NeTS: Small: MegaIoT: Enabling Thousands of Concurrent Transmissions in Low-Power Networks

最近的进步使低功率无线电和反向散射通信系统成为可能，使互联网连接的传感器和设备能够可靠地工作十多年。然而，现有系统不能很好地扩展这些设备的大规模部署。该项目引入了算法，可以对全市无线部署中来自低功率无线电和后向散射设备的数千个并发传输进行解码。这使得无线网络能够以数量级、更低的延迟和更高的吞吐量运行，并在城市实现传感器网络基础设施，这些基础设施可能会扩展到数百万台设备。为此，该方案引入了一种称为分布式线性调频扩频调制的新型编码技术，该技术工作在噪声底线以下，运行在低功率无线电和后向散射设备上，并且可以使用单个FFT(快速傅立叶变换)运算在接收器对所有并发传输进行解码。该提案解决了诸如定时和频率同步等实际问题，以及考虑到这些设备的极低功率要求的远近问题。最后，将部署这些低功率设备的试验台，并将评估从数百到数千台设备同时传输的可行性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Recent advances have enabled low-power radio and backscatter communication systems that enable Internet connected sensors and devices that can operate reliably for more than ten years. However, existing systems do not scale well with large-scale deployments of these devices. The project introduces algorithms that can decode thousands of concurrent transmissions from low-power radio and backscatter devices in city-wide wireless deployments. This enables wireless networks that operate at orders of magnitude lower latency and higher throughput and achieves sensor-networking infrastructure in cities that can potentially scale to millions of devices. To this end, the proposal introduces a novel coding technique called distributed chirp spread spectrum modulation that works below the noise floor, operates on low-power radios as well as backscatter devices and can decode all concurrent transmissions at the receiver using a single FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) operation. The proposal addresses practical issues such as timing and frequency synchronization as well as the near-far problem given the extreme low power requirements of these devices. Finally, a test-bed of these low-power devices will be deployed and the feasibility of concurrent transmissions from hundreds to thousands of devices will be evaluated.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.