Why is it difficult?

Today’s wireless systems are fundamentally limited in how many devices can be simultaneously connected to the network. Increasing the number of devices burdens the wireless network capacity as they cause interference, essentially saturating the network resources. The problem could be worse due to both inter- and intra-network interference and requires well coordination and co-design of interfering systems. In this regard, MIMO technology can help provide interference-free streams to multiple devices using multiple antennas. But high MIMO gains remain theoretical while the practical systems are limited to only a few streams, so few that they can be counted on fingers. Recent advances in machine learning for wireless systems are promising to improve the system performance for all users.

What is the impact?

The number of wireless devices is increasing at a much faster rate than other devices with wired connectivity. Having a wireless connection to the network allows seamless connectivity even for a mobile device. It can reach even remote parts of the world, effectively connecting event devices to the internet. If we can solve the coexistence of multiple devices sharing the spectrum, it will be a resource-efficient way to scale wireless connectivity to billions of devices.