With the rapid proliferation of wireless devices in the last decade, it has become increasingly important to efficiently utilize limited spectrum resources through close coordination of devices in the network. While several advanced techniques have been developed recently to address this problem, these techniques require an accurate and consistent view of the channel states as well as some degree of synchronization among the devices in the network to be effective. The research plan in this project is focused on developing an analytical framework and efficient techniques for channel state dissemination and network synchronization to enable close coordination of devices in a network and efficient utilization of the channel resources. The proposed research is based on the view that, in order to determine the best use of the spectral and temporal resources available to the network, channel state estimation and dissemination should be performed continuously as part of the normal network operation. By estimating and disseminating network channel state information continuously through existing network traffic, devices in the network can adaptively determine an appropriate network structure and mitigate the effects of interference to facilitate efficient communication under current and predicted channel states.
The foundational nature of the research plan makes it broadly applicable in a wide range of wireless communication systems such as cellular networks, wireless local area networks, vehicular networks, and emergency communication systems. The analytical framework and techniques for efficient channel state dissemination and network synchronization developed on this project will impact emerging wireless communication systems such as informed-transmitter multi-input multi-output (MIMO), cognitive radio, cooperative relaying, distributed transmission, and interference alignment. The proposed research will establish a solid theoretical foundation for understanding the limits of minimum-staleness channel state dissemination and clock synchronization in wireless networks and will also include experimental verification through testbed implementations of the channel state dissemination and network synchronization techniques.
