Impact on society beyond science and technology:
Our project will design the next generation of WLANs that will meet the ever-growing demands for more spectrum, higher densities, and higher degrees of robustness, moving closer towards the vision of multi-Gbps connectivity everywhere. As such, it is relevant to a very broad segment of the population who use WiFi in their daily lives.
Impact on the development of the principal discipline(s) of the project:
Our research presents the first experimental evaluation of MIMO beam steering in 60 GHz networks.
Our research represents the first modulation scheme for S-T bands tailored to the very large and distant dependent bandwidth.
Our research has shown for first time the feasibility of leveraging PHY layer information and ML in designing link adaptation schemes for 60 GHz WLANs that offer high performance and fast response to link impairments.
Our research has demonstrated the possibility to simultaneously transmit different streams to different users at the frequency in the downlink with a single RF chain by leveraging the concept of hierarchical modulation (i.e., concatenated constellations) at the physical layer.
With a dramatic increase in the AP and user density, multi-user multi-stream communication is a key factor in scaling the capacity of future WLANs. The state-of-the-art approaches address this problem in mmWave WLANs with partial solutions at different layers which when integrated into a system introduce complexity, inhibit scalability, and often limit performance. Our research demonstrated the first integrated system for Uplink Multi-User Beamforming via a Single RF chain AP which forms the foundational step towards rapid network densification with our scalable design of low-cost and energy-efficient multi-user multi-stream communication.
Our research demonstrated the first integrated system for both Downlink and Uplink Multi-User Beamforming via a Single RF chain AP.
Impact on technology transfer:
The project targets to inform and impact spectrum policy and the FCC via demonstration of novel usage cases of emerging and diverse spectral bands.
PI Jornet has actively participated in the discussion and comments that led to the first FCC spectrum regularization attempt above 95 GHz, released in March 2019 (FCC 19-19, ET Docket 18-21, RM-11795)
PI Jornet is an active member of the IEEE 802.15 TAG THz group.
What is the impact on physical resources that form infrastructure?
The NEST platform is the only networking testbed able to support 60 GHz and 1 THz links, and will soon incorporate the 240 GHz band too.
Impact on information resources that form infrastructure:
All data sets and data collection tools of our research will be made publicly available as a resource for the research community. The data sets are unique in that they provide unprecedented access to all system components from the end-user to the network.
Impact on the development of human resources:
Our educational activities have included graduate and undergraduate student training, and conference, industry, and workshop presentations.