Intellectual Merit: In 2013, the number of interconnected devices exceeded the number of human beings on the planet, and the number continues to grow at a rapid pace. Applications running on these devices demand ever increasing data rates, the devices are increasingly wireless, and operate in dynamic, short-distance environments. To enable fast, reliable, and consistent access to radio spectrum, two approaches are being pursued: spectrum-sharing /cognitive radio and networks augmented with short-range millimeter-wave links. The energy consumption of mobile devices has become a bottleneck, and the energy overhead of new spectrum access approaches remains unclear. Today's systems are designed with fixed parameters that enable them to work in worst-case environments. With energy-minimization as our goal, we propose to design, analyze, and prototype system components that are able to respond and adapt dynamically to the environment in order to operate at minimal system-level energy in changing environments. These designs rely on hardware (e.g RF/mixed-signal circuits and sub-systems such as beamformers,), algorithms (e.g. equalization, decoding), and communication strategy (e.g. the error-correcting code) that are adaptable and reconfigurable in compatible ways so that they minimize system-level energy. Rigorous modeling, testing, and implementation as well as strategy design and comparison with fundamental limits on system-level power consumption will be performed. We will take a cross-disciplinary approach to investigate system-level energy minimization of mmW communication systems. To adapt to variability in the communication environment, we will design and implement adaptive and reconfigurable systems. By using fundamental limits on system performance, we will develop insights and algorithms that approach these limits. The designed systems will be used to obtain models and parameters for system-level energy-minimization which will in turn will help understand the benefits of adaptation and reconfigurability. The research outcomes will impact: second generation mmW networks in the 60 GHz band, future mmW cellular systems, data-intensive cyber-physical systems, wireless BigData processing systems etc. The Broader Impacts include: (i) training of new scientists with expertise in cross-disciplinary research; (ii) development of new courses "Advanced Communication ICs" and "The Science of Information" by synthesis of concepts in coding theory and circuits; (iii) development of course projects for undergraduate circuits classes based on implementation of error-correcting codes and equalizers; (iii) development of theoretical tools for system design and analysis that go beyond our exemplar applications, such as wired Ethernet communication; (iv) training undergraduate students in practical, theoretical, and cross-disciplinary research through internships; and (iv) focus on inclusion of under-represented minorities and women in this research.
