CAREER: Exploiting Antenna Capabilities in Wireless Mesh Networks: Theory, Protocols, and Practice

互联网的边缘在无线介质上继续快速增长。保持这样的增长率并不容易。无线信道的变幻莫测，加上大规模网络的分布式特性，在容量、可扩展性、可靠性和安全性方面提出了各种挑战。必须最大限度地利用每一个新的机会，以科普不断增长的最终用户需求。新兴的天线能力提供了这样一个机会。在天线系统以及无线协议设计领域已经取得了关键性的进展。早期的证据表明，通过有效地将天线感知集成到网络协议栈中，可以获得显着的端到端性能优势。然而，这样的整合并不是微不足道的，并且需要一系列丰富的研究挑战。这个项目，名为聚光灯，是面向实现这一目标，通过理论，协议和原型演示。该项目没有尝试全面的解决方案，而是明确地以无线网状网络架构为目标。Spotlight积极整合来自不同研究学科的自主创新。具体而言，它使天线系统和无线网络这两个社区彼此更加接近。研究成果正在通过技术出版物、研讨会和辅导班传播。此外，该项目致力于紧密结合研究和教育计划。电气工程的技术与计算机科学的算法相结合，并在研究生和本科生的新课程中提出。实践经验是这些课程的组成部分，使学生能够欣赏理论到真实的生命系统的翻译。PI：Romit Roy ChoudhuryECE，杜克大学

The edge of the internet continues to grow rapidly over the wireless medium. Sustaining this growth rate is not trivial. The vagaries of the wireless channel, in conjunction with the distributed nature of large scale networks, raises diverse challenges in capacity, scalability, reliability, and security. Every new opportunity has to be maximally exploited to cope with the escalating end-user demands. Emerging antenna capabilities offer one such opportunity. Crucial advances have been made in antenna systems, as well as in the wireless protocol design community. Early evidence shows that significant end to end performance benefits can be extracted by effectively integrating antenna-awareness into the network protocol stack. However, such inte- gration is not trivial, and entails a rich set of research challenges. This project, named Spotlight, is oriented to achieve this goal, through theory, protocols, and a prototype demonstration. Instead of attempting all- encompassing solutions, the project categorically targets wireless mesh network architectures. Spotlight takes an active step towards integrating independent innovations from diverse research disciplines. Specifically, it brings the two communities of antenna systems and wireless networking closer to each other. Research results is being disseminated through technical publications, seminars, and tutorials. Moreover, the project is committed to tightly integrate research and educational plans. Techniques from Electrical Engi- neering is being unified with algorithms from Computer Science, and presented in new courses for graduates as well as undergraduates. Hands on experiences are integral components of these courses, enabling stu- dents to appreciate the translation of theory to real life systems. PI: Romit Roy ChoudhuryECE, Duke University