NSF Award
2010012
Since its inception, the global internet traffic has been increasing and is projected to increase even more in the future. A significant portion of the internet traffic is expected to be due to wireless video. Such aggressive data traffic growth and additional high volume of multimedia content pose significant challenges in designing wireless communication protocols which meet the Quality of Experience requirements of mobile multimedia users. This project aims to explore new solutions leveraging economic theories to redesign wireless communication strategies for mobile multimedia users. The evolution to Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access at lower layers brings both opportunities and challenges to support wireless multimedia communications. In particular, this project will investigate pricing mechanisms for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access wireless multimedia communications at lower layers. The outcome of this project will advance the discovery of new frontiers in wireless communications, jointly leveraging profit-centric economic pricing, quality-centric multimedia services, and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access wireless communications.<br/><br/>The research objective of this project is to test the hypothesis that the traffic challenge of wireless multimedia communication could be partially solved by jointly leveraging high level pricing models and low level Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access resource allocation policies. This research project will establish a theoretical foundation for a novel Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Pricing framework, which exploits application layer economies in designing lower layer Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access wireless multimedia communication algorithms. The project consists of three essential thrusts: (1) creating a content-centric pricing mechanism, being aware of the importance of multimedia data carried within a specific Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access resource block; (2) designing an orthogonality-centric pricing model similar to Uber/Lyft rideshare service, being aware of the shared Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access and exclusive Orthogonal Multiple Access pricing differences; and (3) developing an incentive-centric Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access relay auction mechanism, leveraging the naturally cached content at relay nodes during successive interference cancellation. Research findings will be seamlessly integrated to education activities at Utah Valley University (RUI - Research in Primarily Undergraduate Institution) and San Diego State University (Hispanic Serving Institution).<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
