Collaborative Research: NECO: Designing Intermittency-Aware Networked Systems

Brewer 0832153 B：项目摘要合作研究：NECO：设计间歇性感知网络系统互联网和电话系统都表现出对连续连接的深刻假设，而这种假设在世界大部分地区，包括农村地区和发展中地区，尤其是不正确的。在大多数发展中国家，由于各种因素，包括高昂的使用成本、频繁的停电、网络故障和延迟容忍网络的使用，网络连接断断续续是一个现实。传统的网络应用程序并不适合在间歇性环境中工作。虽然容迟网络（DTN）的工作已经创建了可行的支持容错性的低级网络协议，但是仍然很难编写能够很好地容忍断开连接的应用程序。本项目提出了间歇感知网络架构（IANA），一种新的网络平台，可以实现一系列的容错感知应用程序。这项工作将开发几个新的应用程序，展示间歇性网络在发展中地区的力量，并测试和验证IANA平台。拟议的应用程序包括间歇性版本的网络搜索，协作维基软件，自动柜员机（ATM）支持，和语音消息蜂窝电话。这些都是具有挑战性的应用程序，涵盖了一系列的可扩展性，数据共享和安全问题。所有四个应用程序的试验版本将部署在印度或非洲，以了解该平台如何在具有挑战性的环境中实现真实的应用程序。IANA设计的首要目标是确定构建通用网络架构的基本原则，该架构既可以在不同类型的间歇性网络中采用，也可以用作多个间歇性应用程序的通用平台。一个重要的相关挑战是为间歇性应用程序确定适当的通用应用程序编程接口（API）。为了实现这一目标，本文将1）对间歇性网络进行分类，以便于对断开做出适当的响应; 2）在DTN上开发一个具有容错性的覆盖网络，以实现特定应用的网络优化，从而实现更好的性能和更好的数据分发和共享;以及3）开发一系列新的API，超越低级连接API（套接字），以支持间歇会话、数据收集和分发、数据复制和一致性以及移动性。这项工作将大大提高创建在间歇性环境中工作良好的应用程序的能力。主要贡献包括一个覆盖网络，以帮助管理复制，移动性，聚合和共享，新的更高层次的API验证的真实的应用程序，并通过大规模部署在发展中地区的新平台的有效性进行评估。协作软件使农村内容的创建和共享成为可能，并促进教育、医疗保健和应急响应的内容分发。ATM软件可以帮助解决由于现金流有限和银行服务有限而导致的经济效率低下问题。语音短信电话可以将手机革命的影响扩展到农村地区和低识字率的用户。PI在发展中地区有着影响力应用程序的历史，并期望从拟议的部署和免费的开源应用程序发布中获得类似的影响。实地工作和新课程也将促进具有强烈国际影响力的发展意识的研究生。应用程序和部署促进了鼓舞人心的实习，这将鼓励多样性和多学科研究。

Brewer 0832153B: Project SummaryCollaborative Research: NECO:Designing Intermittency-Aware Networked SystemsBoth the Internet and phone system exhibit deep assumptions about continuous connectivity that are simply not true in much of the world, including rural areas and developing regions in particular. Intermittent network connectivity is a fact of life in most developing countries due to a variety of factors including high usage costs, frequent power outages, network failures and the use of delay tolerant networks. Traditional networked applications are not designed to work in intermittent environments. Although work on delay-tolerant networking (DTN) has created viable low-level networking protocols that support intermittency, it remains difficult to write applications that tolerate disconnections well.This project proposes Intermittent Aware Network Architecture (IANA), a new network platform that can enable a spectrum of intermittent-aware applications. This work will develop several novel applications that show the power of intermittent networking in developing regions and that test and validate the IANA platform. The proposed applications include intermittent versions of web search, collaborative wiki software, automatic teller machine (ATM) support, and voice-messaging cellular phones. These are challenging applications that cover a range of scalability, data sharing, and security issues. Pilot versions of all the four applications will be deployed in India or Africa to understand how well the platform enables real applications in challenging environments.An overarching goal in the design of IANA is to determine the underlying principles in building a generic network architecture that can be both adopted across different types of intermittent networks and be used as a common platform across several intermittent applications. An important related challenge is to determine an appropriate and generic Application Programming Interface (API) for intermittent applications. In pursuit of this larger goal, this work will 1) classify the kinds of intermittent networks, which facilitates appropriate responses to disconnection; 2) develop an intermittent-aware overlay network above DTN that enables application-specific in network optimizations, which in turn enables both better performance and better data distribution and sharing; and 3) develop a range of new APIs that move beyond low-level connection APIs (sockets) to support intermittent sessions, data collection and distribution, data replication and consistency, and mobility.Intellectual Merit: This work will result in a substantial increase in the ability to create applications that work well in intermittent environments. The key contributions include an overlay network to help manage replication, mobility, aggregation and sharing, new higher-level APIs validated by real applications, and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the new platform via large-scale deployments in developing regions.Broader Impact: The target applications have direct value in bridging the digital divide. The collaboration software empowers rural content creation and sharing and facilitates content distribution for education, health care, and emergency response. ATM software can help address the economic inefficiencies due to limited cash flow and limited access to banking services. The voice-messaging phone can extend the impact of the cellular revolution to rural areas and to low-literacy users. The PIs have a history of impactful applications in developing regions and expect similar impact from the proposed deployments and from the free, open-source release of the apps. Field work and new curriculum will also promote development-aware graduate students with strong international exposure. The applications and deployments facilitate inspiring internships, which will encourage diversity and multi-disciplinary research.