Polytechnic University of New York Bertoni
This is a proposal to renew the Polytechnic University's participation in the Wireless Internet Center for Advance Technology (WICAT). The multi-university center consists of the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Auburn University. WICAT, with Polytechnic as the lead institution, has 25 companies and 8 federal and state agencies as industry associates. The Center research addresses cooperative communications and networking; extending battery life of portable terminals; and wireless applications and associated information delivery. Finding new and better ways to meet the demands on wireless networks will continue to be the goal of research being carried out in WICAT overall, and at the Polytechnic site inn particular. Polytechnic University currently has 8 industry associates and has generated over $300,000 in membership fees. Thus, Polytechnic University meets the minimum I/UCRC requirements for Phase II (YRS 6 through 10).
Wireless internet research is critical to maintaining the United States lead in the information technology explosion. Renewal for a second five-year period of the Polytechnic site will allow continuation of research activities directed towards four major thrusts that are essential for widespread deployment and interconnection of wireless devices through the internet and other networks. The proposed research will continue to study networks built from codes that cooperate at the physical and network layers, and to demonstrate their capabilities through hardware implementations. Proposed research on wireless network security will address problems whose solutions have become even more urgent since WICAT was founded.
WICAT will create tools to enable businesses and consumers to take advantage of the enormous diversity of technologies and services that characterize every aspect of the wireless internet. This breadth is of benefit to both students and companies regarding employment opportunities. The breadth of WICAT interactions will provide cultural diversity. At the Polytechnic site, there are two female and one physically challenged faculty members; and, Polytechnic University itself has students from 30 states and 50 foreign countries. Laboratories for hardware implementation and network security will serve undergraduate, as well as graduate students, providing them access to a wider view of technology.
The main themes of the activity at the WICAT at NYU Poly centered on the challenge offered by the recent explosive popularity of smart phones. These have increased the pressure on the bandwidth of cellular wireless networks, with many well-publicized failures as a result of network congestion. Cellular carriers have therefore accelerated their plans to introduce 4G networks in response to this demand. Indeed, the surge of Internet related traffic has validated the initial motivation, back in 2003, for an I/UCRC in the area of the wireless Internet. In response to this challenge, and based on the feedback from industry partners, we focused on two broad areas: - Increasing the capacity of the network using cooperative networking, as well as new system level ideas (such as millimeter wave wireless), and radio enhancements, and - Innovative research in the efficient delivery of applications like video, which will soon be the dominant consumer of bandwidth WICAT researchers at UT and Poly pioneered the first academic research in the world for millimeter wave cellular in the 2011-2013 time frame. This work is now motivating government and industry investment around the world, and has motivated talks at the ITU. Additionally, WICAT researchers at Virginia Tech pioneered many software radio concepts with WICAT funding, and were able to use WICAT affiliates to successfully launch the Hume Center, a northern Virginia arm of Virginia Tech that conducts research with government agencies and contractors. The vast number of publications and graduated PhDs from WICAT has had important technology transfer impact. National Instruments and Interdigital, the last two remaining WICAT industrial affiliates of the NYU Poly WICAT center, have particularly benefited from technology transfer efforts from WICAT. Interdigital has hired numerous students to work at their Long Island facilities, where they have filed patents and conducted simulations to support product and IPR development. National Instruments has hired students for co-op positions, and two NYU Poly professors (Rangan and Rappaport) are part of the lead-user program of NI, where faculty and students are driving product specifications and introducing alpha and beta products to the industry at large. WICAT was sunsetted in 2013, after a very successful 9-year run. The new BWAC IUCRC has been launched in 2013, and NYU-Poly has chosen to not join, as the merger between Poly and NYU is being consummated. WICAT at NYU-Poly has graduated into NYU WIRELESS, an industry-funded research center that is growing rapidly. In the spring of 2013, faculty and students completed their move into 13,500 square feet of world-class research space, with labs for wireless research, computing, and medical applications. The space was designed to create a collaborative environment where state-of-the-art wireless research can be conducted in an ultra-modern, comfortable setting that fosters collaboration among faculty and student researchers, while providing room for corporate visitors. Located on the 9th floor of the NYU-Poly 2 MetroTech building, Brooklyn campus visitors are greeted by a spectacular view of the New York metroplex, with the Chrysler building and Manhattan bridge featured prominently. The facility is equipped with special visitor work carrels as well as seating for collaborators and corporate sponsors.
