I/UCRC: WICAT@VT

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This award establishes Virginia Polytechnic (VT) as a research site of the Industry/University Collaborative Research Center (IUCRC) for the Wireless Internet Center for Advanced Technology (WICAT). Other sites of this collaborative research center include the New York Polytechnic (lead), Auburn University, Columbia University and the University of Virginia. The mission of this center is to focus on emerging technologies for wireless internet. Virginia Polytechnic will be a strong partner of WICAT and will perform research activities that will be complementary and synergistic with those of the other WICAT sites. The theme at the Virginia Polytechnic site will be cognitive radio based wireless networks, with the following thrust areas: Software Defined Radios, Cognitive Radios, Cognitive Network Test Bed Implementation, Theoretical Foundations of Wireless Communications, and Wireless Systems Modeling and Simulation. The test bed will enable researchers from WICAT and others to implement and test algorithms, protocols, applications and hardware technologies within a realistic environment. Virginia Polytechnic will make significant contributions to the mission of WICAT. The effort at Virginia Tech will be a subset of the already existing collaborations with wireless industry. The quality and quantity of research conducted will expand the impact of WICAT in technical, educational and outreach activities. WICAT at VT will include faculty and students from the Northern Virginia Campus and the Middle Eastern and Northern Africa (VT-MENA) campuses. This will add to the diversity of faculty and students, and WICAT at VT research site will emphasize diversity in all selections of faculty, students, and staff. The affiliation of a large number of industries with the WICAT at VT research site will provide students with significant opportunities and permanent engineering positions.