Henry L. Bertoni - US grants

The acoustic microscope is a tool for sophisticated measurement of the mechanical properties of materials. Its major impact to date has been primarily in the area of biological imaging, although some activity has taken place in materials characterization. In this research program, the theory of very short acoustic microscope techniques and their interaction with material surfaces will be investigated.

This collaborative Industry/University Cooperative Research Center will perform research in three critical, overlapping areas. Cooperative Communications and Networking research will examine wireless networks build out of nodes that cooperate at the physical and network layers. Cooperative networks offer enhanced capacity, reliability and efficiency relative to infrastructure and ad hoc networks. The second area of research focuses on extending the battery life of portable terminals thereby removing a major enhancing the convenience and value of wireless terminals and sensors. The third research area is Wireless Applications and associated Information Delivery mechanisms. Wireless Applications under investigation include content distribution, applications that leverage the ubiquity of wireless infrastructure with location awareness, and applications that adapt to the capacity limitations of the wireless vis-a'-vis the wired network. Each project focuses on a specific mode of wireless connectivity of the Internet to portable mobile information devices. In addition to developing and evaluating protocols and applications, Information Delivery research addresses security and robustness.

Proposal #: CNS 07-08989
PI(s): Erkip, Elza
Bertoni, Henry L.; Panwar, Shivendra S.; Wang, Yao
Institution: Polytechnic University of New York
Brooklyn, NY 11201-3840
Title: IAD: Cooperative Networking Testbed Amount Rec: $ 300,000

Project Proposed:

This project, building two complementary testbeds for cooperative networking, responds to the fading and multipath distortion, as well as interference caused by multiple users operating over a limited bandwidth, often suffered by wireless communication systems. Respectively, each testbeds will
. Use open source drivers for backward compatibility with the current WiFi technology based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. This approach uses a standard, non-cooperative physical layer since it is not possible to access the physical layer in commercial products.
. Be based on software defined radio, allowing maximum flexibility in the implementation of a cooperative physical layer, a cooperative medium access control (MAC) layer as well as cross-layer design.
Cooperative networking, where two or more active users in the network share their resources to jointly transmit their messages, provides resistance to fading, high throughput/low delay and reduced interference/low transmitted power. This infrastructure, leveraged in part by the WARP platform at Rice U, the ORBIT testbed at Rutgers U, and the CRAWDAD database at Dartmouth U, provides an open-access platform that will be used to build experimental deployable and scalable cooperative wireless networks, enabling current techniques to be moved beyond the current theoretical and simulation studies.
The testbeds validate the feasibility of cooperative networking, enable platforms where new algorithms can be tested, and lead to new theory founded on more realistic assumptions.

Broader Impacts: This first effort in implementing a fully cooperative network is expected to accelerate commercial developments in the field and impact current wireless standards. It facilitates a closer relationship with industry. Moreover, the infrastructure contributes to train students and service new courses.

IIP-0933985
Polytechnic University of New York
Bertoni

This is a proposal to renew the Polytechnic University's participation in the Wireless Internet Center for Advance Technology (WICAT). The multi-university center consists of the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Auburn University. WICAT, with Polytechnic as the lead institution, has 25 companies and 8 federal and state agencies as industry associates. The Center research addresses cooperative communications and networking; extending battery life of portable terminals; and wireless applications and associated information delivery. Finding new and better ways to meet the demands on wireless networks will continue to be the goal of research being carried out in WICAT overall, and at the Polytechnic site inn particular. Polytechnic University currently has 8 industry associates and has generated over $300,000 in membership fees. Thus, Polytechnic University meets the minimum I/UCRC requirements for Phase II (YRS 6 through 10).

Wireless internet research is critical to maintaining the United States lead in the information technology explosion. Renewal for a second five-year period of the Polytechnic site will allow continuation of research activities directed towards four major thrusts that are essential for widespread deployment and interconnection of wireless devices through the internet and other networks. The proposed research will continue to study networks built from codes that cooperate at the physical and network layers, and to demonstrate their capabilities through hardware implementations. Proposed research on wireless network security will address problems whose solutions have become even more urgent since WICAT was founded.

WICAT will create tools to enable businesses and consumers to take advantage of the enormous diversity of technologies and services that characterize every aspect of the wireless internet. This breadth is of benefit to both students and companies regarding employment opportunities. The breadth of WICAT interactions will provide cultural diversity. At the Polytechnic site, there are two female and one physically challenged faculty members; and, Polytechnic University itself has students from 30 states and 50 foreign countries. Laboratories for hardware implementation and network security will serve undergraduate, as well as graduate students, providing them access to a wider view of technology.