Research
Sensor Networks Planning and Management
The Queen's TRL team have made significant contributions to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) design and planning. We developed a framework, which includes a comprehensive set of deployment planning algorithms and analytical tools for a two-tier heterogeneous WSN system, to provide complete and coherent WSN deployment solutions in various scenarios. Our research is unique in that it addresses sensing coverage concerns by devising deployment methods that achieve guaranteed coverage and/or high-fidelity partial coverage in a cost effective manner.
Wireless Multi-Hop Mobile Access Networks
We developed a versatile and portable packet processing technology for handling packet forwarding among different portable devices and/or infrastructure-based networks. This technology can be used to implement a variety of multi-hop network-level protocols for ad hoc networks using existing WiLAN interfaces. This packet processor was used in the development of a mobile computing platform over multi-hop wireless networks that is the first of its kind in Canada.
Broadband Wireless Access Networks
Future wireless communication systems are expected to provide broadband multimedia services. These services will require support for different classes of service, with widely varying bandwidth and Quality of Service (QoS) needs. We devised innovative packet scheduling techniques for high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) systems (patent awarded), WiMax and LTE. We also developed comprehensive QoS provisioning frameworks for wireless multimedia services, consisting of an adaptive call admission control scheme with dynamic bandwidth and handoff management. We have also championed the concept of “provider motivated vertical handoffs” for heterogeneous wireless networks.
Quality of Service Provisioning in Wireless Infrastructures
We have made significant contributions towards a comprehensive multilevel approach to provide E2E QoS in wireless networks, while optimizing network resource utilization. Our approach entails the design of a resource management framework that exploits the inter-dependencies between the different networking levels – network, path and link. At the network level, we have designed routing protocol that establishes routes based on multiple QoS connection requires, and provides for Traffic Engineering (TE). At the path level, our algorithms optimally and simultaneously partition multiple QoS metrics in the process of mapping E2E QoS requirements to link QoS requirements.
Architectures and Protocols for the Internet of Things
Our recent work has been on defining the IoT architecture through its two main enablers, WSN and RFID systems. We introduced a new paradigm of resource utilization in IoT. This paradigm will serve to transition the domain of an application-specific technology to a dynamic paradigm of varying functionality as the environment and applications mandate. We have also explored the significant impact of intelligent vehicular networks and have investigated access to resources of intelligent vehicles on the go.
