News Story
Invention of the Year Finalist
A team consisting of CEE Research Professor Stuart Milner, ECE Professor Christopher Davis, , and ECE alumnus Jamie Llorca, was a runner-up in the UMD Office of Technology Commercialization competition for inventions of year 2010. Their invention was titled "Self-Optimization, Dynamic Positioning and Mobility Management in Wireless Networks."
In a dynamic wireless network based on Internet protocols, the backbone platforms (base stations; backhaul) can move autonomously and be managed in order to optimize and assure the coverage and connectivity between mobile end user devices. Such networks use a two-tiered architecture where a set of end user devices (tier 1) are interconnected through a broadband wireless, directional mesh backbone network (tier 2) of higher capability nodes that use directional wireless communications (free space optical and/or directional RF) to aggregate and transport traffic. The base stations can be airborne, terrestrial and/or sea-based. These networks are analogous to cellular telephony network architecture with the primary exceptions being they use mobile backhaul nodes that can be instantly deployed, and the network protocols are Internet based.
Very high bandwidth (Gb/s) combined with mobile wireless IP backbone infrastructures will help to provide a cost effective way to introduce “instant/critical infrastructure” capable of multimedia transmission in response to tactical military, emergency response, surveillance, transportation monitoring, and homeland security operations.
This invention describes models and methods for the control and positioning of dynamic wireless backbone platforms in order to guarantee their coverage of mobile end user devices while ensuring that the backbone or backhaul bandwidth is maximized. In addition to controlling present backbone movement, methods and models are used for the prediction of anomalies that will require future movement.
Published May 12, 2011
