The emerging 5G mobile network will need to handle numerous types of traffic, including applications and devices ranging from the internet of things (IoT) to high-demand mobile broadband. These traffic types have elastic requirements with regard to bandwidth, latency and reliability, requiring network operators to regularly program their radio resources according to demand. While the radio access mobile networks of today will be interoperable with any of the above devices due to their conformance with standards, the software and interfaces used to manage radio resources remain proprietary 'black boxes' to everyone except the original equipment manufacturers. This is where Wibowo Hardjawana's research in wireless network softwarisation comes in.
"My research aims first to create mobile technology disruption by enabling proprietary software and interfaces to be software programmable by network operators - or, effectively, by anyone. This will then be followed up with development of various theoretical signal processing and radio resource allocation techniques, as well as network architectures that exploit open interfaces and networks to deal with traffic elasticity and to overcome the current limitations of wireless networks.
"Within the next three to five years my colleagues and I plan to implement our theoretical research findings as proof-of-concepts to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of fully open and configurable wireless mobile networks.
"This will be beneficial for Australian telecommunications in two ways. Firstly, it will provide telco operators with the opportunity to configure networks according to their requirements, which is currently not possible. Secondly, the open network will create a new ecosystem where start-ups can develop their own innovations.
"I have been developing novel algorithms and architectures for wireless mobile networks since 2008, and here at the University of Sydney I am very lucky to have as my mentor Professor Branka Vucetic, who is one of the best in the field."
