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Next Generation Wireless Systems

Researchers at the University of Florida, North Carolina State University and State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook are collaborating to create novel frameworks to enable 5G/6G network interoperability, under a project award from the National Science Foundation.

The main contribution of the project is the design and implementation of a novel spectrum orchestrating framework, referred to as MAC-on-MAC (MoM), such that MAC solutions can be viewed in a panoramic way to coordinate spectrum access through a `centralized’ control plane. This design approach is fundamentally different from single-system single-layer solutions. An SDN-like flow-based approach is being designed for layer 2 to handle access and resource requests from both upper and lower layers, for both single-RAT-assigned user frames and multi-RAT MoM controller processed frames.

MAC-on-MAC: A Spectrum Orchestrating Control Plane for Coexisting Wireless Systems

Project Website

Project Sponsor:National Science Foundation
Collaborative Research Award #’s: 2030122, 2030134, and 2030063

Mac-on-Mac Architecture

 

Personnel:
Janise McNair, University of Florida, Software-defined MAC control
Yong-Kyu Yoon, University of Florida, Bio-inspired spectrum sensing
Collaborators:
Wenye Wang, North Carolina State University, Spectrum Mapping
Xin Wang, State University of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook, Spectrum Monitoring

Students:
UF: Pavan Mangipudi, Sharon Boamah, Suk-il Choi, Peyman Pahlavan


Project Goal:
Wireless systems with different radio access technologies (RATs) are becoming packed tightly in the space of radio spectrum. The carrier frequency and channel bandwidth of these systems, however, are drastically different across the spectrum domain, e.g., the IEEE 802.11 family that operates at 900 MHz, 2.4/5 GHz, and 60 GHz (mm-wave) bands, the 3GPP 5G family that spans 6-100 GHz, and more. This project mitigates the incoherent and disassociated frequency bands of the multi-RAT coexisting environments by exploiting the potential of cross-layer design from the circuits of transmitter and receiver, to the MAC layer with an innovative MAC-on-MAC spectrum control plane. This project has four major thrusts: (i) design of innovative transmitter and receiver techniques for energy-efficient multi-band spectrum monitoring; (ii) using custom bio-inspired spectrum sensors to create a multi-band sensing solution; (ii) methods to acquire complete spectrum occupancy information with a limited number of measurements; (iii) algorithms for obtaining a sorted ranking of paths that map a data flow to a range of spectrum slips; and (iv) creating MAC-Flow, a flow based network protocol that is capable of handling networking demands from both upper and lower layer, for both traditional user frames and for MAC-on-MAC controller processed frames.
Publications
  • Submitted
    1.  TBA
  • To Appear
    1. Boamah, S., Louis, Jean, McNair, J., and Gilbert, J. A Survey for Blockchain-enabled Resource Management in Edge Networks, accepted to appear in IEEE Access, 2025.
  • Published
    1. P. Mangipudi, S. Boamah, L. Carvajal, and J. McNair, “Multi-Criteria Handover in SDN-based Multi-RAT Networks,” IEEE International Symposium on Local and Metropolitan Area Networks, July 2024.
    2. Jang, Hanna, Payman Pahlavan, and Yong-Kyu Yoon. “Miniaturized Highly-Efficient Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) Cavity Slot Antenna at 28GHz Based on Through Fused-Silica Via (TFS) Technology.” 2024 IEEE 74th Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC). IEEE, 2024.
    3. P. Mangipudi and J. McNair, Multi-Criteria Handover in SDN-Based Multi RAT Networks. Patent application, November 2024.
    4. BJ Park, J. Kim, and J. McNair, “ISAS: AAA Protocol-Based Handover and Improved Security Methodology through the Integration Security Authentication System,” IEIE Transactions on Smart Processing and Computing, 12.4 (2023): 358-367.
    5.  Compact Frequency Reconfigurable Array Antenna Based On Diagonally Placed Meander-Line Decouplers and PIN Diodes for Multi-Range Wireless Communication. Provisional US Patent Application, July 2023.
    6. Eduardo Lichtenfels Riccio, Pavan Kumar Mangipudi, and Janise McNair. 2023. Poster Abstract: O-RAN Signaling Optimizations for Improved IoT Handover Performance in 5G Networks. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM/IEEE Conference on Internet of Things Design and Implementation (IoTDI ’23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 454–455. https://doi.org/10.1145/3576842.3589165
    7. Suk-il Choi. Ph.D. Dissertation. Compact Frequency Reconfigurable Array Antenna with Meander-line and PIN Diodes for Multi-range Wireless Communications. University of Florida.
    8. S. Choi and Y.K. Yoon, “Compact frequency reconfigurable array antenna based on diagonally placed meander-line decouplers and PIN diodes for multi-range wireless communications,” accepted to 2022 IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), San Diego, California, June 2022.
  • Invited Talks
    1. “Cooperative Multi-Radio Access Technology Environments,” Joint US-Japan Workshop on Next Generation Smart Society Applications, (virtual) October 2024.
    2. McNair, J., “Cooperative Multi-Radio Access Technology Environments,” Workshop on Next Generation Smart Society Applications, (virtual) October 2024.
    3. McNair, J. and Wang, X. “Poster: NSF SWIFT: Mac-on-Mac: A Spectrum Orchestrating Control Plane for Co-existing Wireless Systems”, NSF Spectrum Week, April 2023.
    4. J. McNair. Invited speaker. Talk title: “Securing the Insecure: Developing Software-Defined Network Frameworks for Securing Wireless Sensing IoT Applications,” IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) Vertical and Topical Summit held in conjunction with IEEE Radio & Wireless Week, January 13, 2021.
    5. J. McNair. Invited panelist. Panel title: The Future of Integrated Wireless Sensors Systems and Wireless Networks and Summit. IEEE Internet of Things (IoT) Vertical and Topical Summit held with IEEE Radio & Wireless Week, January 16, 2021.
    6. J. McNair, Invited Panelist, “Distinguished Expert Panel: Edge Computing towards Beyond 5G / 6G Era: Frontiers, Challenges and Platforms,” IEEE International Conference on Network Softwarization, hosted in Tokyo, Japan, July 1, 2021.
    7. J. McNair, Invited Panelist, “Leadership in 5G Technologies: What’s at Stake for Florida and the US?” Bob Graham Center for Public Service, October 6, 2021. (Other speakers: Honorable Brendan Carr of the Federal Communications Commission, UF President Fuchs).
  • Educational Activities
    1. 2022 Student Research Advising
      Supervised 10 undergraduate students (5 URM students), 1 undergraduate honors thesis, 1 international undergraduate thesis, 3 REU students, 4 graduate students (2 URM students), 3 PhD students, 1 international MS project.
    2. Y.K. Yoon and J. McNair participate in the University of Florida Scholars Program to offer research experiences to undergraduate students
    3. Courses Taught
      Wireless and Mobile Networks(McNair), Semiconductor Device Fabrication Laboratory (Yoon), Computer Communications (McNair), Internet of Things (McNair), Introduction to RF Circuits (Yoon), Semiconductor Device Fabrication Laboratory (Yoon)
  • Outreach Activities
    1. Student Activities:
      Y.K. Yoon is faculty advisor for UF Korean Student Association (KSA)J and is a mentor in the UF University Minority Mentor Program (UMMP)
      McNair is faculty advisor for African-American, African, and African Diaspora students in ECE (A3ECE)
    2. Administrative Activities
      J. McNair was the committee chair for the ECE Committee on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access