Exploiting cognition and adaptivity in advanced wireless network system designs

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Recent advances in wireless communications, signal processing and microelectronics technologies have resulted in the proliferation of wireless networking applications. There are increasing demands for higher data rates and bandwidths, lower costs and longer battery lives for mobile devices. There is substantial current interest on developing cognitive radio (CR) networks to meet these demands. The main application of CRs is for opportunistic access by secondary users on a license-free basis to spectrum holes left unused by the primary users. Although the practicality of this application depends on government regulations and may not be pervasive on a global basis, the general principles of CRs are more profound. The two main principles of CRs are: (1) Cognition - to observe and learn about the environment, and (2) Adaptivity - to make decisions and take actions based on cognitive information, evaluate the results and adjust strategies to improve performance. These principles merit in-depth investigations with regard to their general applications not only in radio communications but also the design of protocols and management algorithms for wireless networks. This motivates the overall objectives of the current proposal: to develop, evaluate and implement novel system architecture, protocols and management techniques that utilize cognition and adaptivity to improve the designs and enhance the performance of wireless network systems. Success in achieving these objectives will substantially contribute to the future availability of advanced wireless networks and mobile devices that meet the growing demands of mobile applications and wireless communications outlined above. To address these objectives, we propose the following research tasks: (1) Cognitive wireless local area network over optical fibres, (2) Architectures, protocols and management techniques to realize CR networks, (3) Mobility, location and application aware cognitive wireless networks. These tasks will be accomplished through novel design and performance evaluations by means of theoretical and simulation models. Utilizing a proposed experimental testbed, promising techniques will be implemented and evaluated under realistic conditions.