The needs and capabilities of wireless networks are constantly expanding thanks to the proliferation of smart devices, connected infrastructure and the Internet of Things (IoT).
New devices and technologies are always in development and network design and infrastructure has to keep pace. Hoping to lead the charge of wireless technology development are the electrical and computer engineers at Virginia Tech.
The National Science Foundation has awarded Wireless @ Virginia Tech five grants to address critical issues concerning emerging wireless communication networks and technology, vital to economic growth and development in the United States. (Image courtesy of Virginia Tech.)
The school recently received a variety of grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) totalling USD$2.5 million to fund research projects in wireless network and device technology.
The grants are part of the White House’s Advanced Wireless Research Initiative, which aims to promote innovation that speeds the development and deployment of next-generation wireless networks.
The faculty members heading the projects, as well as participating engineering students on the research teams, come from Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Wireless @ Virginia Tech Cognition and Communication Center.
The five projects being funded span a range of wireless innovation and development goals:
- The first award, for $830,356, will support a project titled “Implications of Receiver Front End Nonlinearity on Network Performance: Fundamentals, Limitations and Management Strategies.” This project will focus on overcoming the limitations of low-quality radio receivers that are susceptible to or may cause interference.
- The second award, for $600,000, will be used to fund upgrades to Virginia Tech’s Cognitive Radio Network Testbed, which is a collection of 48 software-defined radio nodes deployed within a building and used to test new concepts in wireless access. This includes techniques that will use artificial intelligence to control the radios. The grant will also support STEM education outreach efforts toward both students and other professionals, including demonstrations, conferences and an international student design competition.
- The third award, for $400,000, will fund research into a project titled “Joint Backhaul and Radio Access Design for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks.” This project will work to develop cellular systems able to support bandwidth-intensive wireless applications through modeling based on macroeconomic principles and geometric-based coverage estimates. This award will also be used to support educational activities for underrepresented student groups with hands-on projects and other outreach events.
- The fourth award, also for $400,000, will support a study on “Smart Interference Management for Wireless Internet of Things.” The study will also analyze how to design wireless systems able to cope with the potential interference from the anticipated Wireless Internet of Things (W-IoT), consisting of potentially billions of wireless devices creating data traffic over the airwaves. The project aims to create and demonstrate new approaches for W-IoT devices to automatically invoke and configure interference management techniques.
- The fifth award totals approximately $1 million, which includes $375,000 coming from Virginia Tech itself. This project will be a collaboration between Virginia Tech, Temple University and the University of Arizona. Called “Coexistence of Heterogeneous Wireless Access Technologies in the 5 GHz Band,” it will focus on creating solutions to enable coexistence between unlicensed-LTE, W-Fi and Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) operating on the same band.
"The five research projects awarded to Virginia Tech are intended to propel the technological revolution of wireless for decades ahead, from spectrum management to the Internet of Things," said NSF program director Thyaga Nandagopal. "The White House initiative aims to deploy and use four city-scale testing platforms for advanced wireless research over the next decade with Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research, a program designed to develop wireless research platforms conceived by the U.S. academic and industrial wireless research community."
Michael Buehrer, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of Wireless @ Virginia Tech, added, "Virginia Tech is a world leader in radio spectrum and cognitive radio research. We are pleased NSF has invested in our efforts to drive research to the next level in support of the White House's initiative."
For more information, check out the Wireless @ Virginia Tech website.