The research at the Commnet Laboratory draws on a wide range of techniques including information theory, communication theory, networking, signal processing, optimization methods, and stochastic control to advance our understanding of the theoretical limits of communication systems and networks, as well as to design and implement novel algorithms for approaching these limits. To prototype our solutions, we leverage the Wireless Lab described below. We also leverage NSF Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) including the COSMOS testbed.
Wireless Lab Equipment
– 10+ Software Defined Radios including USRP X310s and B210s– Powerful servers running Open RAN (ORAN) software and ML applications
– Several 5G-enabled smartphones and modems
– Programmable SIM cards to connect the 5G smartphones via ORAN
– Several Raspberry Pi 5
Wireless Lab for Teaching
The Wireless Lab is also used to teach courses at NU, providing students with hands-on experience with Software-Defined Radios (SDRs). Laboratory experiments include:– Simple PAM-2 transmitter and receiver design and implementation
– Complete QAM-M system implementation and BER measurements
– Impairments caused by the wireless channel and countermeasures
– Introduction to Multiple Access techniques (e.g., ALOHA and WiFi)
