Layering in wireless networks provide clear abstractions to how various resources are managed for a particular communication link. However, the unpredictability of the wireless channel presents great challenge to these clear abstractions. This creates a necessity to violate the modular approach and share crosslayer information, which eventually improves the overall performance of the network. This talk presents two such methods that combat interference in the wireless channel through multiuser communication. The first paradigm takes advantage of the diversity of signal strengths in an infrastructure based wireless network, to merge MAC layer packets at optimal data rates, improving the aggregate throughput of the network. This lends itself to the second technique that embeds a covert channel using radiometric signatures providing very low probability of detection under various channel conditions. Both of these protocols are made practical through highly programmable radios that harness the untapped potential of various signal processing subsystems at the physical layer. This talk also presents clear implementation steps to embed these concepts as an extension to common wireless network protocols and evaluate those using practical experiments. Through these techniques, practical benefits from a mutable radio and a crosslayer approach to protocol design have been shown, which is integral to future wireless networks.

Dola Saha is a Researcher in the Mobile Communications and Networking group at NEC Laboratories America. Prior to that, she received her Masters and Doctorate degrees from the Department of Computer Science in the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research interests cover broad areas of wireless networks with focus on systems design and practical evaluation. Dr. Saha, in collaboration with ATR Labs, Japan has worked extensively in designing efficient protocols at various layers for mobile ad-hoc networks utilizing beamforming antennas. She was a member of the core development team at Tata Consultancy Services India, where she contributed to the development of MAC layer for WiMax base and service stations. During her graduate studies, she augmented the wireless physical layer to design fast and reliable MAC layer protocols for 802.11a/g networks. At NEC Labs, Dr. Saha investigates routing and congestion control techniques for demanding applications in Smart City networks. She also collaborates with other universities to innovate efficient coexistence protocols for heterogeneous networks by utilizing the flexibility of SDN. She has co-authored 29 peer reviewed publications in top-tier ACM and IEEE venues including SIGCOMM, MOBIHOC, INFOCOM and DySPAN. Dr. Saha has also been instrumental in championing women in technology and served as the founding chair for the ACM-W Chapter in CU Boulder. She is a recipient of the Google Anita Borg scholarship for her outreach services and academic credentials. She has been awarded outstanding researcher by the department of Computer Science and received the Dean's outstanding merit scholarship to support her graduate studies.