Compute-and-Forward for Next Generation Wireless Networks

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The proliferation of smartphones, laptops and other mobile devices has fundamentally transformed our society in diverse sectors, including health, education, and public services. At the same time, it has created an unprecedented increase in wireless data traffic. To keep up with the massive growth of wireless data usage, several next-generation wireless network architectures (such as 5G) have been proposed, attracting a significant amount of investment from governments and telecommunications industries. ***Many of these new architectures share a common feature: a dense deployment of small base stations. These small stations, often called small cells, have many advantages. They target limited spectrum resources to where the demand is high (such as an urban hotspot) and where coverage is needed (such as a remote village). They allow for very low transmit powers, resulting in lower energy consumption and longer battery life. Despite these distinct advantages, small cells are susceptible to interference from nearby cells due to their dense deployment. In order to unlock the full potential of small cells, highly effective interference management is needed. ***The proposed research program aims to tackle this challenging problem from a new angle by leveraging compute-and-forward (C&F), a recent breakthrough in information theory. C&F represents a paradigm shift in handling interference. Rather than avoiding interference or treating it as noise, C&F harnesses interference, enabling wireless devices to compute linear functions of transmitted packets directly from the interfering signals. In this way, interference is no longer a foe, but a friend. Significantly better performance can be achieved than traditionally thought possible.***Despite the great potential of C&F, there is a critical gap between its theoretical development and its real-world use. Most prior work focuses on information-theoretic analysis without consideration of the important practical constraints of wireless networks, such as channel variations, limited cooperation among small cells, and the bursty nature of data traffic. The objective of this proposed research is to bridge the gap between theory and practice, making C&F an enabling technique for next-generation wireless networks. The research methodology will consist of (i) developing new theoretical models to incorporate important practical constraints, (ii) designing novel communications algorithms and network protocols, and (iii) implementing these new algorithms and protocols on a wireless testbed. The research program will not only advance the field of C&F, but also train a group of engineers who are specialized in information theory and wireless networking, having the ability to innovate in an area of crucial importance to Canada. **