Tobias Koch, a scientist at the Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), has received an ERC Starting Grant, one of the most important grants for young researchers in Europe to develop the LOLITA project (information theory for low latency wireless communications) .
The design of low latency (low delay) wireless communication systems is a great challenge, as it requires a different approach from that used in today's high speed data transmission systems. "The project tries to establish the theoretical framework necessary to describe the fundamental tradeoffs in low-latency wireless communications," explains Koch. "This would allow the design of new systems that use resources such as bandwidth or energy in the most efficient way."
Today's wireless communication systems exchange packets of several thousand bits and include large correction codes to protect against transmission errors. "What we do is include additional bits to correct possible errors," says Koch. With this, the reliability of the system is guaranteed (that what is transmitted is the same as what is received).
However, future low-latency systems will exchange information much faster (almost in real time) and, for this reason, in packets of only a few hundred bits (a much smaller size), forcing new designs to be designed. correction codes of a much smaller length.
Or put another way: it's like trying to transport merchandise in thousands of cars instead of dozens of trucks. For this, it is necessary to design new correction codes that allow to keep cars on the road when driving errors arise. “If we have to ship a lot of packages, we can decide whether we store all of them in a warehouse and then ship them all together in a truck or if we ship the packages one by one in a car,” explains Koch.
With the truck it takes longer because you have to wait to complete the load, but it has the advantage of including larger and stronger security systems (correction codes) as there is more space. On the contrary, shipping with cars would be faster because each package can be shipped just as it arrives at the warehouse, although less strong codes should be used.
This simile is related to some of the applications of this type of technology. In the near future, vehicles will be interconnected wirelessly, and for this communication to be useful in avoiding accidents it must occur in near real time (with a delay or latency of no more than 10 milliseconds), the researchers say. Furthermore, this wireless communications technology will be used in 5G networks and could find applications in numerous industrial processes.
This project, which starts on March 1, 2017 with an expected duration of five years, receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) within the framework of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. (Source: UC3M)
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