Cloud-RANs (Radio Access Networks) assume the existence of a high-capacity, low-delay/latency fronthaul to support cooperative transmission schemes such as CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Point) and coordinated beamforming. However, building such hierarchical wired fronthauls is challenging as the typical I/Q data stream is non-elastic - I/Q data over the wired fronthaul has little tolerance for delay jitters and zero tolerance for losses. Any distortion to the I/Q data stream will make the resulting wireless transmission completely unintelligible. We propose Spiro, a mechanism that efficiently transports RF signals over a wired fronthaul network. The primary goal of Spiro is to make I/Q data streams elastic and resilient to unexpected network condition changes. This is accomplished through a novel combination of compression and data prioritization of I/Q data on the wired fronthaul. For a given wireless throughput, Spiro can reduce the bandwidth demand of the fronthaul data stream by up to 50% without any noticeable degradation in the wireless reception quality. Further bandwidth reduction via compression and frame losses only have a limited impact on the wireless throughput.

Computing optimal half-duplex schedules in Gaussian relay networks is a challenging problem due to the lack of an exact capacity characterization and the large number of transmit-receive configurations that must be considered. We approach the problem using a constant-gap capacity approximation based on the cut-set bound with independent encoding at the nodes. We formulate an optimization problem to obtain the cut-set optimal half-duplex schedule and find that it is hard to solve in general. This is because it involves an exponential number of variables, since the number of ways to assign each node to either transmitter or receiver mode is exponential in the number of nodes. We present a general technique that takes advantage of specific structures in the topology of a given network and allows us to reduce the complexity of this problem. In certain classes of network topologies, our approach yields polynomial time algorithms for finding half-duplex schedules that achieve capacity within a constant gap. We use simulations to show running time improvements over alternative methods and compare the performance of various half-duplex scheduling approaches in different SNR regimes.

The capacity or approximations to capacity of various single-source single-destination relay network models has been characterized in terms of the cut-set upper bound. In principle, a direct computation of this bound requires evaluating the cut capacity over exponentially many cuts. We show that the minimum cut capacity of a relay network under some special assumptions can be cast as a minimization of a submodular function, and as a result, can be computed efficiently. We use this result to show that the capacity, or an approximation to the capacity within a constant gap for the Gaussian, wireless erasure, and Avestimehr-Diggavi-Tse deterministic relay network models can be computed in polynomial time. We present some empirical results showing that computing constant-gap approximations to the capacity of Gaussian relay networks with around 300 nodes can be done in order of minutes. For Gaussian networks, cut-set capacities are also functions of the powers assigned to the nodes. We consider a family of power optimization problems and show that they can be solved in a polynomial time. In particular, we show that the minimization of the sum of powers assigned to the nodes subject to a minimum rate constraint (measured in terms of cut-set bounds) can be computed in the polynomial time. We propose a heuristic algorithm to solve this problem and measure its performance through simulations on random Gaussian networks. We observe that in the optimal allocations, most of the power is assigned to a small subset of relays, which suggests that network simplification may be possible without excessive performance degradation.

When data traffic in a wireless network is bursty, small amounts of data sporadically become available for transmission, at times that are unknown at the receivers, and an extra amount of energy must be spent at the transmitters to overcome this lack of synchronization between the network nodes. In practice, predefined header sequences are used with the purpose of synchronizing the different network nodes. However, in networks where relays must be used for communication, the overhead required for synchronizing the entire network may be very significant. In this paper, we study the fundamental limits of energy-efficient communication in an asynchronous diamond network with two relays. We formalize the notion of relay synchronization by saying that a relay is synchronized if the conditional entropy of the arrival time of the source message given the received signals at the relay is small. We show that the minimum energy-per-bit for bursty traffic in diamond networks is achieved with a coding scheme where each relay is either synchronized or not used at all. A consequence of this result is the derivation of a lower bound to the minimum energy-per-bit for bursty communication in diamond networks. This bound allows us to show that schemes that perform the tasks of synchronization and communication separately (i.e., with synchronization signals preceding the communication block) can achieve the minimum energy-per-bit to within a constant fraction that ranges from 2 in the synchronous case to 1 in the highly asynchronous regime.

Spectrum management and device coordination for dynamic spectrum access (DSA) networks have received significant research attention. However, current wireless devices have yet to fully embrace DSA networks due to the difficulties in realizing spectrum-agile communications. We address the practical hurdles and present solutions toward implementing DSA devices, answering an important question “what is a simple practical extension to current wireless devices that makes them spectrum-agile?” To this end, we propose RODIN, a general per-frame spectrum-shaping protocol that has the following features to support DSA in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) wireless devices: direct manipulation of passband signals from COTS devices, fast FPGA-based spectrum shaping, and a novel preamble design for spectrum agreement. RODIN uses an FPGA-based spectrum shaper together with a preamble I-FOP to achieve per-frame spectrum shaping with a delay of under 10 μs.

The growing demand for real-time streaming video on portable devices has increased the importance of multimedia multicast in mobile wireless networks. A defining characteristic of such multicast networks is its heterogeneity in both the channel states and the MIMO capabilities of its clients. However, current wireless multicast schemes adapt poorly to such heterogeneity. We introduce Procrustes, a multimedia multicast scheme that is built upon a novel PHY-layer rateless code. Unlike bit-level rateless codes (such as Raptor [14] codes), Procrustes clients automatically adjust the PSNR of the received multicast video stream to match both the instantaneous channel state and the number of active receive antennas. We demonstrate the performance of Procrustes in a simulated environment.

Computing the cut-set bound in half-duplex (HD) relay networks is a challenging optimization problem that involves an exponential number of variables and constraints (exponential in the number of nodes in the network). We present a general technique for efficiently computing the HD schedule that maximizes the cut-set bound (with i.i.d. input distribution) in layered Gaussian relay networks. We use simulations to show running time improvements over alternative methods and compare the performance of various HD scheduling approaches in different SNR regimes.

A new communication scheme for Gaussian parallel relay networks based on superposition coding and partial decoding at the relays is presented. Some specific examples are proposed in which two codebook layers are superimposed. The first-level codebook is constructed with symbols from a binary or ternary alphabet, while the second-level codebook is composed of codewords chosen with Gaussian symbols. The new communication scheme is a generalization of decode-and-forward, amplify-and-forward, and bursty-amplify-and-forward. The asymptotic low-signal-to-noise-ratio regime is studied using achievable rates and minimum energy-per-bit as performance metrics. It is shown that the new scheme outperforms all previously known schemes for some channels and parameter ranges.

One of the key features of high speed WLAN such as 802.11n is the use of MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antenna technology. The MIMO channel is described with fine granularity by Channel State Information (CSI) that can be utilized in many ways to improve network performance. Many complex parameters of a MIMO system require numerous samples to obtain CSI for all possible channel configurations. As a result, measuring the complete CSI space requires excessive sampling overhead and thus degrades network performance. We propose CSI-SF (CSI Sampling & Fusion), a method for estimating CSI for every MIMO configuration by sampling a small number of frames transmitted with different settings and extrapolating data for the remaining settings. For instance, we predict CSI of multi-stream settings using CSI obtained only from single stream packets. We evaluate the effectiveness of CSI-SF in various scenarios using our 802.11n testbed and show that CSI-SF provides an accurate, complete knowledge of the MIMO channel with reduced overhead from traditional sampling. We also show that CSI-SF can be applied to network algorithms such as rate adaptation, antenna selection and association control to significantly improve their performance and efficiency.

A new communication scheme for Gaussian diamond relay networks based on superposition coding and partial decoding at the relays is presented. A first level codebook is constructed with symbols chosen from a binary alphabet while a second level codebook is composed of codewords chosen with Gaussian symbols. The relays partially decode the message to identify when to amplify the incoming signals. The new communication scheme is a generalization of decode-and-forward, amplify-and-forward, and bursty-amplify-and-forward. The achievable rates are studied in the asymptotic low SNR regime. It is shown that the new scheme outperforms all previously known schemes for some channels and parameter ranges.

When data traffic in a wireless network is bursty, small amounts of data sporadically become available for transmission, and the energy cost associated with synchronizing the network nodes prior to each communication block is not negligible. Therefore, designing energy-efficient communication schemes for such asynchronous scenarios is of particular importance. In this paper, we show that, for symmetric diamond networks, by performing the tasks of synchronization and communication separately, it is possible to achieve the minimum energy-per-bit to within a factor that ranges from 2 in the synchronous case to 1 in the highly asynchronous regime.

Spectrum management and device coordination for Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) networks have received significant research attention. However, current wireless devices have yet to fully embrace DSA networks due to the difficulties in realizing spectrum-agile communications. We address the practical hurdles and present solutions towards implementing DSA devices, answering an important question "what is a simple practical extension to current wireless devices that makes them spectrum-agile?" To this end, we propose RODIN, a general per-frame spectrum-shaping protocol that has the following features to support DSA in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) wireless devices: (a) direct manipulation of passband signals from COTS devices, (b) fast FPGA-based spectrum shaping, and (c) a novel preamble design for spectrum agreement. RODIN uses an FPGA-based spectrum shaper together with a preamble I-FOP to achieve per-frame spectrum shaping with a delay of under 10 μ s.

The capacity or approximations to capacity of various single-source single-destination relay network models has been characterized in terms of the cut-set upper bound. In principle, a direct computation of this bound requires evaluating the cut capacity over exponentially many cuts. We show that the minimum cut capacity of a relay network under some special assumptions can be cast as a minimization of a submodular function, and as a result, can be computed efficiently. We use this result to show that the capacity, or an approximation to the capacity within a constant gap for the Gaussian, wireless erasure, and Avestimehr-Diggavi-Tse deterministic relay network models can be computed in polynomial time. We present some empirical results showing that computing constant-gap approximations to the capacity of Gaussian relay networks with around 300 nodes can be done in order of minutes.

We explore the design of a high capacity multi-radio wireless network using commercial 802.11n hardware. We first use extensive real-life experiments to evaluate the performance of closely located 802.11n radios. We discover that even when tuned to orthogonal channels, co-located 802.11n radios interfere with each other and achieve significantly less throughput than expected. Our analysis reveals that the throughput degradation is caused by three link-layer effects: (i) triggering of carrier sensing, (ii) out of band collisions and (iii) unintended frequency adaptation. Using physical layer statistics, we observe that these effects are caused by fundamental limitations of co-located radios in achieving signal isolation. We then consider the use of beamforming antennas, shielding and antenna separation distance to achieve better signal isolation and to mitigate these problems. Our work profiles the gains of different physical isolation approaches and provides insights to network designers to realize high-performance wireless networks without requiring synchronization or protocol modifications.

We present an experimental performance evaluation study of WiFi links in an open-space outdoor environment. We consider a large scale wireless sensor network scenario of seismic data collection from sensors that are buried in ground and a set of access points (APs) form the hierarchical aggregation layer and the backbone of the network. We conduct two different link characterization studies. First, we evaluate the links between the sensor nodes and a wireless AP using IEEE 802.11a/b/g. We construct the path loss model and investigate the reachability distance of this link for different protocols and different sensor node antenna heights. We then characterize the long distance wireless backhaul links between the APs. We use 802.11n and high gain directional antenna for high throughput and long distance. We evaluate how different PHY and MAC layer enhancements of 802.11n impacts its performance in an open outdoor environment. We observed up to 148 Mb/s throughput at 800 meter line-of-sight links without sophisticated tuning of antenna orientation. We believe our findings can be a benchmark for WiFi based outdoor network deployment, especially for high throughput long distance links.

We present a new outer bound for the general two-user discrete memoryless interference channel (IFC) and use it to establish the capacity region of the binary erasure IFC, whose determination was left open in . We also show that there are essentially two deterministic binary IFCs, in addition to the binary erasure IFC, whose capacity regions are not obvious from previous results. We determine the capacity region of one of these and apply the aforementioned general outer bound to obtain the best available bound on the maximum achievable sum-rate for the other. We also show that the new general outer bound is tight for one-sided deterministic IFCs that belong to the class studied by El Gamal and Costa.

Exponential error bounds for the finite-alphabet interference channel (IFC) with two transmitter–receiver pairs, are investigated under the random coding regime. Our focus is on optimum decoding, as opposed to heuristic decoding rules that have been used in previous works, like joint typicality decoding, decoding based on interference cancellation, and decoding that considers the interference as additional noise. Indeed, the fact that the actual interfering signal is a codeword and not an independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) noise process complicates the application of conventional techniques to the performance analysis of the optimum decoder. Using analytical tools rooted in statistical physics, we derive a single-letter expression for error exponents achievable under optimum decoding and demonstrate strict improvement over error exponents obtainable using suboptimal decoding rules, but which are amenable to more conventional analysis.

A new upper bound for the sum-capacity of the two-user complex Gaussian interference channel is derived. The bound is based on genies that provide side information signals to the receivers. Various parameters are introduced to control the side information, which can be optimized to get the tightest possible bound. The new bound improves the performance of the best known bounds for sufficiently small cross-gains.

The degrees-of-freedom of a K-user Gaussian interference channel (GIFC) has been defined to be the multiple of (1/2) log2P at which the maximum sum of achievable rates grows with increasing P. In this paper, we establish that the degrees-of-freedom of three or more user, real, scalar GIFCs, viewed as a function of the channel coefficients, is discontinuous at points where all of the coefficients are non-zero rational numbers. More specifically, for all K > 2, we find a class of K-user GIFCs that is dense in the GIFC parameter space for which K/2 degrees-of-freedom are exactly achievable, and we show that the degrees-of-freedom for any GIFC with non-zero rational coefficients is strictly smaller than K/2. These results are proved using new connections with number theory and additive combinatorics.

The degrees-of-freedom of aK-user Gaussian interference channel (GIC) has been defined to be the multiple of(1/2)log2Pat which the maximum sum of achievable rates grows with increasing powerP. In this paper, we establish that the degrees-of-freedom of three or more user, real, scalar GICs, viewed as a function of the channel coefficients, is discontinuous at points where all of the coefficients are nonzero rational numbers. More specifically, for allK> 2, we find a class ofK-user GICs that is dense in the GIC parameter space for whichK/2 degrees-of-freedom are exactly achievable, and we show that the degrees-of-freedom for any GIC with nonzero rational coefficients is strictly smaller thanK/2. These results are proved using new connections with number theory and additive combinatorics.

Exponential error bounds for the finite-alphabet interference channel (IPC) with two transmitter-receiver pairs, are investigated under the random coding regime. Our focus is on optimum decoding, as opposed to heuristic decoding rules that have been used in previous works, like joint typicality decoding, decoding based on interference cancellation, and decoding that considers the interference as additional noise. Indeed, the fact that the actual interfering signal is a codeword and not an i.i.d. noise process complicates the performance analysis of the optimum decoder. In addition to the single-letter expressions of the error exponents derived, we also present some numerical results and discuss them.

The capacity of the two-user Gaussian interference channel has been open for 30 years. The understanding on this problem has been limited. The best known achievable region is due to Han and Kobayashi but its characterization is very complicated. It is also not known how tight the existing outer bounds are. In this work, we show that the existing outer bounds can in fact be arbitrarily loose in some parameter ranges, and by deriving new outer bounds, we show that a very simple and explicit Han-Kobayashi type scheme can achieve to within a single bit per second per hertz (bit/s/Hz) of the capacity for all values of the channel parameters. We also show that the scheme is asymptotically optimal at certain high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regimes. Using our results, we provide a natural generalization of the point-to-point classical notion of degrees of freedom to interference-limited scenarios.

A new outer bound for the two-user discrete memoryless interference channel is presented. This bound establishes the capacity region of the binary erasure interference channel, whose determination was left open in the work of Vanroose and van der Meulen (1991). The new bound is compared with the best known outer bounds for some additional examples. It is also shown that the new outer bound is tight for a one-sided deterministic interference channel that belongs to the class studied by El Gamal and Costa.

The characterization of the capacity region of the two-user Gaussian interference channel has been an open problem for thirty years. The understanding on this problem has been limited. The best known achievable region is due to Han-Kobayashi but its characterization is very complicated. It is also not known how tight the existing outer bounds are. In this work, we extend our results of [1] to general (i.e. possibly asymmetric) channels for the complete capacity region. We show that the existing outer bounds can in fact be arbitrarily loose in some parameter ranges, and by deriving new outer bounds, we show that a simplified Han-Kobayashi type scheme can achieve to within a single bit the capacity for all values of the channel parameters. Using our results, we provide a natural generalization of the point-to-point classical notion of degrees of freedom to interference-limited scenarios.

We study a spectrum sharing problem in an unlicensed band where multiple systems coexist and interfere with each other. Due to asymmetries and selfish system behavior, unfair and inefficient situations may arise. We investigate whether efficiency and fairness can be obtained with self-enforcing spectrum sharing rules. These rules have the advantage of not requiring a central authority that verifies compliance to the protocol. Any self-enforcing protocol must correspond to an equilibrium of a game. We first analyze the possible outcomes of a one shot game, and observe that in many cases an inefficient solution results. However, systems often coexist for long periods and a repeated game is more appropriate to model their interaction. In this repeated game the possibility of building reputations and applying punishments allows for a larger set of self-enforcing outcomes. When this set includes the optimal operating point, efficient, fair, and incentive compatible spectrum sharing becomes possible. We present examples that illustrate that in many cases the performance loss due to selfish behavior is small. We also prove that our results are tight and quantify the best achievable performance in a non-cooperative scenario

Consider a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channel in which the fading process varies slowly over time. Assuming that neither the transmitter nor the receiver have knowledge of the fading process, do multiple transmit and receive antennas provide significant capacity improvements at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)? For regular fading processes, recent results show that capacity ultimately grows doubly logarithmically with the SNR independently of the number of transmit and receive antennas used. We show that for the Gauss-Markov fading process in all regimes of practical interest the use of multiple antennas provides large capacity improvements. Nonregular fading processes show completely different high-SNR behaviors due to the perfect predictability of the process from noiseless observations. We analyze the capacity of MIMO channels with nonregular fading by presenting a lower bound, which we specialize to the case of band-limited slowly varying fading processes to show that the use of multiple antennas is still highly beneficial. In both cases, regular and nonregular fading, this capacity improvement can be seen as the benefit of having multiple spatial degrees of freedom. For the Gauss-Markov fading model and all regimes of practical interest, we present a communication scheme that achieves the full number of degrees of freedom of the channel with tractable complexity. Our results for underspread Gauss-Markov and band-limited nonregular fading channels suggest that multiple antennas are useful at high SNR.

This paper addresses possible capacity gains in a cdma2000 1/spl times/EV-DO system that utilizes the opportunistic beam forming (OBF) scheme. Contrary to the voice-oriented cdma2000 systems, where it is desirable to maintain a fixed signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINK) level at the access terminal (AT), the 1/spl times/EV-DO system is designed to take advantage of the natural SINR fluctuations in a wireless channel. The resulting gain in capacity is called the "multiuser diversity gain". In certain channel conditions, the rate of the natural SINR fluctuations may not be high enough, resulting in low multiuser diversity gain. In such a case, SINR fluctuations may be induced artificially by the OBF scheme in order to increase capacity.