Intellectual Merit: Cooperation is an effective strategy in nature to achieve individual or common goals by forming cooperative groups. While the wireless communications research community has shown that cooperation techniques can substantially increase the system performance, most of the existing work is limited to a single network. On the other hand, the ubiquitous wireless applications are bringing more and more new networks, making the co-existence of multi-networks inevitable. The objective of this BRIGE research is to develop a new network structure that integrates cellular, TV broadcast, and ad-hoc networks using cross-layer inter-network cooperation techniques. The research components of the project consist of two parts. The first part is a collaborative broadcast and cellular hybrid system, which is a joint design approach for broadcast and cellular services to be simultaneously supported in a single platform. In this project, focus is on the more practical hybrid model with joint coding, where information bits are coded across both time and frequency. The second part is a collaborative cellular and ad-hoc hybrid system, which achieves the benefits offered by both infrastructure networks (high throughput, good reliability and quality of service) and ad-hoc networks (larger coverage, low cost and flexibility).
Broader Impacts: The issues identified in this project are inherently cognizant, thus the research output will likely influence and transform, rather than follow, scientific and technological trends. In particular, the proposed hybrid network structure will bring new wireless services to hard-to-reach, low population density areas, typical of rural environments. The PI will also recruit students of underrepresented groups in North Dakota, including Native American, female, low incoming and first generation students to participate in the project. By integrating research and education together, this project will broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering.
", which was conducted in two universities: North Dakota State University (NDSU, from 09/2010 to 08/2011 and University of Louisville (UofL, from 08/2011 to 08/2013). With the current trend of multi-network (multi-radio) co-existence, any two networks may have the potential for collaboration. However, how these networks collaborate depends on many factors such as the network structures, topologies and service objectives. Digital broadcasting, cellular data access and ad-hoc networks are three major networks that represent a majority of the wireless applications. The study of how these three networks collaborate with each other gives us sufficient insights on network cooperation. Specifically, this project took a two-pronged approach and the research outcomes include: (1) For broadcast and cellular data access networks, we developed a joint design approach for broadcasting and two-way access services to be natively supported in a collaborative cellular hybrid network. (2) For cellular and ad-hoc hybrid networks, we studied joint resource allocation and quality of service (QoS) provision under different spectrum sharing assumptions. The technologies developed from this project address the worldwide challenge of severe spectrum scarcity and explosive wireless traffic on mobile network. The impact of the proposed activities could be far-reaching as the research explores fundamentally new architecture to arrive at significant performance gains. It has potential impact on FCC wireless broadband policies as well as emerging mobile TV industrial standards and practices. Results from this project provide valuable insights and guidance to all wireless operators. Integral to the proposed research is the training of new information technology professionals with expertise in communication theory, networking, information theory and practical wireless systems. It enhances education and economic development in two technologically disadvantaged states: North Dakota of Kentucky. Different levels of students involved in this project are becoming high quality members of the workforce.
