Communications Testbed

Project Goals

The Communications Testbed is intended to provide a substrate for the development and evaluation of prototypes emerging from core systems research primarily from projects (High data density communications with light) and (Alternative lighting systems for communication), and(Mobility and networking with directional communications); but also exploiting work from other areas (e.g., Smart Spaces).  The goal of the testbed is to foster the development of tangible prototypes demonstrating realizations of core research. The testbed efforts include system integration and design leading to development of working devices, systems, and applications.

The Project’s Role in Support of the Strategic Plan

Visible light communications (VLC) is positioned to support potentially dramatic increases in productivity when coupled with health, wellness and biohazard safety impacts. Direct productivity gains are expected by increasing data capacity and coverage for multiple data consumers in indoor spaces and decreasing latencies. These improvements are in the context of surging data demands driven by the proliferation of smart phones and other devices producing and consuming rich media such as video.  Current systems are incapable of approaching these demands.

The Communications Testbed is the development and demonstration platform on which the core research will be exploited, evaluated, and hosted for the purpose of enabling translational activities to industry, startups, and outreach. The tesbed is closely aligned to the smart space and data room engineered systems.