CRI: II-NEW: CHRONOS : A Cloud based Hybrid RF-Optical Network Over Synchronous Links

该方案提出了基于同步链路的基于时序云的混合射频-光网络。该项目的主要目标是设计、建设和维护一个多节点、异构、宽带、可扩展、混合和同步的云无线接入网络(Cloud RAN或C-RAN)，专门支持虚拟现实(VR)、工业物联网(IoT)、3D广播视频、远程手术等新兴应用的高吞吐量无线接入。网络组成部分之间的紧密同步和异构性相结合，使时钟从根本上改变，为研究无线网络和通信中以前未探索的研究问题奠定了基础。这一基础设施跨越多个领域，包括无线网络、数字通信、信号处理、光通信、硬件和软件架构以及并行处理。除了对全球技术和社会的影响，奥尔巴尼州立大学的学生还将使用这一试验床进行培训。该大学的学生群体高度多样化，包括传统上代表性较低的社区，这些社区将从研究人员在整个项目期间举办的动手研讨会、研讨会、暑期项目和学生兴趣小组中受益匪浅。该试验台不仅将支持奥尔巴尼的研究，还将促进校园外的长期合作。CHRONOS通过集成同步射频和光纤链路，在多个方向上增强了传统C-RAN的能力。该项目的长期目标是利用试验台实现无线和光通信的实用研究，重点是信号处理的新硬件和软件架构。具体来说，本项目将1)开发基于多现场可编程门阵列(FPGA)的云平台、边缘节点以及移动终端中的基带收发器，以实现高带宽通信；2)云和边缘节点之间的接口，以分离边缘云处理；3)在FPGA和图形处理单元(GPU)协处理器之间进行分区，以实现基带的并行性；4)根据应用的需要，实现数字信号处理(DSP)模块的动态可重构。Cronos的关键架构优势是基带信号处理与前端分离，允许对来自空间分布的无线电单元的信号进行复杂的联合处理。它还通过在网络边缘具有计算能力来优化实时性能，同时权衡能耗。空间分布的天线几何结构缓解了现有通信方法中由共址天线造成的低效率。推进了支持部分可重构的虚拟云平台的研究，实现了基于需求的DSP任务伸缩。这些在多个基本领域的努力紧密相连，需要密切互动才能充分发挥这一基础设施的潜力。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。

This proposal presents CHRONOS - Cloud based Hybrid RF-Optical Network Over Synchronous links. The primary goal of this project is to design, build and maintain a multi-node, heterogeneous, wideband, scalable, hybrid and synchronous Cloud Radio Access Network (Cloud RAN or C-RAN), specifically to support high throughput wireless access for emerging applications like Virtual Reality (VR), Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), 3D broadcast video, tele-surgery, etc. The combination of tight synchrony and heterogeneity among the network constituents make CHRONOS radically different and foundational to investigate previously unexplored research problems in wireless networking and communication. This infrastructure cuts across multiple domains including wireless networks, digital communication, signal processing, optical communication, hardware and software architectures and parallel processing. In addition to global technological and social impact, students at the state University at Albany will be trained using this testbed. The highly diversified student body in the university includes traditionally underrepresented communities, who will greatly benefit from hands-on workshops, seminars, summer programs and student interest groups hosted by the researchers throughout the duration of the project. The testbed will not only enable research at Albany, but will also foster long-term collaborations beyond the campus as well.CHRONOS enhances the capabilities of conventional C-RAN in multiple directions by integrating synchronous radio frequency and optical links. The long term goal of this project is to utilize the testbed to enable practical research in wireless and optical communication with emphasis on new hardware and software architectures for signal processing. Specifically, this project will 1) develop baseband transceiver in multi-field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based cloud platform, edge nodes as well as mobile terminals to enable high bandwidth communication, 2) interface between the cloud and the edge nodes to split edge-cloud processing, 3) partition between FPGA and graphical processing unit (GPU) co-processor for parallelism in baseband, and 4) enable dynamic reconfiguration for digital signal processing (DSP) modules as required by applications. The key architectural advantage of CHRONOS is the decoupling of baseband signal processing from the front end allowing for complex, joint processing of signals from spatially distributed radio units. It also optimizes real-time performance by having computation capabilities at the network edge while trading off energy consumption. Spatially distributed antenna geometry alleviates the inefficiencies imposed by co-located antennas in existing communication methods. It also advances the research in virtual cloud platforms that support partial reconfiguration of FPGA to scale the DSP tasks based on demand. These efforts in multiple fundamental domains are tightly coupled and require close interaction to realize the full potential of this infrastructure.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.