CIF: Small: Large-Scale Software Dissemination in Stochastic Wireless Networks

商业供应商越来越多地允许第三方开发人员在无线设备上编写和实现他们自己的软件应用程序，从传感器到3G蜂窝电话。随着应用程序和用户数量的增长，可靠的软件传播正迅速成为一项关键的使能技术，提供基本的重新编程服务，如软件下载、更新和安全补丁。该项目旨在为易丢失无线网络中有效的软件传播发展分析基础，以延迟和通信/计算速度来衡量。计划的研究将沿着四个方向进行：1)性能限制：基于马尔可夫决策过程理论的随机最短路径优化在多跳无线网络中的软件传播问题的数学形式化；2)大规模渐近：利用极值理论分析高节点密度下的性能，并比较目前最先进的技术，包括无速率编码、包级信道跳变和物理层合作；3) ACK-LESS协议：使用极值理论和移位无速率码的组合，以高概率消除控制流量（例如，确认）；4)实现：在传感器上实现基于理论的软件传播协议，随后在支持android的智能手机上实现。更广泛的影响这项工作有望对各种社会需求产生广泛的影响。在教育层面，开放的手机编程专业知识将被纳入pi教授的创新课堂作业和实验室，包括软件工程、算法和网络。在商业方面，该研究为试图利用新兴智能手机功能的私营企业所面临的基本问题指明了方向。这些私人投资机构还将通过与本地和国际工业伙伴的联系，加快研究转移。最后，该项目将在互不相关的领域之间建立理论联系，最显著的是将主要用于土木和金融工程的工具引入计算和通信领域。

Commercial providers are increasingly permitting third-party developers to write and implement their own software applications on wireless devices, ranging from sensors to 3G cellular phones. As the number of applications and users grow, reliable software dissemination is quickly emerging as a key enabling technology, providing fundamental reprogramming services, such as software download, updates and security patching. Intellectual MeritThis project aims to develop analytical foundations for efficient software dissemination in loss-prone wireless networks, measured in terms of delay and communication/computational speed. Planned research will proceed along four thrusts: 1) PERFORMANCE LIMITS: mathematically formalizing the problem of software dissemination in multi-hop wireless networks using stochastic shortest path optimization based on the theory of Markov Decision Processes; 2) LARGE-SCALE ASYMPTOTICS: analyzing performance at high node densities using extreme-value theory and comparing state-of-the-art technologies, including rateless coding, packet-level channel hopping, and physical-layer cooperation; 3) ACK-LESS PROTOCOLS: eliminating control traffic (e.g., ACKnowledgments), with high probability, using a combination of extreme-value theory and shifted rateless codes; 4) IMPLEMENTATION: implementing theoretically-based software dissemination protocols on sensor motes and, subsequently, on Android-capable smartphones.Broader ImpactThis work promises a broad impact to various societal needs. On an education level, open cell phone programming expertise will be incorporated into innovative class assignments and labs taught by the PIs, including Software Engineering, Algorithms, and Networking. On a commercial side, the research identifies and provides directions for fundamental issues that will face private enterprises attempting to capitalize on emerging smartphone capabilities. The PIs will also expedite research transfer through liaisons with local and international industrial partners. Finally, the project will establish theoretical connections between disconnected fields, most notably bringing tools primarily used in civil and financial engineering into computing and communication.