METU Research Group on Communication Networks

Activities of our research group are at the junction of networking and communication theories. The results are theory, as well as algorithms and prototype demonstrations, for enhancing the flow of useful information across networks of the future. Our vision is the redesigning of communication networks based on the Semantics of Information. We believe this will be key to enabling the scalability in 6G and further generations of networks.

A first-order metric capturing information semantics is Age of Information (AoI). We have contributed to various aspects of AoI research in recent years: age-optimal link layer scheduling, physical layer design, transport mechanisms, multiple access, and more recently caching and random access. In 2015, our group presented the original formulation of Age-optimal transmission under energy harvesting constraints, and in 2018, the first analysis of age-optimal channel coding, and the first ever measurements of AoI in real-life networks.

Here is a partial list of the previous work in our group:

Bounds and algorithms toward energy efficient wireless communication systems: packet scheduling mechanisms for energy harvesting systems.

Efficient ad-hoc wireless networking: optimization of routing, and medium access.

Resource allocation and scheduling for multiuser queues sharing wireless links (such as MIMO Broadcast and OFDMA)

Implementation examples: Wireless Sensor Networks, practical Lazy Scheduling using software-defined radios.