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Exploring 5G Wireless Networking Innovations

Wireless Network Design​

  • Rethinking cellular system design
  • Software-defined wireless networking

PHY/MAC Techniques​

  • Utilizing more spectrum (mmWave/THz)
  • (Massive) MIMO
  • New modulation, coding, and detection
  • New MAC strategies

ML in Wireless Systems​

We have shown that ML "trumps theory"​

  • In equalization of unknown/complex channels
  • In joint source and channel coding of text

Application of ML to wireless system design​

  • Detection in unknown channels (molecular, mmW, nonlinear)
  • Modulation and detection
  • Encoding and decoding
  • MIMO transmission and reception
  • Joint source and channel encoding/decoding
  • Network resource allocation

ML algorithm and training optimization needed​

  • That is where comm/network theory come in

Rethinking Cellular System Design​

Cellular systems reuse channels/timeslots in different cells​

Traditional design assumes system is "interference-limited"

Capacity unknown; upper bound based on BC/MAC with pooled antennas

No longer the case with recent technology advances​

MIMO, multiuser detection, cooperating BSs (CoMP) and relays

Raises interesting questions such as "what is a cell?"

Dynamic self-organizing networking (SoN) needed for optimization​

Small cells are the solution to increasing cellular system capacity​

  • Cellular networks are increasingly hierarchical
  • Large cells for coverage
  • Small cells for capacity and power efficiency
  • Cell resource optimization is best done in the cloud

Software Defined Wireless Networking​

Drastic energy reduction needed for IoT devices​

  1. New Infrastuctures: cell size, BS placement, DAS, Picos, relays

  2. New Protocols: Cell Zooming, Coop MIMO, RRM, Scheduling, Sleeping, Relaying

  3. Low-Power (Green) Radios: Radio Architectures, Modulation, coding, MIMO

Where should energy come from?​

Batteries and traditional charging mechanisms​

Well-understood devices and systems

Wireless-power transfer​

Poorly understood, especially at large distances and with high efficiency

Communication with Energy Harvesting Devices​

Intermittent and random energy arrivals

Communication becomes energy-dependent

Can combine information and energy transmission

New principles for communication system design needed