NSF Award
1552109
Over the last several decades, we have experienced tremendous growth in the use of cellular telephones and Wi-Fi networks for home and office, as well as emerging wireless technologies geared toward different applications. The massive growth of lightweight hand-held devices used to access wireless networks has resulted in an exponential increase in demand for wireless services and severe wireless spectrum shortage. To overcome these problems, beyond spectrum sharing with licensed users, a new wireless architecture is needed to enhance network coverage, capacity and security. The research objective of this CAREER project is to significantly advance the field of wireless communications, with an expectation of opening transformative research directions, by a) devising a novel generalized wireless virtualization architecture, or Wi-Vi, to provide wireless services to users using Radio-as-a-Service where Wi-Vi architecture will enhance network capacity, coverage, seamless mobility and energy efficiency, and thus be able to support trillions of devices in next generation wireless systems; and b) by extending the scope of the proposed Wi-Vi framework for performance isolation, security and privacy while providing quality-of-service/experience to users in a diverse wireless environment. Moreover, this work will help researchers across many fields understand how wireless communications influences the emerging fields such as smart grid, eHealth, vehicular networks, next generation cellular networks, Internet-of-things, cyber-physical systems and secure cyberspace. The PI will train the next generation of scientists and engineers in the area of next generation wireless networks, and mentor researchers (including minorities and female) at undergraduate and graduate level, as well as inspire K-12 students in science and engineering fields at the early stage of their learning career through hands-on demonstrations. <br/><br/>This CAREER project focuses on the design, analysis and evaluation of a Wireless Virtualization (Wi-Vi) framework by combining different wireless resources and infrastructures, beyond spectrum sharing with licensed users, to be used as on-demand service over the network, with the goal of enhancing network capacity, coverage, energy efficiency and security. The PI will develop Wi-Vi architecture using systematic approaches to improve overall network performance. Specifically, the significance of the proposed research includes: 1) development of a generalized wireless virtualization framework that will help meet dynamic demands of wireless users by expanding or shrinking wireless resources of the virtual wireless operators; 2) study and implementation of optimal wireless resource sharing among coverage- and capacity-driven Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs); 3) development of systematic approaches for base station-level, MVNO-level and user level optimizations and Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning; 4) application of wireless virtualization in network security through dynamic network segmentation; and 5) validation and evaluation of the proposed novel techniques through extensive simulations and experiments in NSF-funded cloud testbeds such as ROAR, Chameleon, etc. The CAREER award will have a broad societal impact as wireless networks touch every aspect of our society, and will support enhancement of our national wireless capacity and cybersecurity. This project will impact many emerging areas in which wireless communication has applications - such as smart grid, eHealth, vehicular networks, next generation cellular networks, Internet-of-things, cyber-physical systems and secure cyberspace. The PI will train undergraduate and graduate students by disseminating knowledge to students through new courses and modules on wireless virtualization and next generation wireless networks. Focused efforts will be undertaken to interest underrepresented students (including females) in conducting the proposed research. Overall, the PI will establish an integrated research and educational program to train future scientists and engineers in the area of next generation wireless networks and to inspire young people's interest (including K-12 students) in science and engineering fields at the early stage of their learning career.
