Current WIN LAB Research

Multiple Access Techniques for Massive Connectivity

Future radio access networks are expected to support a massive number of users with a diverse set of requirements in terms of delay, throughput, etc. These requirements challenge different aspects of current cellular networks, including multiple access (MA) methods. A common feature of newly designed MA schemes is the use of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes instead of the conventional orthogonal schemes. NOMA is a potential enabler for the development of 5G wireless networks and has been proposed for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution–Advanced (LTE–A) standards and is envisioned to be a part of 5G cellular networks. Our goal in this project is to investigate the potentials and challenges of NOMA in a multi-cell environment.

Physical Layer Security

This project studies PHY security in two different settings:

1. Low-complexity receivers (such as IoT devices), which typically have a single antenna
2. Highly-capable devices (such as most of the recent smartphones)

Our approach is to design algorithms that approach the secrecy capacity of single-antenna and multi-antenna systems.

Social/Physical Networks

Social and (physical) communications networks interact with each other in multifaceted ways, yet these interactions are often considered to be secondary in throughput, privacy and security analysis for communications networks. A salient characteristic of mobile data networks is the dominant operating mode of one person behind each device. A direct consequence of this feature of mobile data networks is the existence of both physical couplings between mobile devices and virtual coupling among the users behind these devices in the social domain. Our goal is to exploit social interactions to enhance the security of communication and data rate.