Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

The goal of this research is to develop frameworks, models, tools, and algorithms to enable the design and deployment of large (wide-area and many users) networks that are capable of adapting to varying channel conditions, heterogeniety of applications, and mobility. Our research will focus on the critical areas that need to be addressed, namely, multi-hop wireless architectures and overlays in networks. The research will involve most layers of the network, namely, the applications, network, link, transport, and physical layers since it is by treating these problems in a unified way that we can hope to exploit the wireless and wireline infrastructure to deliver the requisite performance. Adaptation is a necessity in such a context because of overlays and wireless links which mean that the channels are constantly varying. Mobility adds another dimension to the need for adaptation since it means that the network topology and links will constantly change. In each case the impact on network algorithms is different. The goal is to develop robust and adaptive algorithms for resource allocation, control, and routing. Besides providing models, tools, algorithms, and principles for adaptive resource allocation and control, our research aims at providing a fundamental understanding of multi-hop wireless networks and the impact of overlays on the underlying infrastructure. The research will have a strong scientific import as well as a substantial HQP component. We have a strong commitment from two of Canada's most important technology leaders in the field. Their interaction will facilitate the transfer of the knowhow as well as help in refining the research directions that is essential because of rapid advances in technology and applications.