同解决方案的不偏不倚的研究是必要的，以解决正在进行的关于这个问题的争论，并可能对正在考虑的大范围频谱的使用产生重要影响。在这个项目中，这一不同系统之间的基本共存问题将以不偏不倚的方式进行研究，使用分析、模拟和实验。这项研究将有三个主要推力和一个并行实验计划，该计划侧重于系统级模拟，并辅之以硬件试验台。在制定公平分享计划之前，需要适当地界定公平的概念。这将是第一个推力的重点，其中广播时间、吞吐量和访问是将被评估的公平性指标。第二次和第三次推进将提出、分析、模拟和测试共存方案，蜂窝系统可以部署这些方案以确保与Wi-Fi公平共享，Wi-Fi可以部署以确保与蜂窝系统公平共享。后一个研究领域是必要的，因为在未经许可的频谱中，只要两个系统都遵守联邦通信委员会的规定，Wi-Fi就不比其他系统有任何优先权。实验软、硬件平台将用于测试项目中开发的共存方案。该项目的结果，包括软件代码和数据集，将持续公开，并将被用来影响规范无证频段共存的标准化和规章。

There is a pressing need for more efficient use of existing spectrum to sustain the explosive growth in wireless data. The two most common and widely used broadband wireless access networks are cellular and Wi-Fi which traditionally have operated in very different spectrum regulatory domains: cellular over licensed spectrum allowing exclusive use whereas Wi-Fi has been designed for the unlicensed bands where there is no interference protection by rule. This difference has led to fundamentally different system architectures: cellular systems are centrally controlled where users are allocated resources in frequency and/or time in a way so as to minimize intra-cell and inter-cell interference. Wi-Fi on the other hand, has been designed to operate in an environment where interference between like and unlike systems must be tolerated. Of late, there has been increasing interest in deploying systems originally intended for licensed, cellular bands in the unlicensed bands that are currently primarily used by Wi-Fi, with minimal changes. This creates a new and largely under-explored heterogeneous interference scenario: a scheduled system (cellular) coexisting with a collision avoidance protocol (Wi-Fi). Currently, multiple coexistence solutions have been proposed by industry players, often reflecting existing vested interests and selective use-cases and test scenarios that promote one side or the other. An unbiased study of these various solutions is necessary to settle the ongoing debate on this issue, and can have vital impact on the usage of a large swath of spectrum under consideration.In this project, this fundamental coexistence problem between dissimilar systems will be studied in an unbiased manner, using analysis, simulation and experiments. The research will have three main thrusts and a parallel experimental plan that focuses on system level simulation complemented by a hardware test-bed. Prior to developing schemes for fair sharing, the very concept of fairness needs to be defined suitably. This will be the focus of the first thrust where air-time, throughput and access are the fairness metrics that will be evaluated. The second and third thrusts will propose, analyze, simulate and test coexistence schemes that cellular systems can deploy to ensure fair sharing with Wi-Fi, and that Wi-Fi can deploy to ensure fair sharing with cellular. The latter research area is necessary since in the unlicensed spectrum Wi-Fi does not have any priority over other systems as long as both obey the the Federal Communications Commission rules. The experimental software and hardware platforms will be used to test the coexistence schemes developed in the project. The results of the project, including software code and data sets, will be made public on an ongoing basis and also be used to influence standardization and regulations governing coexistence in the unlicensed bands.