1 The Importance of Being Earnest * Nitin Vaidya Illinois Center for Wireless Systems University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign NSF Workshop, Reston, Virginia, August 27, 2007 * With apologies to Oscar Wilde

2 Session Agenda  Current status: where we are now  Future expectations on wireless networking and research challenges  Desired technology advances/breakthrough from the physical layer  New advances needed from theoretical perspective

3 Likely Outcomes  More funding  More theory  More practice  More cross-layer research  More targeted research programs More of everything

4 Likely Outcomes  More funding  More theory  More practice  More cross-layer research  More targeted research programs More of everything

5 The Vanishing Link  Diversity muddles the notion of a link A B C P PBPB f(P C ) PCPC PDPD A B D C B2B2 B1B1 B0B0 A B D C C2C2 C1C1 C0C0 Cooperation Spatial Channel [2005]

6 Where does Phy/Link layer end ? Layers All The Way Down What should or shouldn’t it do ?

7 The Way Forward  Clearly, more attention to phy / theory desirable  “Cross-Layer” protocols … smarter everything (antennas, radios, protocols, people)

8 Net-X Multi- Channel Mesh Theory to Practice A B C D E F Fixed Switchable Insights on protocol design Multi-channel protocol Channel Abstraction Module IP Stack Interface Device Driver User Applications ARP Interface Device Driver OS improvements Software architecture Capacity bounds channels capacity Net-X testbed Linux CSL

9 The Way Forward  Clearly, more attention to phy / theory desirable  “Cross-Layer” protocols … smarter everything (antennas, radios, protocols, people) If we have known this for years, why do protocols lag so far behind ?

10 What Do We Really Lack ?  Funding ?  Manpower ?  Theory ? Probably none of the above

11 What Do We Really Lack ?

12 What Do We Really Lack ? Meaningful contact between  Practice  Networking  Theory  Comm

13 One-Point Agenda Four

14  Reduce the unknown unknowns  Increase phy content in CS/CE networking courses –Awareness of phy necessary to ask better questions –Phy community should help  Educate phy students about higher layer issues 1. Educate Better Ourselves & Next Generation

15  Resist temptation to create new networking programs Partitioning of resources creates false demand –Remove existing partitions Possible to encourage research without these –Examples: NOSS, FIND?  Encourage projects with PIs spanning different communities (phy-networks) –Actively monitor/encourage real cooperation 2. Fewer Research Programs

16 3. Fewer “Better” Conferences  Increase venues that encourage diverse community interactions (phy-networking, theory-applied) More Workshops, fewer “selective” conferences Co-located conferences Tutorials  Eliminate most (wireless) networking conferences Emulate Info Theory model ?

17 4. Greater Industry/User Feedback  What are the industry-perceived long-term challenges ?  What do they need from us ? –Invite them to these workshops!  Not everything needs to be dictated by industry, but practical insights can benefit academic research –Problem formulations constrained by reality

18 Summary  Wireless networking is non-trivial  Better-trained people key to better solutions  Enable cross-layer research and eliminate artificial boundaries, politics notwithstanding Be earnest about the goals ! We don’t want to be discussing this again in 2 years …

19 Thanks!