Award Abstract #0237549
CAREER: Opportunistic Communication: A Design Paradigm for Wireless Systems

NSF Org:	CCF Division of Computer and Communication Foundations
Initial Amendment Date:	December 12, 2002
Latest Amendment Date:	March 21, 2007
Award Number:	0237549
Award Instrument:	Continuing grant
Program Manager:	John Cozzens CCF Division of Computer and Communication Foundations CSE Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering
Start Date:	May 1, 2003
Expires:	April 30, 2009 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$400001
Investigator(s):	Pramod Viswanath pramodv@uiuc.edu (Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign SUITE A CHAMPAIGN, IL 61820 217/333-2187
NSF Program(s):	COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	HPCC,9216,1045
Program Element Code(s):	4096

ABSTRACT

Demand for wireless communication services has been growing much faster than additional resources (such as bandwidth) are allocated. Besides scarce available bandwidth, wireless system designers have to deal with several unique challenges, not commonly found in wireline

networks, such as interference caused by transmissions and user specific time and frequency varying channels. Managing the limited resources through a harmonious design

of the physical and networking layers is a central problem in the design of wireless systems and a very relevant one. The intense research activity over the past decade addressing this issue can be

roughly dichotomized into two parts: the physical layer work focusing mostly on point to point communication and the networking layer work of resource allocation using an abstraction of the physical layer. Further, engineering design of wireless systems, for the most part, has centered around making individual point to point links reliable and developing a networking layer using an appropriate model of the physical layer. This project takes a fundamental physical layer view of the wireless network communication problems and sheds insight into novel design techniques

at both the physical and the networking layer, yielding a significant boost to the overall system capacity. One novel viewpoint is multiuser diversity, a form of diversity inherent in a wireless

network. In a system with many users whose channels vary independently, there is likely to be a user whose channel is near its peak at any one time. By scheduling transmissions only to users with

the best channel, multiuser diversity gain is harnessed. This form of "opportunistic communication" provides a sharp boost to the system throughput. Through the lens of multiuser

diversity, channel fluctuations are preferable, in sharp contrast to the point to point communication view. This project conducts a systematic study of the role of multiuser diversity: schemes to artificially induce and harness it. Other specific problems studied include a fundamental view of the multiple antenna downlink (broadcast) channel and an ad hoc networking model. Teaching is an integral part of this project and is partly carried out through the

development of four courses.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

(Showing: 1 - 4 of 4).

A. Jovicic, P. Viswanath and S. R. Kulkarni,.  "Upper Bounds to Transport Capacity of Wireless Networks,"  IEEE Transactions on Information Theory,  v.50,  2004,  p. 2555.

D. Tse, P. Viswanath and L. Zheng,.  "Diversity-Multiplexing Tradeoff in Multiple Access Channels,"  IEEE Transactions on Information Theory,  v.50(9),  2004,  p. 1859.

P. Viswanath and D. Tse,.  "Sum Capacity of the Vector Gaussian Broadcast Channel and Uplink-Downlink Duality,"  IEEE Transactions on Information Theory,  v.49(8),  2003,  p. 1912.

S. R. Kulkarni and P. Viswanath,.  "A Deterministic Approach to Throughput Scaling in Wireless Networks,"  IEEE Transactions on Information Theory,  v.50(6),  2004,  p. 1041.


(Showing: 1 - 4 of 4).

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.