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Prof. Kevin Almeroth has received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research to maximize the available bandwidth in next generation wireless local area networks (WLANs). The grant, for $101,088, also involves Prof. Elizabeth Belding as co-Principal Investigator.

The IEEE 802.11 standard continues to evolve rapidly, addressing new challenges and technological opportunities through increasingly sophisticated and flexible standards. IEEE 802.11n and 802.11ac offer new mechanisms that enable a multifold increase in transmission speeds relative to 802.11a/b/g. The crucial challenge is how to dynamically configure the myriad of devices in a network; and then, whether, when, and how to re-configure the network should conditions change. The performance of even the most efficient network configuration will suffer debilitating degradation when the network is improperly configured. Hence, care must be taken to select channel configurations that minimize interference (inter-node and environmental) and maximize spatial reuse. The number of features incorporated into 802.11n and 802.11ac necessitates a comprehensive, coordinated channel management strategy that can choose settings for each of the available features.

These issues will be addressed through a one-year joint project with HP Labs, incluidng a graduate student internship and a subsequent on-going partnership between HP Labs and UCSB.