Future Wireless Networks: Spectral Efficiency, Networking and Security

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The growth in Internet traffic has triggered many new research challenges in the volume of information and how fast data must be exchanged.  Wireless, as the dominant access technology of the future, is vital to this development. In response, wireless networks have been evolving to support higher data rates and wider coverage, at a lower cost. The bottleneck in wireless connectivity is the spectrum, a scarce natural resource with an exorbitant price. As an example, in January 2014, an auction for 68 MHz of UHF spectrum (formerly used for terrestrial TV broadcasting) was held in Canada. Eight Canadian companies won the auction, with total value of $5.27bn. The problem is that, regardless of the cost, the available spectrum is already exploited/overcrowded.  New technologies are needed to meet the demands in servicing an ever-escalating amount of mobile traffic using the available spectrum. In spite of this need, breakthroughs with practical implications have been scarce. Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna systems, developed in late 90's, resulted in a significant improvement and soon found its way in wireless products. After MIMO, a more recent breakthrough, Interference Alignment (IA) was introduced by the PI's team. IA has attracted significant attention, however, its practical implementation remains challenging.  To address the future needs, three interrelated areas need attention: "transmission rate", "networking" and "security". The proposed research addresses these three areas under one umbrella. The problems of "transmission rate" and "networking" are primarily handled relying on "full-duplex wireless", while a novel technique called "media-based modulation" is applied to increase spectral efficiency and deal with channel fading.  Full-duplex wireless is a new engine, paving the way to a whole new world of unexplored possibilities in improving throughput, reliability, speed and security. The proposed research covers some novel applications in these domains, from security to network management, interference rejection and cognitive transmission.  Research also includes new directions in cooperative communications, distributed/collaborative signaling, use of massive constellations, and network information theory. Proposed research will study new techniques to increase the point-to-point spectral efficiency, and reliability. It also addresses some key issues in conjunction with emerging communications paradigms envisioned in the so-called "Internet of Things" (IoT), such as low delay, open loop transmission.  To keep up with the cost of implementing many more cells, `Cloud Radio Access Networks (CRAN)' is pursued as a mechanism to share resources. Proposed research will investigate the issue of front-haul/back-haul connectivity in CRAN. Findings of the proposed research are expected to have a profound impact on the future generations of wireless networks.**