NeTS: Medium: Collaborative Research: Scaling WLANs in Spectrum, User Density, and Robustness

该项目的目标是设计下一代无线局域网(WLAN)，以满足对更多频谱、更高密度和更高稳健性的日益增长的需求，向无处不在的多吉比特每秒(Gbps)连接的愿景更近一步。通过结合物理(PHY)和链路层创新，该项目将设计第一个S-T(60千兆赫到太赫兹)无线局域网，提供多Gbps和太比特每秒(Tbps)的数据速率，支持下行链路和上行链路多用户多流通信，并提供强大的始终在线连接。该项目的成果与在日常生活中使用Wi-Fi的人口中的一大部分有关。该项目旨在通过演示新兴和多样化频段的新用例来为频谱政策提供信息。它将通过展示新的和多样化的频段的结果，再加上团队广泛的协作行业网络，来影响未来的标准和行业。最后，该项目包括一个跨学科的教育计划，该团队包括来自代表性不足群体的多名研究生。该项目将通过三个综合研究推动力在频谱、用户密度和健壮性方面对当今的单用户、毫米波Gbps无线局域网进行根本性的改进。第一个推力将开发新的物理层技术，最大限度地利用S-T通信系统中可用的多吉赫(GHz)宽信道。在下行链路中，提出了新的带宽分级调制作为一种方式，以使用户能够在相同的发射天线波束内同时传输。在上行链路中，将设计新颖的多波束码本以增加路径分集，并允许从同一区域内的用户向公共接入点(AP)同时定向传输。第二个推力将首先探索S-T频段多用户多流通信的经验极限。然后，它将设计和评估低开销用户和波束选择协议，以支持S-T无线局域网中的下行链路和上行链路多用户多流通信，利用第一推力中的分层调制方案和多波束码本。第三个推力将设计第一个物理层辅助的链路适配框架，以实现稳健的S-T无线局域网。推力将开发利用独特的物理层指标来诊断链路降级原因并执行细粒度移动性和阻塞分类的算法。这些算法将被用来确定何时触发适应，并在不同的场景中选择正确的适应策略。所有建议的解决方案都将在一张独一无二的试验台上进行实验评估，该试验台跨越S-T频谱的三个不同部分-60 GHz、300 GHz和1 THz。这一奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The objective of this project is to design the next generation of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) that will meet the ever-growing demands for more spectrum, higher densities, and higher degrees of robustness, moving closer towards the vision of multi-Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) connectivity everywhere. Via a combination of physical (PHY) and link layer innovations, the project will design the first S-T (Sixty Gigahertz to Terahertz) WLAN offering multi-Gbps and Terabit-per-second (Tbps) data rates, supporting both downlink and uplink multi-user multi-stream communication, and providing robust always-on connectivity. The project outcomes are relevant to a very broad segment of the population who use Wi-Fi in their daily lives. The project aims to inform spectrum policy via demonstration of novel use cases of emerging and diverse spectral bands. It will impact future standards and industry through demonstration of results in new and diverse bands coupled with the team's extensive collaborative industry network. Finally, the project includes an inter-disciplinary education plan and the team includes multiple graduate students from under-represented groups.The project will fundamentally advance today's single user, millimeter wave Gbps WLANs by scaling them in spectrum, user density, and robustness via three integrated research thrusts. The first thrust will develop new PHY layer techniques that maximize the utilization of the multi-Gigahertz (GHz) wide channels available in S-T communication systems. In the downlink, novel bandwidth hierarchical modulations are proposed as a way to enable simultaneous transmissions from users within the same transmit antenna beam. In the uplink, novel multi-beam codebooks will be designed to increase the path diversity and enable simultaneous directional transmission from users within the same area towards a common access point (AP). The second thrust will first explore the empirical limits of multi-user multi-stream communication in S-T bands. It will then design and evaluate low-overhead user and beam selection protocols for enabling downlink and uplink multi-user multi-stream communication in S-T WLANs, leveraging the hierarchical modulation schemes and multi-beam codebooks from the first thrust. The third thrust will design the first PHY-assisted link adaptation framework to realize robust S-T WLANs. The thrust will develop algorithms that leverage unique PHY layer metrics to diagnose the cause of link degradation and perform fine-grained mobility and blockage classification. These algorithms will be leveraged to determine when to trigger adaptation and select the right adaptation strategies in different scenarios. All the proposed solutions will be experimentally evaluated on a one-of-its-kind testbed spanning three different segments of S-T spectrum - 60 GHz, 300 GHz, and 1 THz.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.