Academic researchers have contributed significantly to the field of wireless communications in recent years. A large number of dissertations and thesis reports have been published incorporating results of laboratory experiments and simulations that have proven very helpful in determining the true performance of technologies amidst all the marketing claims from OEMs and vendors of services. Furthermore, we must not undermine the fact that academia has been instrumental in the development of new technologies that have shaped the future of wireless communications. I want to specifically mention about the development of wireless sensor networks under various projects sponsored by the IEEE and ZigBee Alliance and other organizations that have ultimately resulted in open global standards like ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 and proprietary company sponsored standards like Texas Instruments SimpliciTI. and XBee DigiMesh. These technologies employ a series of algorithms / protocols such as ANT COLONY, SPIN, GOSSIP, FLOOD, etc. that have been developed by students of higher studies in wireless communications. In this blog, I present some new challenges that students must take on to support the evolution of the directions of new technologies that are involved in some kind of technological warfare around the world. Some of the challenges that require academic attention are:
(a) Positioning of WiMAX versus LTE in applications related to fixed and mobile wireless communications: Is IEEE 802.16e-2005 as successful as IEEE 802.16d-2004 in light of competition with LTE?
(b) TTR-R2 versus LTE: are they getting into another tech war of the future?
(c) Who will win the race to become valid 4G technology: LTE, WiMAX, or both?
(d) Will the IP Multimedia Subsystem see the light of day in the world’s largest telecommunications markets, such as India and China?
(e) How will IEEE 802.11n fare against its predecessors and WiMAX for indoor wireless applications?
(f) What will happen to the large number of IEEE 802.11n products certified by the WiFi Alliance after IEEE 802.11e ratification for true QoS implementation (with EDCF and HCF)?
(g) Does IP Multimedia through wireless networks present synergies between multiple technologies: WiFi, WiMax, 3G and LTE?
(h) Will the dream of a global location server for SIP addresses of mobile phone users come true, regardless of their country and service provider?
(i) How do SIP-based wireless solutions and the IP v6 addressing space approach?
(j) Positioning of 4G contenders on user devices: Laptops, PDAs, Pocket PCs, Tablets, Mobile Phones, iPod, etc.
(k) Positioning WiMAX and LTE as backhauls: can they replace fiber optic links?
(l) QoS for VoIP over satellite links: the only solution left to connect high-altitude cities with metropolitan cities via mobile telephony.
Several professional investigations have recently been published to address these areas. Many of them claim to be impartial. But I personally believe that academic researchers, who are known to conduct more unbiased and valid studies, have not yet adequately contributed to these areas. I suggest that students undergoing advanced courses in wireless communications develop new topics in these areas and conduct research for their upcoming dissertations and thesis research projects. If all the current challenges are brought to the table, I can visualize more than 100 topics that students and academic researchers can conduct research tasks on. Some of these topics have already been addressed by students, but a greater contribution from academia is required. Tools such as OPNET IT GURU and OMNET ++ can be used to simulate various real-life network solutions to verify the behavior and performance of modern wireless technologies in a laboratory environment. I personally like OPNET IT GURU because of its ability to simulate real world wireless products (like the Cisco Aironet series). But OMNET ++ provides more flexibility by virtue of its programming interface. The academic edition of OPNET IT GURU is offered at no cost to students by Opnet Technologies Inc. under its university program. The academic version has all the features of OPNET except that it can simulate the maximum of 50 million events, which is more than enough to simulate any network model created for academic research.
