Projects

Current Projects

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), United States Department of Agriculture

Broadband Connectivity for Rural Communications and Smart Livestock Management

Funding Source: 2023-67021-41368.

Role: Principal Investigator (with Co-PIs Dr. Yijie Xiong at UNL and Dr. Xiaoqian Wang at Purdue University).

Duration: Sept. 15, 2023 – Sept. 14, 2025.

Abstract: Wireless broadband and networking technologies have progressed tremendously in past years. However, most of these advancements are focused on densely populated urban areas. Rural communities are largely overlooked, causing a disparity known as the digital divide. Such a digital divide leads to long-term impacts that include the uneven distribution of educational and economic opportunities. A primary challenge for farmers is the inherent lack of terrestrial infrastructure covering extensive grazing systems. The goal of this collaborative project with Prof. Yijie Xiong from UNL’s Department of Animal Science and Department of Biological Systems Engineering and Prof. Xiaoqian Wang from Purdue University's Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering is to design a hybrid broadband communication scheme and prototype to achieve intelligent animal identification for livestock systems in rural communities. The hybrid communication system will be designed and prototyped based on link requirements and environmental factors. Extensive image data will be aggregated with various cattle patterns from extensive livestock production systems and fed to the proposed communication system for reliable transmission. Novel object recognition algorithms will then be designed based on the image data to facilitate timely and accurate management decisions. The solutions are expected to transform conventional experience-based and labor-intensive livestock management practice into an automatic and data-driven approach with connectivity characterized by broad coverage and low cost.

Student(s) Supported:

  • TBA


Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), National Science Foundation

CNS Core: Medium: Field-Nets: Field-to-Edge Connectivity for Joint Communication and Sensing in Next-Generation Intelligent Agricultural Networks

Funding Source: CNS-2212050.

Role: Co-Principal Investigator.

Duration: Oct. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2025.

Abstract: Available here.

Student(s) Supported:

  • TBA

Product(s):

  • S. Nie and M. C. Vuran, "AgRIS: Wind-Adaptive Wideband Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Resilient Wireless Agricultural Networks at Millimeter-Wave Spectrum", in Frontiers in Communications and Networks' Special Topic of "Rising Stars in Non-Conventional Communications and Networks", vol. 4, doi: 10.3389/frcmn.2023.1169266, June 2023. [Paper] [Data]
  • S. Nie, Y. Ge, and M. C. Vuran, "On Crop Canopy Scattering for Integrated mmWave Sensing and Communication in Agricultural Fields", to appear in IEEE 20th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-Hoc and Smart Systems (MASS), Toronto, Canada, Sept. 2023.


Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), National Science Foundation

MRI: Development of a Terahertz Measurement Facility for Wireless Communications, Electronics and Materials

Funding Source: CNS-2216332.

Role: Co-Principal Investigator.

Duration: Oct. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2026.

Webpage: engineering.nyu.edu/THzLAB.

Abstract: Available here.

Student(s) Supported:

  • Laxmi Chapagain

Product(s):

  • D. Shakya, T. S. Rappaport, D. Shahrjerdi, M. Knox, Z. Popovic, S. Nie, A. Madanayake, and H. Wang, "Exploring millimeter-wave and terahertz circuits and systems with a novel multiuser measurement facility", to appear in IEEE Microwave Magazine, 2023.


Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), National Science Foundation

REU Site: Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Unmanned Systems Foundations and Applications

Funding Source: CNS-2244116.

Role: Senior Personnel.

Duration: March 1, 2023 – Feb. 28, 2026.

Webpage: Summer Program on Unmanned Systems.

Abstract: Available here.

Students Supported:

  • Nolan Pettit, Elizabethtown College, June–Aug. 2023.
  • Henry Michaelson, Northwestern University, June–Aug. 2023.

Product(s):

  • H. Michaelson, N. Pettit, V. Annabhemoju, S. Nie, and J. Bradley, "Link Budgeting and Interference Management for UAV Networks in 5G and Beyond", to appear in the 8th National Workshop for REU Research in Networking and Systems (REUNS 2023), co-located with ACM MobiHoc '23, Washington, D.C., Oct. 2023. [Paper]




Finished Projects

Nebraska EPSCoR FIRST Award

Transforming Rural Last-Mile Wireless Connectivity with Reconfigurable Metasurfaces at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies

Funding Source: Nebraska EPSCoR funded by NSF Grant OIA-2044049.

Role: Principal Investigator.

Duration: Dec. 1, 2021 – Nov. 30, 2022.

Overview: Over the last few years, wireless data traffic has drastically increased due to a substantial growth that the world creates, shares, and consumes information. In contrast to the massive growth of the wireless broadband market in major cities, there has been an ever-deepening digital divide between the rural and urban areas, which has led to uneven economic growth and unbalanced educational resources. To bridge this gap, new solutions in both communications and computing are necessary. This project aims to design and develop metasurface-based reconfigurable transmit and reflect arrays that can effectively transmit wideband signals at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies, and aims to increase the coverage range and spectral efficiency for last-mile connectivity in rural areas. The proposed solution in this project is expected to bring wireless broadband connectivity to rural communities with a faster and more reliable Internet access.

Student(s) Supported:

  • Vaishnavi Annabhemoju

Product(s):

  • S. Nie, M. M. Lunar, G. Bai, Y. Ge, S. Pitla, C. E. Koksal, and M. C. Vuran, "mmWave on a Farm: Channel Modeling for Wireless Agricultural Networks at Broadband Millimeter-Wave Frequency", 2022 IEEE International Conference on Sensing, Communication, and Networking (SECON), pp. 388-396, doi: 10.1109/SECON55815.2022.9918595. [Paper] [Data]
  • V. Annabhemoju and S. Nie, "RuralProp: A Three-Dimensional Wireless Propagation Channel Simulator for Rural Broadband Networks at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies", Project Report, Nov. 2022.