Adaptive Millimeter-Wave Wireless Networks
Millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) networks operating across multiple bands from 24 GHz and reaching up to 100 GHz, has the potential to enable ultra-high-speed connectivity with millisecond latency and massive scalability —properties that are required for many of the next-generation of applications including industrial automation, augmented and virtual reality, and cyber-physical systems. While high frequency and wide spectrum are an important step towards supporting the next order of magnitude data rates; unfortunately, robustness to human blockage and client mobility remains a major challenge for highly directional links. We theoretically and experimentally develop new cross-layer techniques to enable adaptable, resilient mmWave networks that are scalable to dense user populations.
Terahertz Communication and Sensing Systems
Our lab focuses on the design and implementation of novel devices (e.g., antennas), new wavefronts, architectures, and wideband beam steering solutions for real-time directional link discovery and adaptation in wireless THz Networks. We are interested in architectures and control planes for joint communication and sensing that can realize non-coherent millimeter-scale localization accuracy together with terabit/sec wireless data rate. We adopt a comprehensive evaluation methodology, spanning from modeling based on Maxwell’s equations to finite-element simulations and experiments spanning from signal level measurements to data modulation, adopting realistic mobility and multi-user settings.
Intelligent Surfaces for Wireless Communication and Sensing
We design and demonstrate intelligent surfaces that can enhance the coverage, reliability, and security of mmWave networks. We design new data-driven AI protocols in order to learn and predict wireless channel dynamics via distributed in-surface sensing and computation. Through experimental evaluations, we investigate new cross-layer PHY/MAC protocols to dynamically reprogram the channel properties and create favorable transmission characteristics. In the modern era of wireless interconnected devices, the issue of security is a forefront concern. We explore the wireless security vulnerabilities in next-generation wireless communications (5G and beyond). In particular, we exploit distributed reconfigurable surfaces combined with link directionality at mmWave frequencies to enhance resilience against malicious attacks.
Advanced Cross-Layer Wireless Security
While current wireless networks rely on classical cryptographic schemes for security, there are several reasons to take a cross-layer perspective for next-generation wireless networks. First, standard cryptographic schemes add excessive latency for delay-sensitive applications. Second, even when the payload is encrypted, attributes such as packet size, inter-packet times, and modulation schemes can be detected by an adversary, and exploited for passive or active attacks. These attributes can be exploited by an adversary to launch passive attacks (e.g., via traffic analysis and classification to compromise user privacy) or active attacks (e.g., selective jamming). Finally, the “computational hardness” basis for classical cryptography is being undermined in the era of quantum computers. We seek to develop comprehensive cross-layer security techniques for wireless networks that account for unique physical layer characteristics. We firmly believe that security should not be an afterthought in the design of 6G and beyond.
