Cognitive cloud communications networks: Theory and practical approaches

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Cloud communications is a new paradigm for wireless networks that builds on a cell-free structure. The main idea is that a small number of central processing units perform the computation-intensive operations for the physical, data link, network, transport and application layers. The cloud structure effectively converts the remaining network nodes such as base stations, user equipments, and other devices into relays that support each other through cooperation, while the full information processing decoding (uplink) and encoding (downlink) is performed in the cloud. The cell-free cloud architecture thus enables efficient, reliable and secure communications at low cost by outsourcing signal and network processing, and the performance (reliability, delay, and other objectives) is not limited by inter-cell interference as in current cellular standards such as 5G. The cloud setting includes popular architectures such Cloud Radio Access Networks (C-RAN), Fog Radio Access Networks (F-RAN) and variants of Open Radio Access Networks (O-RAN). The goals of this project are to provide a sound information- and communications-theoretic foundation for cognitive cloud communications networks, with a view towards future (6G and beyond) wireless communications. Beyond theory, a central element of the project is to develop promising practical algorithms of which the performance approaches the theoretical limits. The combination of theory and algorithms is part of each of the four main objectives of this project: a) cell-free cloud network structures; b) cloud networks and learning; c) polar coding for cloud networks, and d) quantum communications with a focus on fronthaul links.