CIF: Small: Content-centric Wireless Networks

该项目旨在促进我们对以内容为中心的无线网络的基本理解。通信网络传统上是以连接为中心的，即在终端节点之间建立可靠的数据连接。最近，网络使用发生了重大转变，用户的意图是访问某些特定的(宽带和视频)内容，而不是连接到特定的节点。虽然在以连接为中心的无线网络中实现更高的数据速率方面取得了重大进展，但在无线网络中，存储的战略使用以及联合设计的数据传输受到的关注较少。该项目的目标是为无线的以内容为中心的方法开发一个信息理论框架，以实现与无线信息流共同优化的存储的战略定位和使用。该框架将基于内容分发容量区域，该区域将针对不同的无线网络拓扑结构表征传输大小与高速缓存存储的区域，用户需求遵循非统一的内容受欢迎程度轮廓。我们将使用香农理论、网络算法和编码以及内容分发网络系统设计的思想，为以内容为中心的无线网络开发一套理论和明确的策略。该项目还促进了研究工程师的培训：我们将通过创建结合无线网络信息流、存储和无线内容传输系统的基本概念的新课程，将研究成果整合到课程中。如果该项目的研究成功，将有助于无线网络中的信息流和存储的基础科学。鉴于在媒体内容的推动下，对无线数据的需求呈指数级增长，这一结果将成为无线宽带内容分发的推动力，利用超出粗暴频谱分配的维度。

This project seeks to advance our fundamental understanding of content-centric wireless networks. Communication networks are traditionally connection-centric, i.e., establish a reliable data connection between end-nodes. Recently, there has been a significant shift in network usage, where the users' intent is to access some specific (broadband and video) content rather than connect to a specific node. While there have been significant advances in enabling higher data rates in connection-centric wireless networks, the strategic use of storage along with jointly designed data delivery has received less attention in wireless networks. The goal of this project is to develop an information-theoretic framework for a content-centric approach to wireless, that enables a strategic positioning and use of storage jointly optimized with wireless information flow. This framework will be based on a content-distribution capacity region, which will characterize the region of transmission size versus cache storage, for different wireless network topologies, with user demands following from non-uniform content popularity profiles. We will develop both a theory and explicit strategies for content-centric wireless networks using a broad set of tools ranging from Shannon theory, network algorithms and coding as well as ideas from content-distribution network system design. The project also promotes the training of research engineers: we will integrate the research results into curricula by creating novel courses combining the underlying concepts in wireless network information flow, storage and wireless content-delivery systems.The research in this project, if successful, will contribute to the fundamental sciences of information flow and storage in wireless networks. Given the exponentially rising demand for wireless data, driven by media content, the results will serve as an enabler for wireless broadband content distribution that leverages dimensions beyond brute spectrum allocation.