RINGS: Robust and Resilient Wireless Networks using Next Generation Spectrum

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

Next-generation wireless networks will operate in an environment involving extensive sharing of underlying infrastructure and spectrum with heterogeneous characteristics. Many services will likely be provided by over-the-top providers that utilize multiple networks of shared spectrum and infrastructure to provide services to end-users. These trends raise new challenges in addressing how resources are effectively shared within a network and how service providers can effectively manage resources across different shared networks. These challenges are particularly acute when attempting to offer services that have stringent Quality of Service requirements, e.g., in terms of latency and reliability, and so require a high level of robustness. This project is developing an architecture, associated resource provisioning mechanisms, and autonomous control algorithms to meet these challenges and to enable robust and resilient next-generation wireless networks based on infrastructure and spectrum sharing. The architecture being developed will enable service providers to utilize shared infrastructure and spectrum to increase resilience. A hierarchical architecture is being considered in which infrastructure and services are separated. Service provisioning schemes are being developed that include approaches for pooling different bands of spectrum with different availability, orchestrating service guarantees over a shared infrastructure, and providing probabilistic service guarantees over different timescales. Autonomous network control algorithms are also being developed that make intelligent use of the services provided by the underlying infrastructure. These algorithms learn the dynamics of the underlying infrastructure (e.g., capacity, latency, reliability) and dynamically adapt to changes in both the infrastructure and end-user traffic demands. A combination of simulation and testbed implementation is being used to evaluate and validate the algorithms. The project also seeks to introduce undergraduates into the research process and is incorporating the research results into advanced graduate courses. . This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.