EAGER: A Beamforming Optimization Framework for Large Scale mmWave Networks

近年来，我们见证了智能无线设备的显著扩散。根据领先的市场研究公司，到2025年将有500亿到1000亿无线设备。与此同时，移动宽带服务将继续推动对更高的消费者数据传输速率的需求。因此，无线行业预计将面临1000倍的增长挑战。当今绝大多数无线通信系统运行在3ghz以下的微波频谱中，这一频段正面临着严重的频谱短缺，已成为一种拥挤而宝贵的资源。毫米波（mmWave）频段工作频率在20至300千兆赫之间，是下一代无线通信系统的有前途的候选者。毫米波频段大量未充分利用的频谱提供了巨大的潜力，可以支持每秒千兆位的用户数据速率，并将总移动宽带数据速率提高数千倍。波束成形是毫米波频段无线通信的基本使能技术。本项目探索大规模毫米波网络中波束形成优化的框架。如果成功完成，这项探索性研究预计将推进和影响未来毫米波通信系统的设计、部署和运行，并产生重大的科学、经济和社会影响。该项目将扩大代表性不足的群体（如代表性不足的少数民族和女学生）对最新研究的参与，并通过夏令营等外展活动促进STEM教育。为了补偿毫米波波段的高路径损耗，波束形成技术将能量集中在朝向接收器的尖锐波束中，以实现高信道增益。然而，现有的波束形成方法在技术和经济上都非常昂贵，并且不能扩展到大规模毫米波网络的波束形成。该项目探索了大规模毫米波网络中波束形成优化的框架，该网络具有多个基站、大量移动站或用户，以及各种波束形成、用户关联和波束调度配置的巨大多维解决方案空间。提出的研究是探索性的，包括四个任务：1)聚类和资源分配，2)功率控制，3)面向多基站的聚类，4)波束形成和干扰。这四项任务相互交织，是多学科的。探索基于集覆盖和装箱等多种技术的创新优化配方、各种启发式算法和方案，形成大规模毫米波网络中用户聚类、波束资源分配、功率控制和波束调度的综合框架。为该框架开发的优化模型、算法和方案使其在大规模毫米波网络中的波束形成优化具有实用性。这将大大有助于为大规模毫米波网络铺平道路。该项目开发的技术将对广泛的应用产生重大影响，包括5G、毫米波WLAN和公共安全通信网络。

In recent years we have witnessed remarkable proliferation of intelligent wireless devices. According to leading market research firms, there will be 50 to 100 billion wireless devices by 2025. At the same time, mobile-broadband services will continue driving the demand for higher consumer data rates. As a result, the wireless industry is anticipated to meet a 1000x growth challenge. The vast majority of today's wireless communications systems operate in the microwave spectrum below 3 GHz, which is experiencing severe spectrum shortage and has become a crowded and precious resource. The millimeter wave (mmWave) band, operating at frequencies between 20 and 300 GHz, is a promising candidate for next-generation wireless communications systems. The massive underutilized spectrum at the mmWave band provides great potential to support multiple gigabit-per-second user data rates and thousand-fold increase in total mobile broadband data rate. Beamforming is a fundamental enabling technology for wireless communications at the mmWave band. This project explores a framework for beamforming optimization in large scale mmWave networks. If successfully completed, this exploratory research is expected to advance and affect the design, deployment, and operation of future mmWave communication systems, and result in significant scientific, economical, and societal impacts. The project will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups, such as underrepresented minority and female students, in the state-of-the-art research, as well as promote STEM education through outreach activities such as summer camps.To compensate the high path loss at the mmWave band, the beamforming technology concentrates energy in a sharp beam toward the receiver to achieve a high channel gain. However, the existing beamforming approaches are prohibitively costly, both technically and economically, and cannot be scaled to beamforming for large scale mmWave networks. This project explores a framework for beamforming optimization in large scale mmWave networks, with multiple base stations, a large number of mobile stations or users, and a vast, multi-dimensional solution space for various beam formation, user association, and beam scheduling configurations. The proposed research is exploratory and consists of four tasks: 1) Clustering and Resource Allocation, 2) Power Control, 3) Multi-base station Oriented Clustering, and 4) Beamforming and Interference. The four tasks are intertwined and multidisciplinary. The innovative optimization formulations, various heuristic algorithms and schemes based on multiple techniques such as set covering and bin packing will be explored, to form a comprehensive framework for user clustering, beam resource allocation, power control and beam scheduling in large scale mmWave networks. The optimization models, algorithms and schemes developed for the framework make it practical for beamforming optimization in large scale mmWave networks. This will significantly help to pave the roads for large scale mmWave networks. The techniques developed in this project will have significant impacts on a broad spectrum of applications, including 5G, mmWave WLAN, and public safety communication networks.