DFG Schwerpunktprogramm 1397: Communication in Interference Limited Networks
Information and communications systems are the technological foundation of the modern information age. One of the defining characteristics of the information society of the future will be the technological advance of wireless communications systems. In wireless communication networks, of which the physical basis is the propagation of electromagnetic waves in free space, the control of interference phenomena—interference is the strongest limiting factor in radio communications—will play a key role.
Comparable approaches in conventional communication systems are based on cellular network topologies and the principle of orthogonal access, thus ideally eliminating mutual interference between information carrying signals. The realistic physical properties of the transmission channel as well as the underlying network topologies, however, require strategies and concepts beyond the current state of the art, especially considering the demand for highest data rates, quality of service criteria, and flexibility. The object of these novel strategies is the joint, and possibly distributed, processing and coding of information, as well as the cooperation of all nodes of the network; they result in radically novel approaches in the treatment of communications problems that must be reflected in fundamentally new mindsets.
The goal of the program is to develop these new paradigms. A first, already initiated, change of paradigm consists of no longer attempting to avoid interference at the expense of resources (energy, bandwidth, etc.), but to systematically control and coordinate it, and to finally rethink the meaning of the term interference. The second change of paradigm supported by COIN is based upon an alternative theory of communications that supersedes the conventional transport model and is predicated on an evidence based model: “A bit is not a car!”
The research goals of the program are:
-
Interference management and cooperative strategies:
Investigation and development of innovative concepts for the optimization of communication processes in cellular and alternative network topologies based on distributed algorithms, in particular with regard to control and coordination of interference as well as cooperative strategies using methods of distributed coding and signal processing. -
Evidence based methods:
Fundamental research for the development of evidence based communication techniques that combine the latest approaches in the areas of Distributed Network Optimization, Network Coding, and Relaying, and thereby initiate a change of paradigm in the area of communications.