CiTADEL: A Cross-technology framework for addressing the wireless data explosion challenge – CiTADEL

The smartphone has revolutionized how people connect to the Internet and consume content. Multiple studies, most notably Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, have shown an exponential increase in mobile data, driven largely by smartphone users. At the same time, cellular capacity has also increased but not nearly at the same factor. 5G is supposed to be the answer to the looming data crunch, promising 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps wireless data rates, a 100 to 1000 factor improvement over 4G. This spectacular improvement is the only thing that is clear – the mechanisms to get there are still work in progress, with different competing visions and approaches proposed by academia and the industry. CiTADEL proposes to make the smartphone a central part of the solution and introduces a framework for delivering Gigabit wireless connectivity indoors in the 60 GHz mmWave band. To deliver on its promise, CiTADEL will address three main challenges. First, it will provide a solution to the indoor localization problem, taking advantage of the advanced sensors with which are equipped the modern smartphones. Using this solution as input, CiTADEL will introduce an approach for the optimal association of smartphone users to 60 GHz access points. Finally, it will leverage the solutions to the first two challenges to introduce a cross-layer medium access protocol for highly directional mmWave links.