Collaborative Research: CNS Core: Medium: Exploiting New Degrees-of-Freedom in Wireless Networks with Reprogrammable Intelligent Metagratings

无线数据流量的爆炸式增长引发了无线系统中新的用户需求和应用，推动了对创新通信范式的探索。与此同时，超表面的发展显示了以极端方式控制电磁波的可能性，这可能会给无线网络带来潜在的颠覆性机遇。本项目探讨可重新编程智能元聚合器（rim）对下一代无线系统的影响。将讨论与在无线网络中使用RIM有关的几个基本问题，如RIM集成、干扰管理、资源分配和多址接入。这项研究工作将增强超表面技术和无线通信/网络系统，为rim增强型无线系统开辟新的视角和解决方案概念。提出的跨层方法将填补通信和网络研究以及物理层的现有空白。由此产生的程序将本质上是跨学科和变革性的，结合了决策理论、优化、信息理论、通信、网络、控制理论、电磁和信号处理等概念。该项目团队将在知名期刊上发表研究成果，数据和代码等资源将向公众开放，以促进技术传播。拟议的研究也将大大提高我们的本科和研究生课程的质量，不仅通过影响课程发展，而且通过让学生参与高度跨学科的研究，形成具有独特专业知识的新一代学者。拟议的拓展活动将鼓励高中生，特别是女性和少数民族学生，追求科学和工程事业。将需要在通信理论、网络、协议和硬件研究方面取得重大进展，以便有效协调和最大限度地利用rim进行无线通信。提出的研究将以颠覆性的方式推进一个高度跨学科的新兴研究领域：i)将开发新的理论、设计和实验演示，以最佳地增强无线通信，成为网络设计、协议和算法进步的基础。ii)该项目将探索在全双工网络中打破rim互易性和提高频谱效率所带来的机会。iii)除了在预期目的地改善信号外，rim还将在减轻干扰方面实现突破性进展。将启用rim辅助通信网络中的资源管理和干扰管理，包括接收多径缓解前的空间均衡、rim辅助设备对设备通信和rim辅助脏纸编码。iv)实现的rim将提高定位精度，增强更高网络层的现有协议，使rim辅助的MAC访问具有避免碰撞和物理层安全性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The explosive growth of wireless data traffic has triggered new user requirements and applications in wireless systems, motivating the exploration of innovative communication paradigms. In a parallel effort, the development of metasurfaces has shown the possibility of controlling electromagnetic waves in extreme ways, with potentially disruptive opportunities for wireless networking. This project explores the impact of reprogrammable intelligent metagratings (RIMs) on next-generation wireless systems. Several fundamental issues related to the use of RIMs in wireless networks will be addressed, such as RIM integration, interference management, resource allocation and multiple access. This research effort will enhance metasurface technology and wireless communication/networking systems, opening new perspectives and solution concepts for RIM-enhanced wireless systems. The proposed cross-layer approach will fill existing gaps both in communications and networks research, as well as in the physical layer. The resulting program will be inherently interdisciplinary and transformative, combining concepts in decision theory, optimization, information theory, communications, networking, control theory, electromagnetic and signal processing. The project team will publish research in high-profile journals, and resources such as data and codes will be publicly available to facilitate technology dissemination. The proposed research will also significantly boost the quality of our undergraduate and graduate programs, not only by impacting curriculum development but also by engaging students in highly interdisciplinary research, forming a new generation of scholars with unique expertise. The proposed outreach activities will encourage high-school students, especially female and minority students, to pursue science and engineering careers.Significant advances in communication theory, networks, protocol and hardware research will be needed to allow effective coordination and maximum utilization of RIMs for wireless communications. The proposed research will advance in disruptive ways a highly interdisciplinary emerging research area: i) New theories, designs and experimental demonstrations will be developed to optimally enhance wireless communications, becoming the foundation for advances in network designs, protocols and algorithms. ii) The project will explore the opportunities enabled by breaking reciprocity in RIMs for full-duplex networks and enhanced spectral efficiency. iii) In addition to signal improvement at the desired destination, RIMs will also enable disruptive progress in mitigating interference. Resource management and interference management in RIM-assisted communication networks will be enabled, including spatial equalization before reception for multipath mitigation, RIM-assisted Device-to-Device communications and RIM-aided dirty paper coding. iv) The realized RIMs will improve localization accuracy and enhance existing protocols in the higher network layers, enabling RIM-assisted MAC access with collision avoidance and physical layer security.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.