Collaborative Research: CNS Core: Medium: OneDegree: Foundations and Methods for Imaging in mmWave Wireless Networks

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The next-generation of wireless network designs are undergoing an interesting metamorphosis. The traditional focus in wireless has been on network capacity, and increasing bandwidths. However, with 5G, the limelight is now shared between the increasing capacity and support for novel applications. The shared focus on applications in network design is partially fueled by the emergence of new potential markets, e.g., smart cities, smart homes, drones, augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) and Internet of Things (IoT). This shift is also natural as the wireless industry looks for growth, from largely serving a user on their personal device, to serving their whole environment in the future. This project looks at 5G and beyond and asks, what are core capabilities that future wireless networks can leverage, to empower novel applications beyond communications? The project will demonstrate that wireless network imaging is such a core capability, which, integrated into the next generation network designs, could empower many new application domains.This collaborative project with investigators from Rice University and the University of California-Los Angeles is called ‘One Degree’ to highlight the importance of reaching the critical angular resolution for imaging using future-generation wireless communication networks. The technical thrusts of this project are: (a) development of the foundational theoretical framework to study the joint imaging and communications on a mmWave (millimeter wave) wireless communications network and determine the fundamental limits to imaging using these networks, (b) development of systems and methods to achieve and surpass one degree angular resolution, (c) fabricate a custom mmWave front-end chipset and demonstrate imaging using communication networks, and (d) collect a dataset covering smart-home and smart-city contexts. This project will enable new imaging capabilities and become a launchpad for applications such as emergency services, city-scale informatics, smart-homes, smart-cities and personal services. The project will follow an Open Experiments policy, sharing (i) the codebase used to perform experiments, (ii) all generated data and (iii) data analysis code, following the successful dissemination model of WARP (wireless open access research platform) nodes and software. The project will also involve robust education and dissemination that includes the development of new undergraduate and graduate courses, engaging undergraduate students in research, following principles of open experiments, and making much of the designs and datasets obtained publicly available. The project will directly engage meaningfully with K-12 efforts through both targeted student workshops and K-12 teacher training programs.The project details, publications, reports, presentations and datasets will be available at http://computationalimaging.rice.edu/onedegree for a period of at least 5 years after project end-date.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.