Collaborative Research: CISE-MSI: RCBP-RF: CNS: Enabling Secured and Artificial Intelligence Assisted Cell-Free Communications

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Although fifth-generation (5G) new radio (NR) is being extensively implemented for multi-modal use-cases in cellular communications, including massive internet of things and ultra-reliable low-latency communications, new use cases have emerged as socio-economic needs continue to evolve, and 5G NR is unable to accommodate them. The cell-centric paradigm of wireless networks, constrained by inter-cell interference, is transitioning toward a ubiquitous cell-free infrastructure that is more user-centric and interference-resistant while providing users with macro-diversity. Low-complexity, high-throughput, ultra-reliable, and low-latency applications make the cell-free architecture an essential element of the next generation of communication systems. The aerial communication network has emerged as a promising topology for beyond 5G communications, where aerial communication nodes, e.g., drones, etc., will be served from the conventional base stations or terrestrial access points in a cellular or cell-free architecture, respectively, in conjunction with terrestrial users. This CISE-MSI project will investigate the potential, feasibility, infrastructure, and security of the cell-free aerial terrestrial integrated network (CF-ATIN) for the next generation of communication systems. The project will also develop the educational and recruiting capacity to train engineers from historically underrepresented engineering groups.This project will conduct a fundamental study on CF-ATIN, address several challenges in secured communication protocol design, and explore how to integrate advanced techniques in the network to enhance system performance while assuring low computational complexity. In particular, this project will (1) address physical layer signal processing challenges inherent to CF-ATIN and develop artificial intelligence-driven solution approaches, (2) explore how cell-free networks have synergic integration with other emerging applications for the next generation of wireless communication systems, such as free-space optics, (3) conduct data sanitization for secured message transmissions and develop trust evaluation algorithm, and (4) develop a prototype for CF-ATIN to implement the designed innovative algorithms.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.