NeTS: Small: Collaborative Research: Transparent Cross-technology Communication in Wireless Networks

在过去十年中，无线技术的成功扩散是由多种和异构技术（例如，WiFi、蓝牙和ZigBee），以满足各种应用需求，包括系统可靠性、及时性和能源使用。然而，无线设备及其非合作行为导致稀缺无线频谱的严重低效利用。该项目开发了一个采用全新方法的协作框架，称为跨技术通信（CTC）-支持异构无线技术之间的消息交换（例如，蓝牙和WiFi）。该项目旨在实现两个目标：（i）解决资源利用不足问题，以大幅降低网络运营成本，以及（ii）通过具有不同功能的异构实体之间的协作实现独特和先进的网络功能。该项目的影响将通过以下方式进一步扩大：1）通过与主要行业参与者的合作，将该技术嵌入到大规模的现成系统中; 2）通过增强的课程项目改进课程开发; 3）通过高调的教程和开源网站传播研究成果; 4）通过包括开放日在内的外联活动，提高K-12学生和代表性不足的少数群体对技术的兴趣;（5）支持有才华的女性和少数民族博士生。该项目从文献中的广泛研究出发，通常采取隐式频谱共享方法，通过启用CTC独特地提出了一种显式方法。它使跨技术协作能够带来先进的服务，本质上是探索共存的光明面。 为实现这一目标，该项目对CTC进行了深入系统的研究，并在多个领域提出了新的设计方案，包括：1）对CTC容量的实际和理论限制进行了广泛的实证测量和仿真研究; 2）探索CTC设计空间，以实现吞吐量、服务质量和兼容性的提高; 3）通过CTC构建可扩展和可靠的异构网络; 4）通过CTC构建可扩展的异构网络。以及4）CTC使能的服务受益于跨技术信道协调、时间同步、本地化和能量管理之间的协作。

Successful proliferation of wireless technologies in the past decade was led by multiple and heterogeneous technologies (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth, and ZigBee) to accommodate diverse application requirements including system reliability, timeliness, and energy usage. However, wireless devices and their non-cooperative behavior lead to critically inefficient utilization of scarce wireless spectrum. This project develops a collaboration framework taking a clean-slate approach called Cross-technology Communication (CTC) - enabling message exchange between heterogeneous wireless technologies (e.g., Bluetooth and WiFi). The project aims to achieve two goals: (i) address resource under-utilization to bring significant cost reduction in network operation, and (ii) enable unique and advanced network functions via collaboration among heterogeneous entities with different capabilities. The impacts of this project will be further amplified by 1) embedding the technology on massive off-the-shelf systems via collaborations with major industry players; 2) improving curriculum development with enhanced course projects; 3) disseminating research results through high-profile tutorials and open-source sites; 4) raising interest in technology among K-12 students and under-represented minority groups through outreach activities including open houses; and 5) supporting talented female and minority PhD students. The project departs from the extensive studies in literature that commonly take implicit spectrum sharing approaches, to uniquely propose an explicit approach by enabling CTC. It enables cross-technology collaboration to bring advanced services, essentially exploring the bright side of coexistence. To achieve the goal, the project includes in-depth systematic study on CTC, contributing novel designs across multiple domains including: 1) extensive studies on empirical measurement and simulation to reveal the practical and theoretical limits of CTC capacity; 2) exploration of CTC design space to achieve gains in throughput, Quality of Service, and compatibility; 3) building scalable and reliable heterogeneous networks via CTC; and 4) CTC-enabled services benefiting from collaboration between cross-technology channel coordination, time synchronization, localization, and energy management.