EARS: Cross Layering in Full Duplex - from Integrated Circuits to Networking

无线业务量的指数增长要求设计频谱高效的通信方案。现有的无线系统是半双工的，其中用户发送和接收的信号在频率或时间上的分离导致有限频谱的低效利用。一种可以显著提高频谱效率的新兴和变革性的通信技术是全双工通信，即在同一频率信道上同时发送和接收。然而，与全双工通信相关的根本挑战是极其强大的发射机自干扰或回声，它可能会淹没接收器。因此，全双工操作需要在接收器处消除自干扰。尽管最近在实验室台式全双工收发器实现的开发方面取得了进展，但这些设计使用笨重的现成组件，不适合商业小型化移动应用所需的紧凑型集成电路实现。此外，要充分利用全双工通信的优势，需要从根本上重新设计高层协议。这一跨学科项目直接解决了由于需要设计紧凑型全双工收发器集成电路以及联合设计媒体访问控制和物理层而产生的重要跨层挑战，同时考虑了全双工集成电路的特点。特别是，该项目的一个主要组成部分是开发满足挑战性要求的下一代全双工收发集成电路。另一个主要组成部分是从根本上了解专为小型节点设计的全双工集成电路收发器对算法和媒体访问控制层设计以及网络容量的影响。因此，主要活动包括：(I)开发新的全双工收发机概念和集成电路，其同时实现自干扰消除和对由广泛部署的全双工操作引起的新干扰机制的稳健性，(Ii)为最近开发的全双工抵消器集成电路导出现实模型，并开发用于物理层抵消的自适应算法，(Iii)开发用于功率控制、信道分配和调度的算法，并研究所得到的全双工容量增益(在现实模型下)，以及(Iv)理解随机接入网络的全双工介质访问控制协议的设计考虑(例如，Wi-Fi)和小蜂窝蜂窝网络。开发的算法将具有强大的理论基础，并将在一个独特的软件定义的全双工试验台上进行评估，该试验台由项目内开发的定制设计的全双工收发器组成。在社会层面上，启用全双工运营和提高频谱利用率将有助于灾难恢复、医疗保健和公共安全领域的无线应用。更广泛的影响还包括涉及当地高中生并旨在扩大妇女和代表性不足的少数群体的参与的大型外联活动；将新的理论和设计技术纳入本科生和研究生课堂；通过文献和会议传播成果；以及向工业转让技术。

The exponential growth of wireless traffic calls for the design of spectrum-efficient communication schemes. Existing wireless systems are half-duplex, where the separation of a users transmitted and received signal in either frequency or time causes inefficient utilization of the limited spectrum. An emerging and transformative communication technology that can substantially improve spectrum efficiency is Full-Duplex communication, namely, simultaneous transmission and reception on the same frequency channel. The fundamental challenge associated with Full-Duplex communication, however, is the extremely powerful transmitter self-interference, or echo, that can overwhelm the receiver. Full-Duplex operation, therefore, requires the cancellation of the self-interference at the receivers. Despite recent progress in the development of laboratory bench-top Full-Duplex transceiver implementations, these designs utilize bulky off-the-shelf components and are not suitable for compact Integrated Circuit implementations necessary for commercial small-form-factor mobile applications. Moreover, fully utilizing the benefits of Full-Duplex communication calls for a fundamental redesign of the higher layer protocols. This interdisciplinary project directly addresses the important cross-layer challenges stemming from the need to design compact Full-Duplex transceiver Integrated Circuits and to jointly design the Medium Access Control and Physical layers, while taking into account the Full-Duplex Integrated Circuit characteristics. In particular, a main component of the project is the development of next-generation Full-Duplex transceiver Integrated Circuits that meet the challenging requirements. Another major component is obtaining fundamental understanding of the impact of Full-Duplex Integrated Circuit transceivers, designed for small form factor nodes, on algorithm and Medium Access Control layer design as well as on network capacity. Hence, the main activities include: (i) developing new Full-Duplex transceiver concepts and Integrated Circuits that simultaneously achieve self interference cancellation and robustness to the new interference mechanisms that arise from widely-deployed Full Duplex operation, (ii) deriving realistic models for recently developed Full-Duplex canceller Integrated Circuits and developing adaptive algorithms for physical layer cancellation, (iii) developing algorithms for power control, channel allocation, and scheduling, and studying the resulting Full-Duplex capacity gains (under realistic models), and (iv) understanding the design considerations of Full-Duplex Medium Access Control protocols for random access networks (e.g., Wi-Fi) and for small-cell cellular networks. The developed algorithms will have a strong theoretical foundation and will be evaluated in a unique software-defined Full-Duplex testbed composed of the custom-designed Full-Duplex transceivers developed within the project. On a societal scale, enabling Full-Duplex operation and improving spectrum utilization will contribute to wireless applications in the areas of disaster recovery, healthcare, and public safety. The broader impacts also include major outreach activities involving local high school students and aiming at broadening the participation of women and underrepresented minorities; incorporation of new theory and design techniques into undergraduate and graduate classes; dissemination of the results through the literature and conferences; and technology transfer to industry.