WiNCom

The Wireless Network Communications Research Center (WiNCom) is a joint initiative of the Applied Math, Civil Architectural and Environment Engineering, Computer Science, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 2006 by Cindy Hood, current Director of WiNCom, Associate Chair and Associate Professor of the Computer Science Department, and Dennis Roberson, Vice Provost-New Initiatives and Research Professor, and others, the Center is primarily supported by research grants from the National Science Foundation, and engages over 16 faculty members and over 50 students from across IIT. Motivated by the continued expansion in the use of licensed and unlicensed spectrum, and the substantial investments in spectrum, wireless infrastructure, and devices, the mission of WiNCom is to significantly improve spectrum utilization and efficiency by providing measurement, analytical, and simulation capabilities for spectrum management, interference assessment and mitigation, and electromagnetic co-existence.

Industry Affiliates Program

In order to increase the value of WiNCom to industry and government, and facilitate the practical application of the knowledge and tools developed by the Center, IIT has created the WiNCom Industry Affiliates Program. The Affiliates Program provides organizations more immediate and focused benefit from WiNCom projects, facilities, and expertise, and offers the opportunity to sponsor research projects either individually or jointly. The Affiliate Program will be governed by an Industry Advisory Board consisting of representatives from the sponsoring organizations.

Capabilities and Facilities

• • Wireless Interference Laboratory: 3x3m RF enclosure and over 200 specialized RF instruments including state of the art spectrum analysis equipment, for interference analysis and experimentation.
• • Spectrum Observatory / Mobile Observation: On-going Wide-Band (30 MHz to 6 GHz) Spectrum Utilization Study generating tens of Gigabytes of occupancy data daily.
• • Network Systems / Simulation Lab: Argonne cluster access, OPNET, Repast, ns2…
• • Outdoor Antenna Range / Measurements: Via Motorola collaboration agreement.

Affiliate Benefits

• • Early access to WiNCom research results and publications
• • Access to WiNCom unpublished data and internal reports
• • Semi-annual WiNCom review meetings
• • Streamlined access to WiNCom faculty members
• • Ability to influence WiNCom research direction
• • Ability to contract use of WiNCom facilities
• • Ability to fund and direct WiNCom projects (Partner or Sponsor)
• • Intellectual Property Rights (Partner or Sponsor)

Membership

There are three levels of membership: Affiliate, Project Partner Affiliate, and Project Sponsor Affiliate. Contact Ken Zdunek (kzdunek@iit.edu), IAP Director for further information and a draft of the affiliation agreement.