Research

Wireless Networks & Communication Lab(WINC)

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MISSION OF THE WINC:

At our Wireless Network and Communication (WINC) Lab, we work on
cutting edge wireless networking and communication protocols that
can be used in applications that have a high positive impact on our
society and on human lives.

Our lab regularly engages in outreach activities where we conduct
summer workshops with local K-12 students from underrepresented
communities.

RESEARCH:

Our research focuses on addressing key wireless networking issues in
areas such as scheduling, optimal resource allocation, power
management, network protocol design and evaluation. We apply this
research work to various applications including embedded biosensors,
brain-computer interfaces, cloud computing, IoT, vehicular
technologies, and wireless health. Using Artificial Intelligence, we
develop innovative solutions to enhance the performance and
efficiency of these applications. We regularly publish our work in peer-
reviewed journals and conferences.

Ongoing Research interests include:
  • Body Area Networks (BANs) and other Wireless Health topics: Our research in the area of WBAN mainly focuses on studying the existing technology that is “supposedly” suitable to a BAN application and recognizing the points of failure in those technologies to cater to an application like BAN, thereby providing the motivation to research and design a BAN-appropriate communication paradigm.
  • Green Networking: In response to energy costs, environmental concerns, and governmental directives, there is an increased need for sustainable and “green” communication. Complicating the deployment of “greener” communication networks is the trend of increasing multimedia data dominating the Internet traffic today which makes tremendously high claims on the power budget of a network. The novelty of our research lies in the conceptualization of exploiting the spatial and temporal fluctuation of cellular traffic to the advantage of the network, namely power savings for the network. We etch the design of a network entity, referred to as the Dynamic Network Planner (DNP), which is aware of the changing profile of the network users, not just in terms of their number and physical location but also the changing profile of the requirements of these users’ applications. Based on this knowledge (input), the DNP periodically reconfigures the network by dynamically adjusting the cell sizes (coverage) and capacity of the appropriate Base Stations deployed in its area of jurisdiction so as to minimize the total power consumption of the network while satisfying the requirements of all the user applications.
  • Cloud Computing: Cloud computing, with the revolutionary promise of turning computing into a 5th utility, after water, electricity, gas, and telephony, has the potential to transform the face of Information Technology (IT) – especially the aspects of service-rendition and service management. We are in the process of exploiting the capabilities of Cloud Computing to design mobile query processes to cater to next generation social networking applications.
  • Research on Social Networking: We are broadly interested in the design and analysis of next-generation mobile social networking applications. We envision creating wearable devices with peer-to-peer communication capability, in which each user store and hereby share their information with a host of other users within some spatial/temporal/social scope. This work entails research on new kinds of signal-interference mitigation schemes, radio designs and novel database management and creation techniques along with novel query operations.

The research topics below summarize some of the issues in wireless networking that we explore continually:

  • Packet Delay and Energy Consumption Issues in Wireless Networks.
  • QoS issues in Wireless and Ad-Hoc Networks (Focus: Multimedia Traffic).
  • Novel MAC Layer channel access schemes.
  • Game Theoretic Approaches for Network Resource Allocation in Ad-Hoc Networks.

Interviews/Media Coverage of my Research Work:

  1. Interviewed by SDSU President de la Torre in her series of Fireside Charla as one of the top Engineering researchers in the College of Engineering. interviews, June 9, 2020
  2. Interviewed by SDSU NewsCenter: “Creating Alternative Communication Highways”, June 2017(https://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=76853)
  3. Interviewed by EEWeb: “Spotlight on Mahasweta Sarkar”, March 2012
    (http://www.eeweb.com/profiles/mahasweta_sarkar)
  4. Interviewed by Union Tribune: “Female Scientists Blazing New Trails” – San Diego based local newspaper that has been in circulation for over 150 years with the largest print number in San Diego featured me amongst seven women scientists in the San Diego county:
    (http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/08/women-science/July, 2012)
  5. “The Right Connections” – an article published about Dr. Sarkar’s software App Proximity Careers by San Diego State University News Center (link provided below), October 2013 (http://universe.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=74524)

K-12 STEM Development:

  1. Tutorial on “How Wireless Works” at Morning Creek Elementary School for 5 th grade students, San Diego, 2013
  2. Event Captain/Coordinator for the “Simple Machines” track in Science Olympiad San Diego County Regional Competition (Division B) February, 2014
  3. Neuro-Engineering Workshop for High School students from various San Diego school district, 2016, 2017, 2018,2019 (http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=76853)