Design, Analysis, and Optimization of Energy-Efficient and Secure Next-Generation Wireless Systems and Beyond.

近年来，在各种智能设备的激增和普及、带宽密集型多媒体业务的巨大增长以及基站数量的快速增加的推动下，移动无线通信的数据量经历了前所未有的增长。尽管目前部署的第四代(4G)网络可能会适应当前数据流量的激增，但它将无法支持2020年及以后数据流量需求的爆炸性增长和巨大的设备数量。作为回应，工业界和学术界采取了一系列举措，研究下一代(5G)和无线网络以外的使能技术。一致认为，5G及以上网络在高吞吐量、低延迟、高可靠性、宽带覆盖等方面的要求，只有通过无缝整合不同的技术和探索更高的频段，从30到300千兆赫(GHz)，甚至在几百太赫兹(THz)左右，才能满足。这解释了诸如自由空间光通信(FSO)和可见光通信(VLC)等光无线通信技术(OWC)日益流行的原因。人们对VLC技术的兴趣与日俱增，背后的主要催化剂是发光二极管(LED)的部署，预计LED将成为不久的将来的最终光源。这些LED是环保的，也是当今最节能的技术之一。VLC系统调制信息比特，并借助于可见光的不同瞬时强度通过LED发射器传输信号，在接收器使用光电二极管(PD)进行信号检测。VLC带来了很多好处：财务、技术、医疗和社会。与射频(RF)通信不同，VLC对人类来说是安全的。此外，VLC对所有电子设备都是安全的，因此可以用于射频受限区域(例如飞机、化工厂或医院)。由于VLC可以作为补充功能整合到现有的照明基础设施中，因此该技术具有无处不在的特点和较低的实施成本。此外，VLC是环保的，提供全球范围的、不受监管的、几乎无限的带宽。拟议研究计划的长期目标是使用来自信息论、通信理论、信号处理和凸优化的工具和见解来解决一些新的技术挑战，以解决未来无线网络将面临的低延迟和高频谱效率的要求。该研究计划将通过追求几个短期目标来推进这些长期目标，旨在得出VLC系统的性能极限，并设计节能和安全的混合VLC/RF通信方案和协议。

Fueled by the proliferation and popularity of various intelligent devices, the tremendous growth of bandwidth-intensive multimedia services, and the rapid increase in the number of base stations (BSs), the mobile wireless communication has experienced an unprecedented growth in data traffic in recent years. Although the currently deploying fourth generation (4G) network may accommodate the current data traffic surge, it will not be able to support the explosive growth in data traffic demands and huge number of devices in 2020 and beyond. In response, a flurry of initiatives has been undertaken by industry and academia to research enabling technologies for the next-generation (5G) and beyond wireless networks. It is unanimously agreed that the requirements of 5G and beyond networks, in terms of high throughput, low latency, high reliability, broadband coverage, etc., can only be met via seamless integration of diverse technologies and exploration of higher frequency bands, from 30 to 300 Gigahertz (GHz), or even around few hundreds of Terahertz (THz). This explains the increasing popularity of optical wireless communications technologies (OWC) such as free space optical communication (FSO) and the visible light communications (VLC). The main catalyst behind the increasing interest in VLC technology is the deployment of light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are predicted to be the ultimate light source in the near future. These LEDs are ecologically friendly and one of today's most energy-efficient technologies. VLC systems modulate the information bits and transmit the signals through LED transmitters with the aid of a varied instantaneous intensity of the visible light, and at the receiver photodiodes (PDs) are used for signal detection. VLC comes with lots of benefits: financial, technical, medical, and social. Unlike radio frequency (RF) communications, VLC is safe for humans. In addition, VLC is safe for all electronic equipment, and thus can be used in RF restricted areas (e.g., airplanes, chemical plants or hospitals). Since VLC can be incorporated into existing lighting infrastructures as a complementary functionality, the technology has a ubiquitous character and a low implementation cost. Furthermore, VLC is eco-friendly and provides worldwide, unregulated, and almost unlimited bandwidth. The long-term objectives of the proposed research program are to use tools and insights from information theory, communications theory, signal processing and convex optimization to solve some of the new technical challenges in addressing the requirement for low latency and high spectrum efficiency that future wireless networks will face. The research program will be advancing to such long-term objectives through the pursuit of several short-term objectives aiming at deriving the performance limits of VLC systems and designing energy efficient and secure hybrid VLC/RF communications schemes and protocols.