Research
Wireless @ Virginia Tech prides itself on outstanding research opportunities and has implemented various research "thrust areas" to meet the ever-changing needs of wireless markets.
Currently, our research thrust areas are:
This thrust seeks to develop intelligent algorithms to harness the capabilities of modern wireless devices and to advance the stewardship of the radio spectrum. Our cognitive systems work focuses on intelligently controlling software defined radio nodes to maximize their performance and to achieve end to end network performance objectives.
This thrust is also devoted to advancing the study of the radio spectrum, a critical resource that has been managed into scarcity. We examine new technologies for better, more dynamic allocation of the radio spectrum–-including the application of cognitive techniques--and we assess the engineering and technology implications of proposed changes to spectrum regulation.
Thrust Leader: TBA
Associated Faculty:
- Dr. R. Michael Buehrer
- Dr. Harpreet Dhillon
- Dr. Carl Dietrich
- Dr. Lingjia Liu
- Dr. Jerry Park
- Dr. Jeffrey Reed
- Dr. Walid Saad
Recent advances in wireless technologies introduce new operation paradigms that often come with challenging security and privacy issues. These issues may threaten a wide range of wireless-dependent systems and their users, and also can potentially impede the adoption and development of these new wireless technology advances.
The goal of the Wireless and Spectrum Security thrust area is to address the security and privacy challenges associated with the next-generation wireless technologies, including frequency-agile systems, adaptive and cognitive radios, emerging cellular standards, and cyber physical systems.
Specific topics of interest include: 1) resilient communications in contested and congested environments; 2) location and utilization privacy of spectrum users; 3) security issues with LTE and LTE Advanced; 4) integrity of decision making and machine learning processes in cognitive and adaptive wireless systems; 5) trusted support infrastructure for wireless access, such as spectrum management databases; 6) privacy and security issues for cyber physical systems.
Thrust Leader: Dr. Jerry Park
Associated Faculty:
- Dr. Jeffrey Reed
- Dr. Walid Saad
- Dr. Yaling Yang
The goal of this thrust is to develop tools and techniques to assist in managing emerging communication networks and applications such as heterogeneous cellular networks, machine to machine communications, and the Internet of things (IoT).
Research products include foundational frameworks, grounded in solid analytical techniques such as stochastic geometry and game theory, for modeling, analyzing, and optimizing such emerging networks while factoring in their density, heterogeneity, and dynamics
Thrust Leader: Dr. Walid Saad
Associated Faculty:
- Dr. R. Michael Buehrer
- Dr. Harpreet Dhillon
- Dr. Lingjia Liu
- Dr. Jerry Park
- Dr. Jeffrey Reed
The goal of this thrust is to develop signal processing techniques to improve the efficiency and the performance (accuracy and/or data rate) of wireless systems, including communications, radar and geolocation systems. Although this is a diverse area, we focus in particular on interference mitigation, MIMO (including massive MIMO) and array processing, spectrum sensing, modulation classification, iterative receiver processing, collaborative and single node geolocation, and device tracking.
Thrust Leader: Dr. Louis Beex
Associated Faculty:
- Dr. R. Michael Buehrer
- Dr. Harpreet Dhillon
- Dr. Steven Ellingson
- Dr. Majid Manteghi
- Dr. Jeffrey Reed
This thrust area addresses antennas, propagation, and radio frequency systems associated with wireless communications and related applications. Work in antennas includes analysis and design of conventional antennas as well as research in electrically-small, broadband, reconfigurable, active/integrated, and array antenna systems. Work in propagation includes measurement, characterization, and prediction in indoor, outdoor, and complex environments including vehicular interior and interior-to-exterior scenarios. Work in RF hardware includes development of electronics and systems for measurement applications as well as unusual or extreme communications applications.
Thrust Leader: Dr. Steven Ellingson
Associated Faculty:
- Dr. Majid Manteghi
- Dr. Jeffrey Reed