Emerging fourth generation (4G) systems such as LTE employ cutting-edge techniques including multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequency-domain multiple access (OFDMA). The benefits of this technology to the consumer namely, increased data rate at a higher quality of service (QoS) would be equally useful to the Warfighter. Unfortunately, simply replacing existing military radios with LTE systems is prohibitively expensive. To take advantage of these techniques, we must instead identify cost-effective ways of upgrading or reconfiguring existing military radio systems. In this program, TrellisWare will develop, prototype, and demonstrate a QoS-Optimal Spatial Multiplexer (QOSM) that enables MIMO and OFDMA gains to be realized in legacy military radios. When traffic is heavy, our solution will spatially multiplex packets across multiple RF network circuits according to their QoS class. When the traffic load is light, MIMO diversity gains will be captured by transmitting the same packet across multiple RF network circuits in parallel. The control algorithms used in our QOSM solution will be easy to implement yet firmly grounded in theory. Indeed, strong performance guarantees about the throughput and delay optimality of our solution will be provided.
Benefit: The QOSM technology that will be developed under this program provides a cost-effective way to obtain a wideband radio system from multiple narrowband radio systems in parallel. In its most generic formulation, QOSM optimally map packets from any K traffic classes to any N RF network circuits. We anticipate that this technology will be useful wherever there is an entrenched base of legacy radio hardware and a desire to achieve higher data rates and qualities of service. For example, first responders could use QOSM technology to deliver multimedia content over a bank of legacy narrowband radios. Alternatively, radio operators on cargo vessels and yachts could replace expensive SATCOM links with a bank of inexpensive radios to achieve high bandwidth RF networking.
Keywords: MIMO, MIMO, multiplexing, OFDMA, BFTN, diversity, OFDM
