Collaborative communication protocols for wireless networks

In many information processing applications, wireless networks enable ubiquitous access to data using multi-hop forwarding of packets. Because of limited energy and spectrum resources available and to provide support for the ever increasing number of users of these networks, more sophisticated transmissions and network technologies are being pursued. However, the latter often are designed as separate entities. Also, the layered approach to wireless network design has not worked well in radio systems with time-varying channels. In the wireless network community, there is more and more evidence that stringent performance requirements for wireless networks can only be met through a cross-layer design using cooperative algorithms. To achieve energy and bandwidth efficient performance of wireless networks, this proposal seeks to design wireless network (WN) architectures and protocols that implement cooperative communication strategies to allow the WN nodes to collaborate in the assignment of resources. Our focus is on network level opportunities for energy conservation, with emphasis on the multi-hop transmissions, topology control and routing-level issues. Specifically, the proposal considers energy efficient information dissemination in WNs deploying co-operating nodes which, by adjusting their transmission ranges, minimize the total transmitted power in the network. The proposed protocols will take advantage of topological diversity created by adapting the transmission power and exploit the benefits of network coding. The research will impact the direction of the development of new radio network architectures and will be applicable to any radio system from wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to cellular systems. The proposed framework constitutes an effective mechanism that integrates cooperative communications and network coding with a power control for power efficient WN operation. The research program provides opportunities to train highly qualified research personnel in a laboratory setting with strong industrial links where, through implementation of the protocols on a WSN platform, students will gain valuable hands on experience.