CAREER: Energy-Efficient Wireless Communications Under Channel Uncertainty: Fundamental Limits and Tradeoffs

University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln NE

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity. The proposed research is creative and original because it addresses two important challenges in wireless communications, namely energy eciency and channel uncertainty, in combination and oers to establish the important tradeos when energy eciency is the ultimate goal. The expected outcomes of the proposed research and educational activities include an understanding of the impact upon the ultimate performance limits, such as channel capacity, of operating under channel uncertainty; proposals of novel energy ecient signaling schemes using the fundamental bandwidth-power tradeo as a benchmark; an understanding of the eect of cooperation and cross-layer designs on the energy-eciency; creation of excitement in the discipline among undergraduate and graduate students using the attractive wireless communication ideas and using this excitement to have the students participate in the advancement of knowledge by actively engaging in research. Broader Impacts. Integration of this research project with education will be accomplished through revised and newly introduced courses, involving undergraduates in the PI's research program, and the secondary school outreach. The participation of underrepresented groups will be achieved by the PI's eorts to recruit female undergraduate and graduate students, and activities in the Nebraska MESA Program, which target Nebraska's minority and underrepresented youth. Broad dissemination of results will be accomplished by publishing the results of this research project in high quality, peer-reviewed journals and international conferences and creating a web site for the PI's research group. It is ex- pected that the outcomes of the research will improve wireless systems to achieve ecient and robust performance even under severe physical impediments, leading to the realization of the wireless vision of ubiquitous communications. Especially the energy eciency analysis is expected to have an impact upon the design of next generation wireless networks, including sensor networks that have various ap- plication areas in health, the military, and the home. Along with these research outcomes, society will also benefit from the outreach programs proposed as part of the educational plan of the project.