Two important features distinguish wireless communication from wireline communication: the time-variations of the wireless links and the broadcast property of wireless transmissions. In the past decade, a new fundamental understanding of time-variations from an information theoretic point of view has developed. This understanding has led to radical shifts in points of view regarding wireless system design, not only at the physical layer but also at higher layers. In contrast, the progress in a fundamental understanding of the broadcast nature of wireless links has been far slower. Most of the techniques that exist as implemented in current wireless networks to deal with interference and cooperation are ad hoc.
In this project we focus on the broadcast nature of the wireless link by taking a cue from the success in dealing with the time varying nature of the wireless link: true progress in wireless communication comes from a synthesis of a fundamental and information theoretic understanding into networking ideas.
We propose to (a) obtain a fundamental understanding of how to optimally manage interference and achieve cooperation, (b) build an abstraction of the physical layer that captures the performance benefits of optimal interference management and cooperation, and (c) identify scenarios in which such optimal techniques yield significant improvement beyond current techniques. We envision the broader impact of this research agenda to influence the design rules by which the interference and cooperation are dealt with in next generation of wireless networks.
