ITR: Community Wireless Networks for Last-Mile Broadband Interconnectivity: An Experimental Research Program

ITR：最后一英里宽带互连的社区无线网络：实验研究计划

• 批准号: 0313095
• 负责人: Shivkumar Kalyanaraman
• 金额: $ 35万
• 依托单位: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-01 至 2007-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0313095&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: ITR; Community; Wireless; Networks; Last

The ``last-mile'' broadband problem is arguably the most important long-standing techno-economic challenge faced by the telecommunications industry. Grassroots community wireless networks are emerging in various parts of the world as an interesting paradigm to connect a community of users to the nearest broadband wire. Community wireless networks (CWNs) have a number of characteristics distinctly different from both mobile ad-hoc wireless networks (MANETs) and traditional IP-based internetworks (eg: OSPF/IS-IS/BGP routed networks). They can also leverage a variety of low-cost capabilities available in residential areas to dramatically simplify configuration and boost effective network capacity. Our project focuses primarily on leveraging the design freedom made possible due to these differences. Technical Merit: The PIs propose an broad experimental research program into the community wireless network (CWN) concept. The research will be conducted in the context of an operational medium-scale community network to be built in Troy, NY (upto 100 nodes in a 1 mile radius around RPI campus) and in collaboration with a commercial 802.11 access network provider in Harrisburg, PA(see attached letter of support). PIs divide our proposed investigation into the following parts:First, at the physical/link layer we focus on the problem of auto-configuration and network capacity maximization. PIs propose to use a mix of cheap 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g links, leverage the directionality of streets, the GPS (latitude/longitude) location of homes, and the availability of backup channels (eg: telephone line or 915 Mhz ISM band radios for remote auto-configuration) to simplify the setup of nodes. The proposed hardware/software design combined with real-world deployment is a unique feature of our proposal.Second, at the routing layer, The PIs will develop a broad framework and mechanisms for efficient explicit/multi-path routing using existing routing protocols (eg: OSPF, BGP-4, MANET protocols like DSR etc). Within this framework, PIs will investigate a number of hybrid geographic and topologically-informed routing to seamlessly interconnect organically evolving community wireless networks. Third, PIs propose to model the growth and evolution of the network; develop strategies to characterize and improve the robustness against node failures. Finally, PIs will measure and characterize the real traffic and usage patterns of the operational community wireless network in the Troy, NY area from its earliest stages of deployment.Broader Impact: The proposed research will provide real-world experimental validation of the nascent community wireless network (CWN) concept, and make significant contributions to the architecture of last-mile wireless networks, routing, traffic engineering and growth modeling of wireless networks. The project will involve the RPI ACM undergraduate chapter (see attached letter) and a large number of undergraduate students in the research. It will also be used as a context for term-projects in the RPI networking curriculum. We already see tremendous excitement in campus during our pilot activities this semester.

“最后一英里”的宽带问题可以说是电信业面临的最重要的长期技术经济挑战。草根社区无线网络正在世界各地作为一种有趣的范例出现，将用户社区连接到最近的宽带线路。社区无线网络(CWN)具有许多不同于移动自组织无线网络(MANET)和传统的基于IP的互联网(如OSPF/IS-IS/BGP路由网络)的特点。他们还可以利用居民区提供的各种低成本功能来显著简化配置并提高有效网络容量。我们的项目主要专注于利用由于这些差异而实现的设计自由。技术优势：PI提出了社区无线网络(CWN)概念的广泛实验研究计划。这项研究将在纽约州特洛伊将建立的一个可运营的中型社区网络(在RPI园区周围1英里半径内最多100个节点)的背景下进行，并与宾夕法尼亚州哈里斯堡的一家商业802.11接入网络提供商合作(见所附的支持函)。PIS将我们提出的研究分为以下几个部分：首先，在物理/链路层，我们重点研究了自动配置和网络容量最大化问题。PIS建议混合使用便宜的802.11b、802.11a和802.11g链路，利用街道的方向性、家庭的GPS(经度/纬度)位置和备用通道的可用性(例如：电话线或用于远程自动配置的915 Mhz ISM频段无线电)来简化节点的设置。第二，在路由层，PI将利用现有的路由协议(例如：OSPF、BGP-4、MANET协议，如DSR等)来开发一个广泛的框架和机制，以实现高效的显式/多路径路由。在这个框架内，PI将研究一些混合的地理和拓扑信息路由，以无缝互连有机发展的社区无线网络。第三，PI建议对网络的增长和演化进行建模；制定策略来表征和提高对节点故障的健壮性。最后，PI将测量和表征纽约州特洛伊地区运营的社区无线网络从部署的最早阶段起的真实流量和使用模式。广泛影响：拟议的研究将提供对新生的社区无线网络(CWN)概念的真实世界实验验证，并对最后一英里无线网络的架构、路由、流量工程和无线网络的增长建模做出重大贡献。该项目将包括RPI ACM本科生分会(见附信)和大量本科生参与研究。它还将用作RPI网络课程中学期项目的上下文。在本学期的试点活动中，我们已经在校园里看到了巨大的兴奋。