I-Corps: Efficient Terrain-Based Measurement Gathering for Path Loss Inference

I-Corps：用于路径损耗推断的高效基于地形的测量收集

• 批准号: 1600549
• 负责人: Joseph Camp
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Southern Methodist University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-12-15 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1600549&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Efficient; Terrain; Based; Measurement

To address multi-fold increases in cellular network demand, carrier cell range sizes have shifted downwards to maximize network capacity. In doing so, accurate and fine-grained estimation of coverage becomes a critical issue for spatial reuse, intercell interference, and smooth handoffs between cells. Historically, in-field experimentation has been used by telecommunication companies to estimate wireless propagation characteristics of a given region, which is costly due to the manpower and equipment resources required. The emerging popularity of smartphones offers a far cheaper alternative, recording in-field network observations directly from the cellular users via crowdsourcing. However, crowdsourcing often provides incomplete measurement coverage to accurately infer path loss. Further complicating the issue, different sub-regions can require differing amounts of measurements to achieve the same path loss characterization accuracy. This I-Corps team has developed a system that uses geographical feature information (e.g., building heights, foliage, free space) to predict measurement collection requirements over a region using a statistical learning framework, allowing network operators to optimize their measurement collection strategy.The proposed work will lower the financial barrier to and increase the assurance of coverage in rolling out new cellular generations and/or frequency bands over a given region of users. The project will also allow increased confidence in leveraging crowd-sourced information from users as opposed to relying on costly drive testing, thereby saving manpower and allowing a quicker feedback loop in terms of network performance. The project will allow the team members to develop commercial acumen that could increase the quality and fidelity of their research as well as train other students at all levels that have intellectual capital that could be commercially viable. By participating in the I-Corps curriculum, this team intends to clearly identify the exact amount current carriers spend, and the amount customers would be willing to pay for the proposed service.

为了满足蜂窝网络需求成倍增长的需求，运营商小区范围大小已向下移动，以最大限度地提高网络容量。在此过程中，准确且细粒度的覆盖估计成为空间复用、小区间干扰和小区间平滑切换的关键问题。从历史上看，电信公司一直使用现场实验来估计给定区域的无线传播特性，但由于所需的人力和设备资源，成本高昂。智能手机的兴起提供了一种更便宜的替代方案，通过众包直接记录蜂窝用户的现场网络观察结果。然而，众包通常提供不完整的测量覆盖范围，无法准确推断路径损耗。使问题进一步复杂化的是，不同的子区域可能需要不同数量的测量才能实现相同的路径损耗表征精度。该 I-Corps 团队开发了一个系统，该系统使用地理特征信息（例如建筑物高度、植被、可用空间）通过统计学习框架来预测某个区域的测量收集需求，从而使网络运营商能够优化其测量收集策略。拟议的工作将降低在特定用户区域推出新蜂窝一代和/或频段的财务障碍并提高覆盖保证。该项目还将增强利用用户众包信息的信心，而不是依赖昂贵的路测，从而节省人力并在网络性能方面实现更快的反馈循环。该项目将使团队成员培养商业头脑，从而提高研究的质量和保真度，并培训拥有商业可行性智力资本的其他各级学生。通过参与 I-Corps 课程，该团队打算清楚地确定当前运营商花费的确切金额，以及客户愿意为拟议服务支付的金额。