MRI/Acq.: A 4G/LTE Wireless Communication Test Set Project Proposed: This project, acquiring an E6621A PXT 4G/LTE wireless communication test set, aims to enable studies on: - Security and privacy of 4G communications, - Fast indoor positioning in large-scale, chaotic venues, - Efficient modulation and coding for 4G mobile communications, - Characterization of noise in wireless channels with statistical physics approaches, and - Security of medical communication systems. The proposed system would also enable research on complex topics that require multidisciplinary approaches, including - Hybrid approaches to detect security attacks and privacy leakage in 4G networks, - Cross layer design for 4G networks, and - Modulation support for indoor positioning systems. Since the versatile and highly integrated system supports conducting both physical layer research through features such as RF parametric measurement and MIMO operation, and network and upper layer conducts research through features such as protocol logging and analysis and message editor, this instrumentation should facilitate these projects. Moreover, the research supported by the acquisition would impact a wide range of scientific and engineering fields such as digital communications, networking, distributed computing, mobile computing, network security and privacy, information systems, and physics. Broader Impacts: This acquisition would enable the development of new labs, projects, and lectures in seven courses and would provide students with hands-on experiences. The instrument would also provide valuable research experiences to undergraduates (through senior design projects, summer undergraduate research, and independent study research projects) and graduate Masters and Ph.D. students in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer and information science, and physics. The university has also been actively involving minority, women, and disadvantaged background students in research. Thus, the instrument will contribute in the well-established outreach programs such as NSF-funded CSUTeach program (0934842) which is designed to improve the quality of high school science and math teachers, and the Fenn Academy, a consortium between the Fenn College of Engineering and a group of high schools and local corporations (established to attract students to engineering fields through high-quality pre-engineering programs). The instrument would also lend support to some local companies.
