Liu ‘slicing’ wireless networks to develop ways to improve efficiency

With a new $531,134 grant from the National Science Foundation, School of Computing Assistant Professor Qiang Liu is working to develop a new, autonomous, and agile wireless network resource allocation method called “slicing-as-a-service.” 

5G networks already utilize “network slicing,” a technique that ensures wireless network resources are distributed and supported in a flexible and cost-efficient manner. As technology continues to evolve and wireless networks expand the types of applications and devices they serve, the need formore efficient allocation becomes even greater. Providing necessary resources to more dynamic and diverse applications also becomes increasingly more complex and challenging. 

“Previously, networks supported users with smartphones anddifferent applications, but now we have more augmented reality devices, autonomous driving cars, and UAVs all connected to the cellular network, and they are quite different in terms of performance requirements,” Liu said. “The challenge is to support them all efficiently.”