Phase II IUCRC University of Arizona: Broadband Wireless Access and Applications Center (BWAC)

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This project is Phase II of the Broadband Wireless Access Center (BWAC), a multi-university multi-industry organization composed of five universities (the University of Arizona, Virginia Tech, University of Notre Dame, University of Mississippi, and the Catholic University of America) and 20+ affiliates from industry and government. In the past decade, wireless communications has made major technological leaps. Wireless connectivity is pervasive in society, leading to a shortage in wireless spectrum, network congestion, cyber-attacks and personal security issues. The mission of BWAC is to address these challenges and offer creative solutions. In Phase II, BWAC will expand its research footprint to address timely and industry-relevant challenges in wireless networks. Research thrusts for the center include spectrum sharing for heterogeneous wireless systems, secure and private wireless communications, multi-antenna (MIMO) signal processing techniques, millimeter wave (mmW) systems, and collaborative mobile edge computing (MEC) systems. The UA site has significant expertise in wireless protocols, spectrum sharing, and physical-layer security. Projects conducted will include inter-operable spectrum sharing mechanisms, beamforming, massive MIMO, techniques for eavesdropping-free secure communications, antenna design for mmW systems, and adaptive schemes for full-duplex and self- interference cancellation in opportunistic spectrum access. The results of this collaborative industry-university center will have a direct effect on public well-fare, enabling applications such as remote health, smart transportation, internet of things, and high speed broadband access in rural areas, to name a few. The partnering universities are committed to broadening participation in BWAC's activities. This is achieved through REU site programs, participation of under-represented minority students and faculty in research projects, and involvement of multidisciplinary projects. With its research, established partnerships, and long history of collaboration between its members, BWAC will likely create intellectual property and spin-off companies, leading to job growth. The lead site, University of Arizona manages the central BWAC project website at www.bwac.arizona.edu. This website contains various information about the center including the overview of the center, mission, industry membership, projects, meeting announcements and technical data. Center proprietary documents are managed through a secure internal pages requiring access credentials. The data repository will be managed at the main website with links to the other university sites. The repository will contain technical papers, project descriptions, relevant software, testbed details, etc. The repository will be maintained during the project and for an additional five years beyond its termination.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.