Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

With increasing demand for broadband multimedia wireless communication and information services, energy consumption in wireless communication networks has become a major concern. Most existing energy efficient techniques cannot be applied as they are limited for wireless sensor networks, where the sensors have limited power and functionalities with very low data traffic load and no (or low) mobility. As a result, many R&D initiatives have been launched worldwide to develop energy efficient (green) wireless communications and networking technologies. The proposed research program aims to study fundamental tradeoffs between energy efficiency and communication service quality for broadband multimedia mobile communications, and to develop new networking solutions for better compromise between energy efficiency and service quality. In particular, we will focus on three thrusts: 1) adaptive link control according to network dynamics, enabling mobile terminals to alternate between active and sleeping modes, 2) end-to-end information delivery, enabling energy efficient data traffic routing to minimize energy consumption and maximize network lifetime, and 3) network cooperation, which will allow some base stations to be turned off when and where traffic loads are light, and greatly expand the service coverage area of each active base station to ensure continuous service quality. Diverse quality-of-service requirements, data traffic dynamics in multimedia communications, and random user mobility pose significant technical challenges to improve energy efficiency without compromising service quality. The research outcomes are expected to have a profound technological and scientific impact, in providing in-depth understanding and guidelines for developing more flexible and practical energy efficient wireless networking algorithms and protocols, and in helping Canada to establish and reinforce its leadership in green wireless networking. This program will train a large pool of highly qualified personnel, providing them with valuable insights and experiences in distributed energy efficient resource allocation and network control, and enabling them to emerge as expert additions to the Canadian high technology industry labor force.