FACE (Future Adaptive Communication Environment) Project: WING part

FACE project is a joint research project among four groups in Department of Communication Technology, the SMC, the CSys, the A&P, and the WING groups. The project jointly researches issues related to the evolution of wireless networks and human-computer interfaces. The WING group mainly studies about short-range networks which play important role to provide user with flexible and scalable access to the network-based services. In this project, we mainly focus on two kinds of short-range networks, that is, wireless local area network (WLAN) and wireless personal area network (WPAN). For WLAN, we have first modelled indoor wireless channels taking account of practical radio propagation characteristics. Based on this channel model, we have designed/implemented/evaluated medium access control (MAC), link adaptation, and error control mechanisms for IEEE 802.11 WLAN. For WPAN, we have designed coexistence mechanisms for collocated WPANs operating in a common unlicensed spectrum. We have proposed distributed mechanisms for the collocated WPANs using frequency-hopping (FH) technology to avoid their mutual interference. We have also designed coexistence mechanisms for WPANs using ultra-wideband (UWB) technology through collaborations with the A&P group. Furthermore, by the collaboration with the SMC group, we have implemented a speech-controlled application that is accessible from WLAN and GPRS networks. We are now planning to initiate more collaborative works among the four groups. (Hiroyuki Yomo, Shyam S. Chakraborty, Hans-Peter Schwefel, Hanane Fathi, and Ramjee Prasad)